* STARRED BOOKLIST REVIEW *

September, 2005

Here’s a legal thriller that’s so good it instantly leaves Grisham and the gang choking on its dust.  And it’s a first novel, too. The story centers on a young man who was railroaded into confessing to a murder and now, 10 years later, sits on death row awaiting execution. Jack Tobin, a New York lawyer with high-powered past, is the only one who can prove the man’s innocence. Not only is this a top- notch legal thriller, it’s also moving story about love, guilt, personal redemption, and friendship (the condemned man is the son of Mikey, Jack’s old friend). Sheehan is a truly gifted storyteller, and the novel’s format is fresh and clever: the first half of the book is devoted to the murder and its aftermath, interspersed with vignettes (set in the 1950s and ‘60s) showing the evolving relationship between Jack and Mikey; then the story switches to the present day (1996), and we watch Jack try to assimilate events that the reader has experienced This is a terrific novel, a genuine literary achievement, and it’s just the kind of book — unknown author, small publisher — that will make readers’ advisors look terrific when they put it in the hands of legal-thriller fans searching for something new. —David Pitt

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