Customer Reviews

The Devil To Pay

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I've been reading Harold Robbins since before I probably should have been reading Harold Robbins. I've read every one of his books, and a few of those written by authors off of his outlines.

Disappointing.

The background was great; Harold always schooled you on whatever subject the story was about, be it race cars, Hollywood, or in one of his A.D. novels, diamonds. This one did the same with coffee. I loved getting the fast-track on coffee and the country of Columbia.

The characters left a lot to be desired. Just an example: Lily's unique feature (read the book) was thrown in but it was almost as an afterthought. There could have been a real purpose to it, but the way it was written, it could have been left out and she would have been just as able to get what she wanted.

I never really felt connected to the book, which was really sad for me. I still have an old, dog-eared copy of Goodbye, Janette that I love. Classic Harold. I spent most of this book waiting for the glamour and glitz, sex and sensuality but never got any of it.

I will continue to read anything with Harold Robbins' name on it. I hope Jann has done better on the next book I read. :(

Nash Novak runs a coffee shop in Seattle. One day her shop burns down and the very same day she learns she has inherited a coffee plantation in Colombia. While the police suspects her of burning down her own shop, she flees to Colombia to visit the plantation. Turns out local gangsters has some interest in the plantation and Nash finds herself in a lot of trouble.

Podrug has done his research and lots of historical detail lend some authenticity to the story, but also sometimes slow down the pace; it's a matter of taste if you think this is good or bad. I liked it most of the time. Sex is to be expected from a novel with Robbin's name on it, and this is no exception. However, the part where Nash tells about her first sexual experience at age 16 had absolutely nothing to do with the story and should have been edited out. Occasionally, some information is repeated and a good editor could have fixed this too. On the whole, however, "The Devil to Pay" is an entertaining novel and Podrug's description of a country controlled by drug lords like Pablo Escobar is fascinating. 4-

I have read several of Jack Higgins novels and found this one to be very slow and very unbelievable. I only read this book about half-way through, waiting for things to pick-up and they never did. The main character runs a coffe shop that is torched and she suddenty turns into this super slueth detective type person that is taking all kinds of dangerous chances that even a Navy Seal would not take. Just could not picture this lady doing the things she does in the middle of the drug capital of the world.