They're so sorry...

They've made a terrible mistake...

There's nothing they can do...

They have to take your daughter away.

You have three weeks to say goodbye.

After years of trying for a child, Jack and Melissa McGuane adopted a beautiful baby girl. Nine months later, a call from the adoption agency plunges them into every parent's worst nightmare: the father never signed away his parental rights, and now he wants his daughter back.

The biological father is a sullen eighteen-year-old with gangland connections, and, even worse, is the son of a well-connected federal judge who is prepared to use the full weight of his influence to get what he wants. Together they wage a harrowing campaign of intimidation and harassment aimed at destroying the McGuanes before they can fight back.

Jack and Melissa know that the boy has no love for his daughter, but what they don't know is why he and the judge want the girl so badly. With three weeks until they must legally hand over their baby, just how far outside the law are they prepared to go to find out?

A New York Times bestseller

C.J. Box is the winner of 2009's Edgar Award for Best Novel