After agreeing to defend her ex-fiancé when he is arrested for a triple homicide, top criminal lawyer, Olivia Randall begins to have doubts as the evidence mounts against him.

Riktor doesn't like the way the policeman storms into his home without even knocking. He doesn't like the arrogant way he walks around the house, taking note of its contents. The policeman doesn't bother to explain why he's there, and Riktor is too afraid to ask. He knows he's guilty of a terrible crime and he's sure the policeman has found him out. But when the policeman finally does confront him, Riktor freezes. The man is arresting him for something...

It's a fine summer evening; Fred Daniels has just gotten paid; and he's happily heading home to his pregnant wife. But Fred is Black, the cops in the squad car are white; they take him to the station and torture him into confessing to a double murder he knows nothing about. Fred manages to escape down a manhole into the sewer system, where he embarks on a feverish underworld quest, experiencing a wave of epiphanies as he burrows into a Black church,...

"Disaster, Melanie Barrick was once told, is always closer than you know. It was a lesson she learned the hard way growing up in the constant upheaval of foster care. But now that she's survived into adulthood--with a loving husband, a steady job, and a beautiful baby boy named Alex--she thought that turmoil was behind her. Until one Tuesday evening when she goes to pick up Alex from childcare only to discover he's been removed by Social Services....