The protagonist Malcolm Bannister, an African American and former United States Marine, had been an attorney in a modest Virginia small-town law firm. A real estate transaction which he undertook in good faith turned out to have involved the purchase of a secluded hunting lodge where a crooked Capitol Hill lobbyist invited corrupt Congressmen for orgies with underage girls. When the scandal was exposed, Bannister was caught up in a large FBI sweep and his name was added to many others on a hundred-page racketeering charge sheet as his protestations of innocence were ignored. He was charged under the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO), convicted and given a ten-year prison term.[2] The plot starts five years later with Bannister half way through his term, where he has since been disbarred, divorced by his wife, is losing his son and nursing a bitter grudge against the Federal Government in general and the FBI in particular.[3] He gets his chance when the brutal murder of a federal judge, Judge Fawcett, and of the judge's mistress makes headlines in the media and the FBI investigation goes nowhere. [1] Bannister not only knows who the killer was and why, but also what had been in the judge's safe, as well as the judge's own hidden corruption.Book Club cancelled due to health reasons (Linda, Nancy, Rachelle) and Erin had to work..
