FADE THE HEAT is the Edgar-nominated classic that helped start the popularity of the legal thriller. District Attorney Mark Blackwell gets a call at his lover's house. The call is from Mark's wife, telling him their son David has been arrested. Mark rushes to get him released from jail, where he learns the crime with which his 23-year-old son is charged: aggravated rape. The D.A. is stunned. Nothing in the son's history would suggest he is capable of such a crime. But the victim, a cleaning lady in the son's office building, tells a convincing story, and David's is absurd: the woman came into his office at night, tore off her own clothes, scratched her own flesh, and screamed for help. Mark Blackwell will do anything to free his son, and as District Attorney he is in a position to do a lot. But even as he struggles to save David, questions haunt him. Could his son really have done this? If not, what kind of bizarre plot led to the scenario he describes? Mark will do whatever he has to do to free his son, but he's fighting the system in which he's made his life. Along the way the reader learns just how the "justice system" works. "Its knowing view of the American justice system chills to the bone." -- Washington Post

One reviewer called FADE THE HEAT "better than Turow... I'll go a step further and add a comparison to the classic TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD, because Brandon's focus encompasses more than merely the courtroom. Like Harper Lee, he comments on the heartbeat of a region and its family life... FADE THE HEAT is a profouind statement about contemporary Texas, the state's political system and society's pressures on the modern family everywhere... I kept having to remind myself I was reading fiction." -- Houston Chroncile
People magazine said, "FADE THE HEAT is a tightly written, well-paced legal soap opera flush with interesting characters. Brandon has an eye for detail and an ear for the chatter of cops and lawyers. The fun of reading FADE THE HEAT is in following the choices made by the principle characters. At no point does Brandon ever show his hand or hint at where the story will turn."
"It is a novel which brings crime and legal maneuvering into your own living room. One you will enjoy deeply. One that will make you think far beyond the present to what legal brambles lie ahead of any ordinary modern family. Perhaps including your own." - The Macon Beacon