Publisher's Synopsis
Gabriel is a man who has damned himself with bad decisions and immoral behavior. His family is caught in the crosshairs and must bear the brunt of his behavior. He cares about only two people in his life: himself, and Gabriel.
In the wayward journey he has undertaken in his life, he finds himself becoming the victim. That is, he becomes the victim in a murder case. He is not the person who is killed, but becomes the person who is accused.
Piece by piece, the evidence stacks up against him like bricks that build a wall. The bricks divide and isolate his family on the other side of the wall, and he finds himself in deep danger of being found guilty of murder. He angrily and passionately professes to everyone he can wave a stick at, that he hasn't committed the crime.
His pleas fall on deaf ears. Nobody hears his vehement cries of innocence. Not the judge, jury, prosecuting attorneys, or even his family. When the verdict is found, he is led away and is forced into his new life - a prisoner who will rot until he meets his maker. Even the DNA says he did it, but how could that be? Can DNA really be wrong?
At a speed that seems like the blink of an eye, he goes from having a family, a decent job, and the holy of all holies - freedom. He is robbed of those blessings by being convicted of murder, and the replacing hallmarks are anger and idle time.
As time wears on, his wife's faith in his innocence erodes away. The displaced and battered relationship he had with his kids, while terrible, gets worse and is washed away into nothingness. They no longer see or hear from each other.
A Christian duo - who also doesn't believe a word he says - enter the scene to try and offer counseling and support to him. He initially only shows them one thing - the palm of his hand. He doesn't have any use for religious preaching or lecturing. He feels that's about as useful as hot sauce to a guy who is lost in the Sierra Desert.
Gabriel is eventually struck with a huge revelation. He finally surrenders his denial about the fact that his life has hit rock bottom. He's lost his freedom, family, and hope. He doesn't even have any hope that things will get better. It's time for a change, even if the change only ends up being a few sprinkles of joy.
As months wear on, Gabriel listens and learns. For the first time ever, he starts to feel remorse about how he had treated his family, and lived his life. He's finally able to realize that he's made some mistakes - some big ones.
Even though he knows he royally screwed things up in his life, he sticks to his guns about being innocent of the crime he was accused of committing. Even though he spent his entire life doing evil things and having a heart of stone, he's not a murderer.
Despite his deep doubts and reservations, the prison chaplain fashions an agreement with him to contact the investigating police and take a second look at the crime. He tells himself the whole thing is hogwash - especially since Gabriel's DNA was found at the crime scene, and Gabriel had no explanation for how it ended up there.
