LuAnn Tyler is an unwed mother striving to escape a life of endless poverty. Then a mysterious Mr Jackson makes her an offer he thinks no one can refuse: a guarantee to be the winner of the $100 million lottery. But LuAnn won't do it. Less than twenty-four hours later, she is fighting for her life and running from a false murder charge. Jackson's offer - and its condition that she leave the country forever - seems her only hope. However, ten years later, LuAnn secretly returns to the United States to begin a new life with Matthew Riggs, a man whose origins are as murky as her own. But a canny reporter has picked up her trail, as have the FBI - and Jackson. Matt Riggs is the only person who can help her. But is help what Matt intends or is he too closing in for the kill? "Baldacci cuts everyone's grass - Grisham's, Ludlum's, even Patricia Cornwell's - and more than gets away with it.