Innocence [Hardcover]

David Hosp (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: July 11, 2007

With life as a pawn in a prestigious Boston law firm behind him, Scott Finn has set course through the more colorful back alleys and bedrooms of the legal world as a solo practitioner who dabbles in civil litigation, divorce law, and criminal defense. But his new environment and his nose for justice and fair play land him a case that could end up taking his life. A policewoman is left for dead in an alley, but survives and points the finger at an El Salvadoran immigrant with ties to one of South America's most dangerous and notorious gangs. There's just one problem: the evidence suggests the wrong man's been fingered. Finn, along with the maverick detective and stubborn ally Tom Kozlowski, must now navigate through this explosive case to save an innocent man's life and to learn why decorated officers might be willing to risk their careers and even their lives by lying about the crime. But with time running out, it is Finn and Kozlowski whose lives hang in the balance as they search for the thin line between guilt and innocence.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

In Hosp's strong third novel (after 2006's disappointing The Betrayed), Boston lawyer Scott Finn, the hero of Hosp's debut, Dark Harbor (2005), has resigned from his white-shoe law firm and gone into practice for himself, along with cop-turned-PI Tom Kozlowski and legal intern Lissa Krantz. Finn gets roped into the case of Vincente Salazar, an illegal El Salvador immigrant with gang ties who was convicted of shooting a policewoman. Salazar has spent 15 years in prison, but new DNA evidence might exonerate him. Finn bitches and moans about pro bono cases, but readers know that underneath his cynical shell lies an honest straight shooter who loves the law and will go to his grave defending it—which he nearly does as a host of bad guys set out to convince Finn it's unhealthy to reopen the Salazar case. Clever banter, interesting legalities and compelling characters put Hosp, an attorney who has worked on New England's Innocence Project, back in the running for a top spot in the Boston legal thriller stakes. (July)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From Booklist

In 1992, a Boston policewoman is attacked and left for dead. But she survives and fingers Vincente Salazar, an El Salvadoran immigrant, as the perp. He is quickly arrested and just as quickly convicted. In 2007, Scott Finn, a private-practice attorney, is approached by a representative of the Innocence Project, a group dedicated to freeing people who were wrongly convicted. Salazar is innocent, the man tells Finn, and not only that, the evidence--some of which was suppressed by police in 1992--points to a conspiracy involving the very people who put the El Salvadoran away. Finn must risk his career, not to mention his life, to see that justice is done. While it doesn't break much new ground, this gripping legal thriller (more in the vein of Phillip Margolin than John Grisham) will be a hit with genre fans across the board, as well as people who recall the recent excellent-but-cancelled ABC crime drama, In Justice. David Pitt
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 430 pages
• Publisher: Grand Central Publishing; 1St Edition edition (July 11, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0446580147
• ISBN-13: 978-0446580144
• Product Dimensions: 6.2 x 1.5 x 9.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (29 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #438,385 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

In addition to being a novelist, David Hosp is a lawyer and a partner in the Trial Department at Goodwin Procter LLP, one of Boston's oldest and largest law firms. He was born in New York and grew up primarily in Manhattan and Rye, New York. He is a graduate of Dartmouth College and of The George Washington University Law School. During college, he also studied at the London School of Economics.

After graduating from Law School, Mr. Hosp returned to New York, where he practiced law at a large Wall Street law firm before moving to Boston and beginning his practice with Goodwin Procter. He spends a significant portion of his legal career working pro bono with organizations like The Boston Public Library and The New England Innocence Project. His third book, "Innocence," was inspired by his representation of a man wrongly convicted of the attempted murder of a Boston police officer in 1997, who was exonerated through DNA evidence in 2004.

Hosp's first novel, "Dark Harbor," was a Barry Award nominee for Best First Novel and a Book Sense Pick of the Month. Hosp's third novel, "Innocence," was named one of 2009's best summer reads by The Daily Telegraph.

Hosp lives south of Boston with his wife and two children.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars a GREAT page-turner!, March 27, 2008

By 

Mark "MTF" (Waltham, MA, United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Innocence (Hardcover)

Finally, a proclaimed page-turner that really was just that. I read it in three days, and it did keep me up long past my normal bedtime hour. I loved this novel. Good writing, great characters, a plot that always moves, and a thriller that is almost believable! This author has been compared to Grisham and Baldacci. I'm not sure that the comparison is quite right. Innocence is much better everything those two authors have written after their first one or two best sellers. I used to love mystery-thrillers, but have been disappointed in recent years. They haven't grabbed me like they used to. I picked this book up because of the Boston connection, and was riveted by every aspect of this novel. If you're looking for great escapist fun, this is the thriller you've been waiting for. The only unsolved mystery at the end of the book was: why isn't author David Hosp a best-selling author and household name? I can't wait to read his other two novels.

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Whew! A 5-star legal thriller, July 16, 2007

By 

Armchair Interviews (Minneapolis, MN) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Innocence (Hardcover)

Madeline Steele is a young, ambitious police officer attacked suddenly and left for dead. The attack leaves Madeline to use a wheelchair. Vincente Salazar, an El Salvadoran immigrant, is immediately arrested and jailed. Now fifteen years later Mark Dobson, a young attorney at Howery, Black law firm is convinced of Vincente's innocence but he turns to Scott Finn for help with the case. Finn is now a sole practitioner and not really interested in getting involved in the case, but Dobson is convincing and talks Finn into at least visiting the prisoner. Kozlowski, a detective who shares office space with Finn, insists on going along with Finn to the prison. Kozlowski has some knowledge of the crime since he is a former police officer and was friends with Madeline Steele. He is not forthcoming with any information regarding the case though.

Finn visits the prison and is not totally convinced but agrees to make one court appearance and is granted the right to have DNA evidence tested that was not presented at trial. Finn decides he will withdraw after the court appearance--but before he gets his withdrawal filed attorney Dobson is brutally murdered. The murder is committed in the manner of the VDS, one of South America's notorious gangs that have established themselves in the Boston area.

Finn begins to think Vincente really is innocent and begins to work hard to prove that fact. Kozlowski reluctantly helps him, and Lissa, Finn's legal assistant, aids in the research.

The presumption of innocence is essential to the criminal process but evidence can be tampered with or held back completely. Finn's investigation begins to reveal facts that have been withheld and evidence that doesn't reveal the true facts. The further Finn gets into the investigation, the more danger he finds that affects not only him but also Kozlowski and Lissa.

I was drawn into the story from page one and thought Hosp made the characters seem alive and real and people that I would like to meet. I look forward to reading more about Finn and his associates.

Armchair Interviews says: A 5-star legal thriller that will grab you and keep holding on.

10 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars OUTSTANDING! An original and entertaining thriller., July 13, 2007

By 

Nick G - See all my reviews

This review is from: Innocence (Hardcover)

Officer Madeline Steele has devoted her life to fighting crime, until the night she is brutally attacked and left for dead. Miraculously surviving her attack, Madeline ID's Vincente Salazar, an illegal immigrant and doctor, as her attacker. Overwhelming evidence, as well as the victim's testimony make this an open-and-shut case that sends Salazar to prison, even as Salazar swears his innocence...

Scott Finn has left his position at a powerful Boston firm to open his own practice in his hometown of Charleston. Finn will do anything for work; taking on messy divorces, as well as defending hardened criminals, but nothing has prepared him for the twisted case he receives.

Sitting in prison for fifteen years, Salazar has screamed his innocence with no one listening, but now an attorney has decided to look into the claims of innocence. Mark Dobson is the attorney that believes there is truth to Salazar's claim and he decides to look into the fifteen year old crime. Dobson knows he will need help and the man to help him is Scott Finn.

Finn is hesitant to get involved in this case, but after someone close to him is murdered and new evidence surfaces that may prove Salazar's innocence, he teams up with his buddy Tom Kozlowski, a former detective with information on the attack of Madeline Steele. Together, Finn and Kozlowski must unravel a crime that stretches from Central America to Boston to bring a killer to justice.

'Innocence' is OUTSTANDING! This original and entertaining thriller is one of the best reads out right now. From the explosive first chapter, through every twist filled chapter the reader is held captive wondering what will happen next. To say that 'Innocence' is a great legal thriller would be unfair because it is so much more than that..this novel has everything; great characters, complex plot, surprising twists, brutal murders, and a fast pace...You will not be able to put this down.

If you have not yet discovered David Hosp do yourself a favor and read this novel, then seek out his first two novels that are equally as good.

A MUST read!

Nick Gonnella