Attorney Yancey Marshall finds

malpractice made perfect when a

surgeon s error blossoms into a full-

blown cover-up. In collusion with

the chief surgeon of a small-town hos-

pital and the hospital administration

is a mammoth insurance company

with enough wealth and clout to

destroy all who threaten its interests.

Suddenly everything is not so quiet

in Pine Hill, Georgia, when a sixteen-

year-old black youth dies on the

operating table at the hands of alco-

holic surgeon Joe Thatcher. When

Yancey begins investigating the case

at the request of the boy s mother,

he finds a falsified autopsy report,

attempted blackmail, an adulterous

wife, and just about everything but

the truth. As he gathers evidence for

what he hopes will be a final confron-

tation with those who seek to con-

ceal the medical murder, Yancey s

girlfriend, Donna, is seriously injured

in an automobile accident, and

only the unsteady scalpel of surgeon

Thatcher stands between her and

death. Prejudice, bribery, and raw

violence are but part of the arsenal

brought to bear on Yancey, who

finally decides it s time to stop play-

ing by the law books and staffs fight-

ing back.