The author describes the life-altering tragedy she experienced as a teen, when her cousin was murdered in a robbery gone wrong and explains why she needed to meet one of the killers thirty years later at his parole hearing.

As a teenager, Johnson lived in Queens with her family; her popular, cool cousin Karen in the Bronx. Her father was a highly protective, at times overbearing, parole officer; her uncle, Karen's dad, was a homicide detective. When Karen was shot and killed in a robbery gone wrong at the Burger King where she worked, the subsequent trials and media circus marked the end of Elle's childhood innocence. Thirty years later, living in Los Angeles and working as a television writer, Johnson learned one of Karen's killers was eligible for parole, and her older brother asked Elle to write a letter to the parole board arguing against his release. Here she with honesty what parents can and cannot do to protect their children, the reverberations of violence on survivors' lives, and the overwhelming power of forgiveness, even in the face of unspeakable tragedy.