In a nutshell, lawyer Michael Brock is held hostage by a homeless man who has been wrongfully evicted. The hostage situation ends quickly and dramatically but births a nagging conscious in Brock. Not as exciting as the Rainmaker, The Firm, or the Runaway Jury - but an excellent read. If nothing else it dispels some of the glamor of the lawyer lifestyle through is portrayal of their hours and hours of work, work, bill, bill career. (At least my hours & hours at the office were spent playing with computers) -- Spoilers --Spoilers-- I enjoyed the book a great deal, if it was a bit predictable (most books are). I found myself more interested in the lawyer's life than in the homeless people, which is probably off target for the book. Strangely, I found myself hoping Brock and his wife (who are in the midst of a divorce) would get back together, but they don't. Their marriage ends in more reality than I wanted. That kinda fits the tone of the book, lots of reality. Homeless people get screwed, Brock's marriage unravels, etc. etc. But with a hopeful ending where the law firm that struggles for the rights of the homeless wins a judgement and is thusly funded to continue the fight. An encapsulation of this is the police officer who is a jerk from the onset but turns out to be quietly in disgust of his duty of jerking around a lawyer for the homeless when real crime waits. The aftermath ending of the book, where a founding partner of the wealthy firm succumbs to feelings of guilt and institutes a policy pro bono work at the firm is a bit counter to the tone of the book and a bit "fairy tale-ish" for me (forgive me my cynicism). The last statement of the book, how much Brock's life has changed in just over 30 days is a nice touch and for good bad, it's true. No predicting when or how life can decide to change to almost everything on you. :)