Rating: 
Summary: MARGOLIN DOES IT AGAIN!
Review: "The Last Innocent Man" is another example of Phillip Margolin's excellent writing. While some may claim his characters appear superficial, I don't agree. A reader has to use a little of their own intuitive imagination to fully interpret the characters. Margolin gives us David Nash, a high-profile lawyer, whose clients are almost always guilty---and he gets them off. Even though he's called the"Ice Man", Nash is anything but. He finds himself getting involved with his clients and their crimes. His hopes rise when he is given a client that he feels is innocent. (Even though, he has reservations). He is defending a rising young lawyer, Larry Stafford, who is accused of brutally murdering an undercover cop posing as a prostitute. His wife, Jennifer, believes he's innocent, but guess what----she is involved romantically with David, his lawyer! (This is one aspect that bothered me a little, in that Jennifer and David fall in love much too quickly to be believable). However, Margolin uses this entanglement to create quite a labyrinth of problems. Early on, we meet Thomas Gault, a man who Nash manages to get off in the brutal slaying of his wife. Gault's character is bonechillingly evil.
The novel shows the moral dilemmas lawyers and policement must confront in trying to bring criminals to justice. Ortiz, the young cop, who is the murdered cop's partner, faces such a crisis, and of course so does David Nash.
The resolution is satisfying in that the criminal is brought to justice, but what a price Mr. Nash must pay.
FINE READING
HIGHLY RECOMMENDED
Rating:
Summary: MARGOLIN DOES IT AGAIN!
Review: "The Last Innocent Man" is another example of Phillip Margolin's excellent writing. While some may claim his characters appear superficial, I don't agree. A reader has to use a little of their own intuitive imagination to fully interpret the characters. Margolin gives us David Nash, a high-profile lawyer, whose clients are almost always guilty---and he gets them off. Even though he's called the"Ice Man", Nash is anything but. He finds himself getting involved with his clients and their crimes. His hopes rise when he is given a client that he feels is innocent. (Even though, he has reservations). He is defending a rising young lawyer, Larry Stafford, who is accused of brutally murdering an undercover cop posing as a prostitute. His wife, Jennifer, believes he's innocent, but guess what----she is involved romantically with David, his lawyer! (This is one aspect that bothered me a little, in that Jennifer and David fall in love much too quickly to be believable). However, Margolin uses this entanglement to create quite a labyrinth of problems. Early on, we meet Thomas Gault, a man who Nash manages to get off in the brutal slaying of his wife. Gault's character is bonechillingly evil.
The novel shows the moral dilemmas lawyers and policement must confront in trying to bring criminals to justice. Ortiz, the young cop, who is the murdered cop's partner, faces such a crisis, and of course so does David Nash.
The resolution is satisfying in that the criminal is brought to justice, but what a price Mr. Nash must pay.
FINE READING
HIGHLY RECOMMENDED
Rating:
Summary: Is there such a thing as an Inocent Man?
Review: Another great book by Philip Margolin. This book is about a lawyer who is asked to defend a man who is accused of killing a prostitute. This book is a mystery but it also deals with a lawyer who is questioning the reasons of why he is a lawyer. I think at some point, any criminal lawyer with integrity starts questioning the reasons why they are defending criminals. The thing that makes this book so remarkable is that it really opened my eyes about the legal system. Sometimes you wonder how lawyers can defend people that commit heinous crimes and this books explains why even the worst serial killer is entitled to a proper defense. After reading this book and enjoying the storyline, I also had a new respect for our legal system. It may not always work in favor of the innocent party but most time you do get the bad guy and you lock em up and throw away the key.
Rating:
Summary: A good man caught on the horns of our legal system
Review: 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!
Rating:
Summary: Margolin is superb!
Review: Ever since "Gone But Not Forgotten", Margolin has astonished me with his ability to grab the reader with the first page, and hold tightly til the end. "The Last Innocent Man" is all the evidence needed to understand why Margolin's books continue to show up on the best seller's list. In "The Last Innocent Man", our hero's efforts to redeem himself clash with our own as we struggle to make sense of the evidence, and manipulate it to fit with our own verdict. We desperately want an innocent verdict, but blindly ignore increasing evidence to the contrary. When all seems lost, Margolin delivers with remarkable insight and purpose. A fabulous book. I can hardly wait for the next "The Undertaker's Widow".
Rating: 
Summary: Pretty good!
Review: Hello..I read the bood for my english independent study..It was good,but I need some help..about what to use for my thesis statement, and what 3 points to use? I already thought about it..but I need your opinion???
Rating:
Summary: excellent, if superficial, thriller
Review: I get the sense that there is a classic inside this author. This is the second book I've read by Phillip Margolin, and I found the same strengths and weaknesses in both. Margolin is a fine writer, and his pacing and characterizations are first-rate. In both this novel and "Gone, But Not Forgotten" he begins with a confusing melee of scenarios and people which only gradually cohere, but this gives the reader an immediate sense of vertiginous excitement. What is less forgivable is the lack of any real depth to otherwise vibrant characters. We get plenty of history but never any motive or exploration of people's thinking. Granted, this is not a psychological thriller, but no one ever even wonders why any of these people do what they do, let alone try to explain it. There is some hint of the seductive thrall of evil and a sentence or two about wanting to make sure no innocent man is convicted, but they fall short. Advertising for this book is sloppy, emphasizing the protagonist David Nash's 'Ice Man' reputation, even though that aspect of his persona is never referred to after the introductory pages. Advertising also attests to Nash's unswerving belief in his new client's innocence, but that isn't really the case in the book. The marketers didn't even read the book. I would read a Margolin novel any day. They are exciting and fun -- excellent page-turning thrillers. But I am waiting for something more, and I hope he has it in him.
Rating:
Summary: excellent, if superficial, thriller
Review: I get the sense that there is a classic inside this author. This is the second book I've read by Phillip Margolin, and I found the same strengths and weaknesses in both. Margolin is a fine writer, and his pacing and characterizations are first-rate. In both this novel and "Gone, But Not Forgotten" he begins with a confusing melee of scenarios and people which only gradually cohere, but this gives the reader an immediate sense of vertiginous excitement. What is less forgivable is the lack of any real depth to otherwise vibrant characters. We get plenty of history but never any motive or exploration of people's thinking. Granted, this is not a psychological thriller, but no one ever even wonders why any of these people do what they do, let alone try to explain it. There is some hint of the seductive thrall of evil and a sentence or two about wanting to make sure no innocent man is convicted, but they fall short. Advertising for this book is sloppy, emphasizing the protagonist David Nash's 'Ice Man' reputation, even though that aspect of his persona is never referred to after the introductory pages. Advertising also attests to Nash's unswerving belief in his new client's innocence, but that isn't really the case in the book. The marketers didn't even read the book. I would read a Margolin novel any day. They are exciting and fun -- excellent page-turning thrillers. But I am waiting for something more, and I hope he has it in him.
Rating:
Summary: Phillip Margolin's Best!
Review: 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.
Rating:
Summary: A MUST for any legal-thriller fans
Review: 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.
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