Christian Napier remembers well when his best friend's father was found guilty of murder. The friend, Nicky Lanyon, moved away and Chris never saw him again, despite having played with him almost daily for most of his young life.

Nicky shows up years later while Chris is home to attend a family wedding, looking destitute and desperate to prove his father was innocent of the crime. The convoluted situation -- the man Nicky's father killed was Chris' uncle -- leaves Chris feeling torn and pulled between the old friendship and his family.

When Nicky hangs himself and Chris finds the body, Chris is drawn to look more closely at the situation. What he finds convinces him that his child's eyes didn't fully assimilate what was going on and Nicky may well have had a point when he rambled about his father's innocence.

Chris becomes more sure that he's on to something when someone attacks him at his business, jeopardizing everything he has worked and built.

Reading a Goddard book is like traveling in a canoe, blissfully enjoying the scenery and sinking your mind into beautiful writing. And then out of nowhere, up pops Jaws, decimating your little craft and leaving you gasping in the cold water, tense with the knowledge that multiple teeth will clamp your legs and end your life. Every single book of his -- and I've read most, if not all -- I find myself in the first few chapters meandering along, enjoying the glossy writing and wondering if I really want to read this book. Then gradually, carefully, I'm sucked into the people, the mystery, the wondering -- until I can't put the book down. If you haven't discovered this author yet, you're missing out on one of the many reasons books bring joy.