The Last Innocent Man

by Phillip Margolin

Book Overview

Defense attorney David Nash has made a career out of setting monsters free--and no one does it better. Now a case has come to the Ice Man that could help cleanse Nash of the guilt and doubts that... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Mass Market Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0553569791
• ISBN13: 9780553569797
• Release Date: August 1995
• Publisher: Bantam
• Length: 352 Pages
• Weight: 0.35 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.0" x 4.2" x 6.8"

Customer Reviews

What a book!!!

This is my first book read by this author. Excellent work, I was overly impressed.This book was filled with the best characters, the best developing plot and the best conclusion. A truly wonderful thriller! An innocent man is on trial for the rape and murder of a prostitute who was really an undercover cop. David Nash, a defense attorney, must put his career on the line to find the real murderer before the Innocent Man will become the Guilty Man.This author truly has talent as I normally stay away from the courtroom drama. Suspense would pop out at the simplest element. My attention got me where I could not put the book down until I had read the entire thing. The ending is not what you expect at all. Don't miss this one!

Innocent Client -- Guilty Lawyer

The Last Innocent Man is a thought provoking thriller that gives Margolin an opportunity to present the moral debate that defense attorneys must go through in defending people accused of indefensible crimes and antisocial behavior. David Nash is a defense attorney who is suffering burn out when he meets a mysterious young woman at a party and takes her back to his house. The next day when he realizes that he wants to see her again, she is no where to be found, surfacing only when her husband is accused of killing a policewoman who was posing as a prostitute. The wife swears that her husband was with her at the time the crime took place, and David agrees to take the defense in spite of his reservations about their involvement. All the while he is trying to come to grips with having successfully defended some guilty clients who will undoubtedly hurt others again as soon as they are free. My review is not nearly as gripping as the book was to read. This is my second book by Phillip Margolin and I am looking forward to my third which will be "Gone But Not Forgotten." In a world full of good legal thriller authors, he is one of the best in my opinion.

A MUST for any legal-thriller fans

I have to admit that I read this AFTER reading the INCREDIBLE 'Gone, But Not Forgotten' and 'After Dark' mostly because I was SO impressed with the other two that I simply HAD to find something else by Mr. Margolin. What I found was a novel which in many respects reminded me of 'Gone, But Not Forgotten'...It seems to me that 'The Last Innocent Man' was sort of the proving grounds for Margolin as he prepared for his true masterpiece, 'GBNF'. That in NO WAY diminishes how much I truly enjoyed this book. I have said it before, and I'll say it again, Margolin makes Grisham look like a law school drop-out. I think Margolin's true talent lies in his ability to pace his books like an Indy race. You can't help but be swept up into the story and how scenes change almost as fast as you can turn the pages. He paces his books less as chapters, and more like a few paragraphs in between different plot-lines. If you want a book that is ALWAYS moving from one scene to another, and a courtroom battle which will stay with you long after you finish this book than do NOT pass up 'The Last Innocent Man' by Phillip Margolin, it's another home run from one of the genre's best authors.

Phillip Margolin's Best!

I have now read every single book that Phillip Margolin has written, excluding Wild Justice and I feel that The Last Innocent Man is the best! The best characters, the best developing plot and the best conclusion of any of his novels. An INNOCENT man is on trial for the rape and murder of a prostitute (undercover cop). David Nash, a defense attorney, must put his career on the line to find the real murderer before the Innocent Man will become the Guilty Man.

A good man caught on the horns of our legal system

Do the Johnny Cochrans and F. Lee Baileys of this world have a conscience? That's what we mere mortals want to know when we see how fiercely they fight (and manipulate!) to have murderers acquitted and returned to our streets. Are they men to whom money, fame and winning the case are all that matters? Or are they, like Margolin's protagonist David Nash, caught in a system where they are morally and legally obligated to do everything in their power to save their clients -- however guilty they might perceive those clients to be? What happens when a defense attorney becomes too good at what he does -- too good at manipulating facts and mastering juries? Margolin, himself a highly successful defense attorney, as well as author of a growing list of explosive legal thrillers, comes to grips wih this dilemma, where all too often it is not Justice but the ability of the defense that determines whether an innocent person goes to prison or a monster is released to continue preying on society.Brilliant, unbeatable David Nash has reached the pinnacle of his career, but that pinnacle doesn't look the way he thought it would. He became a defense attorney with the ideal of saving the innocent and improving the world. But now he finds that, "there aren't many innocent people around here," and feels that, for the most part, he is turning the worst kind of fiends loose on the world he had hoped to make better. He is losing faith in himself and in his career. Then, just in time, comes his dream: An Innocent Man, deserving of the best defense Nash can give him. But then, when he learns that his "last innocent man" has lied to him and used him and is therefore Presumed Guilty, he falls into a deep depression. There he wallows in the morass until he receives a shock so horrendous that he is impelled to pull himself up and re-enter the fray. Now Nash must find a way to bring down the wiliest and most diabolical killer in order to save not only his soul but his very life -- and the life of! the woman he loves.While I found more spine-tingling suspense in some other Mogolin novels, especially in Gone But Not Forgotten, this novel is just as compelling in its own way. Another fabulous win for this author -- and for all of us who just can't wait for another Phillip Margolin to hit the stands!