Father Mark Sutton, a Catholic priest in Houston, is astonished when a man confesses to the murder of a woman because she was a prostitute. However, Catholic canon law prohibits a priest from divulging what he is told in the confessional booth. Father Sutton is troubled, but it makes no difference because he cannot see the man nor can the man see him. He only knows the man has a Boston accent.
Three weeks later, the same voice confesses to murdering another prostitute.
When Father Sutton learns that an innocent man has been charged with the second murder, he is confronted with a dilemmaallow an innocent man to be convicted or break the confessional seal. He turns to Hannah Fisher, the Harris County Chief Felony Prosecutor to whom he was once engaged, for advice.
Bruno Kilpatrick, who has recently moved to Houston from the Boston area, fears that Father Sutton will break the confessional seal and be able to identify him as the murderer. He becomes obsessed with permanently silencing Sutton.
What is the advice of Suttons former lover? Will he break the confessional seal? Will Bruno Kilpatrick add Sutton to the list of those he has murdered?
