9798651714629. New condition. Trade paperback. Language: English. Pages: 652. Trade paperback (US). Glued binding. 652 p. A Lauren Dampner Novel. Lauren Dampner lives a life of seclusion in northeast Florida with Wooker, her service dog. Once a preeminent capital defense attorney, Lauren has chosen her life of seclusion as part of her recovery process from severe post-traumatic stress disorder. On a beautiful full-moon night, Karen Koffee stops at a convenience store on her way home from night school. On the way back to her car, she is confronted by a man with a gun. "Open your mouth and you're dead."Before she can react, Karen is forced into his car and knocked unconscious. She awakens in a secluded clearing in a nearby woods. Calvin Stelley brutally beats and assaults her until she is able to get his gun. And shoots him dead. While fleeing from the clearing, Karen broadsides a pickup truck that pulls out in front of her. LifeFlighted to a Jacksonville hospital for surgery, Karen awakens 18 hours later to find she is a "person of interest" in a murder investigation. When an ambitious states attorney escalates Karen Koffee from a "person of interest" to a "murder suspect", Karen reaches out to the only attorney that she knows. Now, these two women must face their personal demons, deal with the sociological myths that surround sexual assault and overcome a criminal justice system that often treats the victim worse than the perpetrator.
