Six months ago, Harry Bosch left the LAPD before they could fire him and subsequently hired the radical defense attorney Mickey Haller to sue the department that forced him out. Although it wasn't the way he wanted to leave, Harry acknowledges that life off the field has its advantages. Until Mickey asks him to help with one of his cases, and suddenly Harry is back where he belongs, right at the center of a particularly complex murder mystery. The difference is that this time Harry is working for the defense, trying to prevent the defendant, Da'Quan Foster, from being convicted. And not only does it seem that the prosecution has a rock-solid case, but by bending the rules of the 'dark side,' as his former colleagues would say, Harry risks betraying the principles he served throughout his career.