Miami criminal defense lawyer Jack Swyteck doesn't exactly have it all, but life's good. If it weren't for his best friend, bar owner Theo Knight, Jack would have nothing to worry about. Theo grew up in Miami's roughest neighborhood. His Uncle Cy tried his best to raise him right, but Theo ended up a teenager on Florida's death row for a murder he didn't commit. Jack was the lawyer who proved him innocent. A phone call at 3 a.m. reminds Jack that the past is never that far away. Theo has been ambushed by a punk from the old neighborhood.Up until two hours before, Isaac Reems had been in prison. He's now a fugitive, and promises that if Theo will help him elude the manhunt, he will name the guy who killed Theo's momma. Theo's mother died when he was a boy-brutally murdered. The crime was never solved. It's clear from the get-go that it wasn't a lowlife from the old 'hood who slit his mother's throat. Someone has a very dark secret, one that he will stop at nothing to protect. Jack and Theo's search will take them right up to the doors of Miami's elite, but for Theo the danger is personal. Jack's friend doesn't want jusice. He needs revenge. As the two men draw closer to the truth, the twists and turns along a twenty-year-old trail of evidence seem to point in a direction that chills even Theo.