"Cold logic held his attention. Recording specifics gave him a sense of belonging that nothing else did. As he wrote, he grew less and less emotional."

A change of heart prompts one man to reevaluate the life he thought he knew in David Hecker's contemplative debut, "Strangers Before the Bench."

George Schwartz prides himself on his job as an Immigration Naturalization Service Hearing judge. Working in Seattle, he has gained a reputation as a "fences up" judge, meaning that immigrants who appear before him on even the slightest infraction can count on being deported. Schwartz has no...