Billy Bob, like all Burke characters, is a man with a history. The ghosts of his ancestors haunt this marvelously realized story of age-old feuds and of the sometimes subtle, sometimes violent, but always insidious conflicts between the haves and the have-nots. Whether it's manifested as a slight at a country club or a conflagration with Mexican-American gangbangers, tensions between the newly rich and those desperate to climb into circles of wealth and power at any cost animate a story with the vivid local detail, breathtaking action, and inimitable cast of characters Burke fans have come to expect.

As Billy Bob Holland's father tells him: "Heartwood trees grow in layers; like the spirit does, Grandpa Sam used to say. You just got to keep the roots in a clear stream and don't let nobody taint the water for you."