Mitchell Y. mcDeere has worked hard to get where he is: third in his class at Harvard Law. Aggressively recruited by all the top firms, and initially headed wor Wall Street, Mitch surprises eveyone by joining Bendini, Lambert & Locke, a very private, very rich tax firm in Memphis. Mitch and his wife Abby move to Tennessee and quickly settle into their new life: they're young, happy, and on the fast track. Or so they think.

Soon, though, Mitch senses trouble: two of the partners die in a supicious diving accident off Grand Cayman; the firm's management is overly proud of the fact that no one has ever resigned; and security measures at the firm are-even for a company with billionaire clients-more than a little stringent. Then, suddenly, Mitch's vague suspicions come to life. While eating alone at a nearby diner, he is approached by a man named Tarrance who claims to be with the FBI. Tarrance tells Mitch that the firm's 'security' people have bugged his phone, his house, and probably his car; that he is in great danger and should be extremely careful; that he cannot tell a soul of their meeting; and that the FBI will contact him again soon. Then he is gone.

In subsequent meetings with Tarrance, Mitch is told that the FBI has been studing Bendini, Lambert & Locke for years, and that while they have a few legitimate clients, they are most assuredly not a law firm. When Mich learns what they really are, he is at first shocked, then frightened; when he learns what that they really do, and how they do it, he is terrified. And when Tarrance tells him the FBI needs an informant inside the firm, he realizes he's trapped: the FBI will bust him if he doesn't cooperate, and the firm will kill him if he does. There's no way out.

Or is there?

Blending the suspense of Ken Follett with the legal intrigue of Scott Turow, this is one of those rare novels that grab you on page one and simply cannot be put down.