There's no point in telling lies. The truth will always come out

Daniel Brasher comes from one of San Francisco's wealthiest families. Wanting to give back to the community, he leaves his high paying job as a money manager for a job as a community counselor.

He works in a tough neighborhood and his counseling is with ex-cons who have chosen his counseling group in return for a reduction in their jail time.

His wife, Christina, tries to help in the community when a large company tries to take over people's homes and replace them with a large building.

One day, going through his mail, Daniel sees a note to someone that they must do what the note demands or they will "bleed for the actions they have done." Later, Daniel learns that the time for the person's response went by and the victim was brutally murdered.

Two other notices are given in the same manner and Daniel tries getting the police involved but is too late. Then, a note comes for Daniel.

The suspense mounts as the reader tries to guess who the killer might be and with Gregg Hurwitz's writing skill, they usually guess the wrong person.

The story is timely and it seems as if events like events like these could happen to anyone.

Hurwitz describes his characters in a realistic manner as if we were sitting in the counseling room and trying to explain crimes we've committed.