Innocence (Hardcover)

by David Hosp (Author)
Key Phrases: riot guard, Vincente Salazar, Officer Steele, Mark Dobson (more...)

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 (July 11, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0446580147
• ISBN-13: 978-0446580144
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6.1 x 1.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars See all reviews (17 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #208,943 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

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

By	Nick Gonnella - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)

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

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

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

By	Boston Reader "MTF" (Boston, MA USA) - See all my reviews

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	armchairinterviews.com (Minnesota) - See all my reviews

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.