Dane Conroy unwillingly entered the school of hard knocks when he was eleven. That schooling proved useful when it became time to avenge the murder of his younger brother and end the ongoing abuse of his little sister. Dane retaliated the only way the corrupt government of Atoka County understood. He called it justice, but those not acquainted with Atoka will probably call it revenge. In the following years nothing else seemed to matter anymore...until the night his wife Lydia called the F.B.I. Dane had broken rule one. "The only hard and fast rule to the perfect murder is not to tell anyone." Now he must call upon every bit of his mental stability, strength, and knowledge of violent prison life to survive. Vengeance cuts both ways.

The life of eleven year-old Dane Conroy is turned upside down when he is kidnapped by his biological father. That leads to his placement in foster homes where he is abused and battered. After he is accused of a crime he did not commit, and sentenced to reform school he starts a downward slide that lasts his entire life. This novel follows Dane till he is a scarred and broken old man who surprisingly has few regrets. Sometimes blood is inevitable.