After gambler and loan shark Jimmie Flambeau leverages Joth into an uncomfortable professional relationship, Joth and private detective DP Tran develop a high risk plan to deliver Heather from impending disaster. As nerves are frayed and lines are crossed, Joth stumbles on to a clue to a decades old mystery-and then ghosts from his past intrude. "Irving's writing reveals the twists and turns of thecourts of law and the dark byways of the human heart."-Barry Maine, Professor of English, Wake Forest University