The Conviction

In this gripping, high-octane legal thriller by critically acclaimed New York Times bestselling author Robert Dugoni, a father steps outside the law and does whatever it takes to save his son, trapped in a juvenile detention center from hell.

Lawyer David Sloane is desperate to get through to his troubled teenaged son Jake. Still reeling from the devastating loss of his mother in a brutal murder, Jake has spiraled out of control and Sloane has barely been able to keep him out of jail. So when his old friend, detective Tom Molia, suggests that Sloane and Jake join him and his son TJ on a camping trip, Sloane gratefully accepts. What Sloane imagines will be the perfect excursion to spend quality time with his son out of harm's way, turns into a horrifying nightmare when Jake and TJ are caught vandalizing a general store late at night and sentenced by the presiding judge to six months in the county-owned wilderness detention camp, Fresh Start.

As Sloane fights the conviction against the boys, he discovers that local judge Earl Boykin's authority seems to extend far beyond the confines of his courtroom. Meanwhile, Jake and TJ find that the detention center has a very different purpose than rehabilitating troubled youths. With their legal options exhausted and their boys' lives on the line, Sloane and Molia hatch an unlikely rescue operation to save the teens.