Old friend Brady €œPuppy€ Barnes pulls Emerson Ward away from a party to ask for help in recovering and finding out who stole a priceless gem collection from his commercial photography studio. Less than an hour later, Puppy is ambushed and shot in front of his own home while Emerson looks on helplessly.
Unsure if the shooting is connected to the jewel theft, Emerson starts poking into every corner of Puppy€s life to see who might want him dead. Suspecting the theft was an inside job since the stones had been replaced with fakes, he even takes a job at the financially troubled ad agency that commissioned the photo shoot to tae a closer look at everyone involved.
The deeper he digs, the more skeletons he finds in the Barnes family plot, all of which paint an unflattering portrait of Puppy himself. Throw in a few dirty Chicago politicians, a murdered judge and a pattern of greed and blackmail, and Emerson soon uncovers a picture worth far more than a thousand words€"one that someone will kill to keep secret.
Michael Sherer is the 2013 Thriller Award-nominated author of 'Night Blind'.