He served as Harris County assistant district attorney in 1958, shortly after graduating from law school, first under Dan Walton and then under Frank Briscoe.
[citation needed] He was appointed by Governor of Texas John Connally to fill the vacated district attorney’s spot when Frank Briscoe resigned to run for Congress in 1966 (Briscoe lost to Republican George H. W. Bush).
At age 32, he became the second-youngest district attorney in Harris County history (only 21-year-old Peter Gray, chosen in 1842, was younger).
The book, using first person narration, begins with the Elmer Wayne Henley prosecution and roughly chronologically goes through Vance's terms from 1966 to 1979.
Mary Flood of the Houston Chronicle stated "it appears a comfortable and engaging read".