DRUG ABUSE. JEALOUSY. KIDNAPPING. RAPE. MURDER. DIVORCE. ADOPTION. MENTAL HEALTH.
SELF-HARM. DEPRESSIVE DISORDER. SUICIDE. COVID-19 When Keith, a US prosecuting attorney face the reality that his wife is battling with heroin addiction, prolonged post-natal depressive disorder and attempted suicide through self-harm, he walked out on the marriage leaving an eighteen-month old son with Teresa who was vulnerable and struggling with drug and substance misuse, and addiction. Teresa's license to practice as a registered nurse was revoked due to drug abuse addiction. Tom was taken away from his mother by the social services. The author featured the plight that some children who are fostered or adopted go through during their social care. Twenty-eight years later Tom had grown to become a menace and notorious criminal in the society with a record of all manner of conviction ranging from theft, rape and murder.
His defence attorney was a strong team. The case is a defining moment in Keith's prosecuting career, Keith is not someone who is easily coerced into plea bargaining by the defence, but when he received the shock of his life that the accused person was his own biological son whom he had abandoned almost three decades ago, plea bargaining was inevitable. Keith must now find a way to prove his son's innocence. This is the most challenging trial in Keith's career; the murder victim - Steve is Tom's half-brother, unknown to Keith, Teresa remarried after their divorce and gave birth to Steve, a successful accountant. Tom met Steve later in life, he got jealous of him and conspired to have him murdered in cold blood, his motive is to solely inherit the real estate bequeathed to Tom and Steve in the Will and Last Testament of their grand-parents: Phoebe and Matthew who lived in Pennsylvania. Tom was not happy that his mother never mentioned his name in a letter Steve showed to him by Steve, he got jealous of Steve and poisoned him. The story reached it's climax with the sentencing remarks by Tremaine Hernandez. A must read.