The Innocent One

When a child is tried for killing another child and is found not guilty, what’s next? For Sebastian Croll, English law means he’s anonymous and allowed to go on with his life. When he’s wanted for questioning in another killing years later, Daniel Hunter, his solicitor in this case and the earlier one, and the main character here, promises Sebastian that so much time has passed that even the police won’t be able to access records of the previous accusation. Whether they know about that past event or not, the police aren’t dropping their suspicions easily, leading Daniel and readers into the ethical quandary regarding how much a child can be responsible for their actions and how much those past actions should matter if their adult behavior goes off the rails. Ballantyne (The Guilty One, 2022) juxtaposes the paths of two troubled boys’ lives here, with Sebastian’s the more dramatically bad version but Daniel’s own hell—the foster-care system—on display through flashbacks and his current erratic, self-destructive behavior. Can Daniel save himself and his marriage while he fights for a client he can’t believe? Ballantyne’s crisp writing makes getting to the answer a fast, absorbing trip through what happens when self-loathing and love collide.