To the African-American community in San Antonio, Malachi Reese is a saint, a community leader, a man who feeds the hungry and houses the homeless. To San Antonio District Attorney Chris Sinclair, Reese is the Angel of a vicious killer possessed by the need for power and willing to do whatever it takes to gain it. Determined to see justice done, Sinclair overcomes incredible odds to see Reese convicted of murder and sentenced to Death Row. But Malachi Reese has not been defeated. From Death Row, he threatens to destroy Sinclair, to take him to the very top and cast him back down. As a series of seemingly unrelated crimes begins, Sinclair feels the power of Reese descending upon him, and finds that enemies are allies and allies are enemies, and that truth and justice are much more shades of gray than an issue of Black and White.

District Attorney Chris Sinclair has never really forgotten his first real love, Jean, a college girlfriend from the era of free love, a wild young woman who introduced him to a world of sex and drugs and alcohol drastically unlike is own. But she left his life in college and he's never seen her since, until a young woman is found buried in a shallow grave on the outskirts of San Antonio. Through forensic reconstruction of the decomposed skull, a face takes shape. A detail or two is different, but there's no doubt the face is Jean's, like an after image in his mind, he sees her face in the young girl's and he knows. What he doesn't know is why Jean wouldn't have reported her own daughter's disappearance; the body had been buried for months.

In the high stakes courtroom battles of his legal career, San Antonio District Attorney Chris Sinclair has prided himself on getting it right—sending society's dregs away for a long time. But when he discovers he wrongly sent a police officer to prison he begins to question his faith in the system. Eight years ago Chris sent officer Steve Greerdon to jail. Recently, new DNA evidence gave Chris cause to undo the wrongful conviction and help clear Greerdon's name, but when two police officers are murdered and Greerdon is at the scene of the crime with no alibi, Chris is once again suspicious. Greerdon claims a police conspiracy wants to send him back to jail, or is Greerdon playing Chris for a fool? Chris' girlfriend, child psychiatrist Anne Greenwald, is drawn into the deepening mystery when one of her patients confesses to her facts that could give him the evidence he needs to break the conspiracy. But she can't violate doctor-patient confidentiality, even if it might prevent a tragedy. Time is running out, and murders are piling up. If the killer can't be stopped, Chris could be next. As Chris and Anne struggle to balance their personal lives with their professional concerns, this intense, powerful novel weaves an ever-tightening web of suspense that will keep readers chasing the truth until the final page.