Mike Stewart s debut mystery was published to rare praise. "An atmospheric setting， evocative family background， a Chinese box of a plot， and a hero tough and clever enough to surprise you as much as the bad guys .... The most accomplished debut of the season，" hailed Kirkus Reviews. "Mike Stewart shows a talent for evoking atmosphere that has all but vanished from thriller novels，" praised The Washington Post. "[He] finds heroism in ordinary men placed in extraordinary circumstances and evil in the seemingly banal." Now Stewart s attorney sleuth Tom McInnes pits wits against stone-cold killers who would rather commit murder than leave witnesses.When a teenage runaway she has befriended witnesses a brutal murder， Susan Fitzsimmons puts in a call to her lawyer-friend， Tom McInnes. Tom makes a cursory inquiry through the local sheriff s office， only to trigger unexpectedly swift and forceful retaliation: His office is broken into and armed gunmen lay siege to Susan s house. The situation deteriorates as Tom and those close to him stir up several hornet s nests worth of trouble across the Florida panhandle on their way to a deadly showdown.With riveting action and perfect pacing， Mike Stewart follows through on the promise so evident in his mystery debut.