Publishers Weekly
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Defense attorney Dow, the founder of the Texas Innocence Project, makes an impressive fiction debut. Wealthy Tieresse Kerryman courts Rafael Zhettah, a chef from a humble background, after she has a meal at his Houston restaurant, and the pair soon marry. Their fairy tale romance comes to an end two years later when Tieresse is bludgeoned to death with a candlestick in their home and Zhettah is arrested for her murder. Zhettah was sleeping with one of the waitresses at his restaurant at the time, but his alibi isn't enough to persuade a jury of his innocence. On death row, Zhettah struggles to maintain his sanity, even as a team of dedicated appellate lawyers battle to avert his execution. Eventually, Dow reveals the truth about the circumstances behind the teasing opening prologue, in which Zhettah offers cake to two fellow prisoners, whom he addresses as "Your Honors," on the one-year anniversary of their captivity. The plot is a page-turner, and the addition of Dow's knowledge of the legal machinery of death and his nuanced characterization of his lead elevate this above similarly themed legal thrillers. Agent: Simon Lipskar, Writers House. (Apr.) © Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.

Library Journal
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DEBUT In this first novel from memoirist Dow (Things I've Learned from Dying), restaurateur Rafael Zhettah falls in love with Tieresse, an older, wealthy philanthropist. A year after the wedding, she's violently murdered. Despite an alibi and circumstantial evidence, Rafael is convicted, sentenced to death, and spends over six years on death row before previously withheld evidence is discovered and exonerates him. Unlike many who have been wrongfully convicted, Rafael's gratitude is mitigated by a need for retribution, which he quickly begins to seek out. The novel explores wrongful convictions, the death penalty and appeals process, life on death row, and exoneration. It's also about duplicity-the honest and hardworking man becoming a criminal only after a wrongful conviction; a legal system that seems too often to pit police, prosecutors, and judges against the truth-and features an ingenious, well-planned, and perfectly executed revenge. VERDICT This fast-paced legal thriller powerfully captures themes of love, surrender, despair, and vengeance. It will appeal to fans of Phillip Margolin and George Pelecanos, and pair nicely with Anthony Ray Hinton's memoir The Sun Does Shine. [See Prepub Alert, 10/22/18.]-George Lichman, Rocky River, OH © Copyright 2019. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

Book list
From Booklist, Copyright © American Library Association. Used with permission.

In this thought-provoking debut, Dow, founder and director of the Texas Innocence Network, portrays Rafael Zhettah, a successful chef who marries a much richer woman whom he is then accused of murdering. The absorbing tale of misfortune takes readers inside the mind of a good man who's desperate to prove his innocence as well as inside the world of a maximum-security prison and the horror that is death row; in a twist that takes up the second part of the novel, Zhettah's gentle, loving ways are abandoned as he seeks revenge on the justice system that wronged him. While the main character's actions are sometimes a little far-fetched, the questions of who gets justice and why court procedure seems to take such precedence over indivdual lives will stay with readers after the satisfying ending to this surprising read. An apt suggestion for further reading is Bryan Stevenson's Just Mercy (2014), a nonfiction exposé of the same kinds of wrongs.--Henrietta Verma Copyright 2010 Booklist

Kirkus
Copyright © Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

An acclaimed professor, memoirist, and activist delivers a debut novel that's a page-turner with a message.Rafael Zhettah doesn't want or need much out of life. He likes to cook at his restaurant, he likes to be alone, and not a single part of him expected to marry a billionaire and then be sent to death row for killing her, a murder he didn't commit. Dow (Law/University of Houston Law Center and History/Rice University; Things I've Learned from Dying, 2014, etc.) is the author of two memoirs detailing his experiences with the Texas Innocence Network, devoted to helping death row inmates with their appeals. His criminal justice work is a clear influence on this novel, and his passion bleeds through on every page. The claustrophobic nature of prisons, the routine cruelty, the anonymous suffering, the decrepit conditionsthey all come through in straightforward, well-written prose. "Men do not go crazy from being locked in a cage. They do not go crazy from the outside pushing in. They crack from the inside pushing out. When you take away hope, madness fills its place, and madness is loud." Dow knows his stuff. Authenticity is this novel's strongest element, but the message can sometimes drown out the drama. Narrated by Zhettah in a quick, direct style, the novel feels like two books in one. The first half is about Zhettah's time on death row. The second features his intricate and intriguing plan for revengetwo judges, a missile silo, two planes, a parachute, some light computer hacking, and lots of MREs feature in his plotting. In this novel, justice is not just blind, it's hamstrung, but the reader knows from the start that the scales will be balanced by the end.A solidly suspenseful novel by an anti-death penalty activist thatdespite some surprising detoursreads like a novel by an anti-death penalty activist. Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.