The Devil to Pay [Hardcover]

Gaylord Dold (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: February 1999

With his marriage to the beautiful Karla in disarray and his law practice in a state of neglect, wealthy San Francisco attorney Jack Darwin is also plagued with mounting financial problems, the result of his wife's heedless extravagance. Then Karla, seeking a profitable divorce, escalates his troubles when she falsely charges him with sexual brutality. Bewildered, Jack turns for help to a fellow lawyer, an aggressive and enigmatic criminal defense attorney named David Avila, who has recently befriended him.

It seems to Darwin that things can't get worse, but his is proved wrong when he is accused of a series of rape-murders that have occurred in the city. Racked by increasing doubts about the motives of his own defense counsel, Darwin decides it's more than time to take charge of his own life.

Written with brilliant authenticity by a former criminal defense attorney, The Devil to Pay creates an atmosphere of page-turning tension as police, lawyers, and an innocent victim battle what seem to be insurmountable odds to prevail against a clever and diabolically unpredictable killer.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

As the trap closes around once-privileged, now-dissolute lawyer Jack Darwin in Dold's fourth nail-biter (Schedule Two), it's clear that he's become the prey of his supposed confidant. Accused of rape and murder, the hapless Darwin turns to his colleague, the criminal lawyer David Avila, to argue on his behalf. Little does he suspect that Avila is already sleeping with Darwin's cold and calculating wife, Karla, and has visions of Darwin's Bay view apartment dancing through his head. Avila's survival-of-the-fittest reveries?which rely a bit embarrassingly on the Charles Darwin pun?intensify the creepiness of his duplicity. He fancies himself "Homo sapiens" in an uneven contest with "Homo erectus," "as if he'd just hopped down from an acacia in East Africa and was about to pounce." Avila's courtroom "mistakes" get Jack convicted of Avila's crimes. Lucky for Jack, softhearted second thoughts by police and DA staff foil Avila's plans. But this unlikely turn of fate, sadly, dispels the tension Dold has worked so painstakingly to create. The bloody end in misty San Francisco testifies to Dold's skills as a perfect scene-setter and villain's portraitist?evolutionary advantages that any writer of suspense would kill to have.
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Kirkus Reviews

Don't care for lawyers? Then you'll love this tale of how a down-on-his-luck attorney's slide to destruction is greased by his own legal counsel. Despite a fat trust fund and a trophy wife, San Francisco lawyer Jack Darwin is in trouble. His marriage is on the skids, since shy, bookish Darwin shares only one interest with vivacious Karla, and they hardly ever indulge that one anymore. Karla's spending habits have made a big dent in Darwin's trust fund, whose principal won't get turned over to him for another ten years. And his first foray into criminal defense will come a cropper as soon as the judge hears Darwin's hopelessly amateurish motion to dismiss. But as Darwin is sitting over still another bourbon bemoaning his fate, a fairy godmother appears in the form of David Avila, a fellow attorney who helps the other lawyer redraft his motion, points him toward some lucrative criminal defense work, and takes him under his wing. Darwin doesn't know that his new friend, fresh from Karla's bed, has already been plotting ways to relieve him of wife, home, and trust fund. So even as Darwin thinks he's taking the first steps toward a new life with law- student Dolores Hernandez, he's in fact following the footprints his fairy godmother has laid out for himprints that lead to a messy divorce amid allegations of assault, a hopelessly compromised reputation, and, inevitably, the hot seat in a murder trial, with Avila on hand to run Darwin's defense into the ground. Dold (Schedule Two, 1996, etc.) presents Darwin's bumpy descent with easy empathy for this flawed, gentle man, but also, regrettably, with a complete lack of surprise. It's fun for a while to watch diabolical Avila sink his client deeper and deeper into the muck, but even when the worm begins to turn, the revelations that will save Jack are as predictable as the villainy. Still, this is a sturdy nightmare for readers who love lawyers, and a satisfying revenge fantasy for readers who don't. -- Copyright ©1999, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 384 pages
• Publisher: Thomas Dunne Books; 1st edition (February 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0312192576
• ISBN-13: 978-0312192570
• Product Dimensions: 9.4 x 6.2 x 1.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.6 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,986,983 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Where is everyone????, October 7, 2002

By 

beth (Cleveland, OH) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Devil to Pay (Hardcover)

I cannot believe there aren't more customer reviews here for this book. Harder yet to believe is that the two reviews I've read are so off-base. This book was stellar! Picking this book up was a fluke. My mother needed something to read and there wasn't much time. I had never heard of Gaylor Dold, but something about it caught my eye. I read it after my mother did; quite awhile after. She told me it was great and that I should read it too, but working for a law firm, initially, I wasn't interested. Finally got around to it, and, WOW. I forced myself to hold back from getting to the end too quickly, because I wanted it to LAST! You know a character's good when you hate him. David Avila, a lawyer from below the bottom of the foodchain, is despicable. Dold has you aching to see him get his due. His client and victim, Jack Darwin, (who is also victimized by his gorgeous wife, Karla), captures your heart. He's a guy who was born with a silver spoon in his mouth, yet is somehow the mensh with whom anyone can relate and empathize, given his human failings. The biggest problem I can see with this book is IT OBVIOUSLY WASN'T PROPERLY MARKETED!!! Who's promoting you, Gaylord???!!! I'll be looking for your next book. Wonder if I'll get the heads up?

2.0 out of 5 stars expect bleak expectations, September 10, 2000

By 

"donatdeux" (maine) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Devil to Pay (Hardcover)

tawdry tale about a serial sodomist and murderer. poorly written and ploddingly plotted. well below average for the genre.

4.0 out of 5 stars attorney basher, January 30, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: The Devil to Pay (Hardcover)

To be kind, though born with a golden spoon in his mouth, San Francisco attorney Jack Darwin is a nerd's nerd. His only successful achievements besides inheriting his parents' wealth (predominantly kept in a trust by others) were passing the bar and marrying the beautiful Karla. However, his spousal relationship seems to be unraveling and now he represents his first client on a criminal case. Bluntly, Jack stinks at the job until fellow lawyer David Avila steps in and helps him.

David "adopts" Jack, who enjoys his time under the direction of his new mentor. However, David has his own agenda that includes taking Karla, whom he is sleeping with, away from Jack as well as his victim's home and trust fund. Things really turn ugly for Jack when he is accused of being a serial rapist-murderer. He hires David to represent him as his lawyer in his murder trial, but his attorney has other plans besides freedom for his client.

THE DEVIL TO PAY will excite attorney-bashers, but in spite of a crisp plot, for the most part, is not up to the level of Gaylord Dold's previous novels. The story line moves rapidly forward and reads quite well. However, the plot depends too much on gutting lawyers for their lack of ethics even more than President Reagan as the CEO used to blame the Federal government for all our country's woes. The problem with the novel resides with the characters. Jack is too pathetic and David is too amoral for readers to feel any empathy. This reviewer suggests readers peruse SCHEDULE TWO for a more balanced legal thriller from Mr. Dold.

Harriet Klausner