The anxiety of father-son relations and the vice of motherly overnurture combine with courtroom drama and a dark mystery in this novel about family ties and an occulded past. Commercial artist Harry Pitman leads a seemingly idyllic life - he has a good job with an advertising firm, a fine house in the country, and an adoring child he can dote on. However, not everything with Pitman is as it seems, and when newspaper reporter and relentless snooper Peter Gribbin becomes interested in the artist's affairs, a shocking discovery threatens to tear Pitman's life apart. Soon everyone's fate rests upon one man, lawyer Caesar Kent, whose theatrics and mental agility make him a killer in the courtroom, and one boy - Pitman's 13-year-old son.
