What do you think?
Rate this book
Catch the Devil: A True Story of Murder, Deception, and Injustice on the Gulf Coast
Not yet published
Expected 14 Jul 26The riveting true story of an audacious con man weaponized by the justice system who destroys dozens of lives and puts a man on death row for a murder he didn’t commit
“Incendiary, emotionally devastating. [This] is a feat of dogged reporting, bravura storytelling, and clear-eyed moral conscience."
—Patrick Radden Keefe, author of Say Nothing and London Falling
For more than three decades, Paul Skalnik roamed the Gulf Coast lying about who he was. He passed himself off as a fighter pilot, a high-rolling oilman, a criminal defense attorney, an undercover agent, and a terminal cancer patient. In these guises he married nine women—some at the same time.
When Skalnik got caught, as he invariably did, he would run a different con. Locked up with other men awaiting trial, he claimed they confessed their crimes to him. Then he peddled those stories to prosecutors. In Pinellas County, Florida, he became a frequent witness for the state, thinking nothing of exaggerating men’s wrongdoing or implicating the innocent to help prosecutors win convictions. In return, the state rewarded him with his freedom, fueling his growing sense of invincibility. Soon he was not just committing fraud; he was preying on girls in their teens or barely into adolescence.
In 1985, Jim Dailey, a down-on-his-luck Vietnam veteran, was implicated in the murder of a fourteen-year-old girl and landed in the Pinellas County Jail with Skalnik. No forensic evidence or motive linked Dailey to the killing, but Skalnik’s account of his "confession" helped put Dailey on death row. Skalnik, meanwhile, walked free. More than three decades later, after another man took responsibility for the killing, Pamela Colloff, reporting for the New York Times Magazine and ProPublica, visited Skalnik and asked him if he would recant his testimony. He refused.
By then, Skalnik had caused untold to the women and girls he exploited, to the dozens of men he helped imprison, and to Jim Dailey, who went on to receive an execution date. In this mesmerizing debut, Pamela Colloff spins a dark tale of a remorseless and brilliant liar made lethal by a system more concerned with winning convictions than finding the truth.
“Incendiary, emotionally devastating. [This] is a feat of dogged reporting, bravura storytelling, and clear-eyed moral conscience."
—Patrick Radden Keefe, author of Say Nothing and London Falling
For more than three decades, Paul Skalnik roamed the Gulf Coast lying about who he was. He passed himself off as a fighter pilot, a high-rolling oilman, a criminal defense attorney, an undercover agent, and a terminal cancer patient. In these guises he married nine women—some at the same time.
When Skalnik got caught, as he invariably did, he would run a different con. Locked up with other men awaiting trial, he claimed they confessed their crimes to him. Then he peddled those stories to prosecutors. In Pinellas County, Florida, he became a frequent witness for the state, thinking nothing of exaggerating men’s wrongdoing or implicating the innocent to help prosecutors win convictions. In return, the state rewarded him with his freedom, fueling his growing sense of invincibility. Soon he was not just committing fraud; he was preying on girls in their teens or barely into adolescence.
In 1985, Jim Dailey, a down-on-his-luck Vietnam veteran, was implicated in the murder of a fourteen-year-old girl and landed in the Pinellas County Jail with Skalnik. No forensic evidence or motive linked Dailey to the killing, but Skalnik’s account of his "confession" helped put Dailey on death row. Skalnik, meanwhile, walked free. More than three decades later, after another man took responsibility for the killing, Pamela Colloff, reporting for the New York Times Magazine and ProPublica, visited Skalnik and asked him if he would recant his testimony. He refused.
By then, Skalnik had caused untold to the women and girls he exploited, to the dozens of men he helped imprison, and to Jim Dailey, who went on to receive an execution date. In this mesmerizing debut, Pamela Colloff spins a dark tale of a remorseless and brilliant liar made lethal by a system more concerned with winning convictions than finding the truth.
- GenresNonfictionTrue Crime
Kindle Edition
Expected publication July 14, 2026
268 people want to read
About the author
Pamela Colloff
14 books15 followersPamela Colloff (B.A., English Literature, Brown University) is a senior reporter at ProPublica and a writer-at-large at The New York Times Magazine. Previously she was an executive editor and staff writer at Texas Monthly; her work has also appeared in the New Yorker and has been anthologized in Best American Magazine Writing, Best American Crime Reporting, Best American Non-Required Reading, and Next Wave: America’s New Generation of Great Literary Journalists.
Colloff has been nominated for six National Magazine Awards—more than any other female writer in the award’s history—and won for feature writing in 2013. The following year, the Nieman Foundation for Journalism at Harvard University awarded her the Louis M. Lyons Award for Conscience and Integrity in Journalism.
Colloff has been nominated for six National Magazine Awards—more than any other female writer in the award’s history—and won for feature writing in 2013. The following year, the Nieman Foundation for Journalism at Harvard University awarded her the Louis M. Lyons Award for Conscience and Integrity in Journalism.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
February 24, 2026
A masterful narrative of a con man so charismatic; law enforcement officials always believed whatever he said. The events that unfolded when Jim Dailey meets Paul makes for one of the most intriguing and astonishing true-crime debuts I’ve ever read and had me on the edge of my seat the entire read.
Review of advance copy received from Publisher
I don't know, maybe if the person is already in jail we need to use a bit more discretion in how much we trust them. This is basically the crux of Pamela Colloff's excellent Catch the Devil. Paul Skalnik is a fraud, thief, sexual predator, pedophile, and serial bigamist. He was also the favorite pet of Florida detectives and prosecutors who were trying to kill as many alleged murderers as possible. I don't know if it's the heat or the humidity, but Florida's justice system sure likes killing folk.
After Colloff does a thorough job of showing just how disgusting Skalnik is, she tells the story of how he was at least one nail in the theoretical but maybe literal coffin of Jim Dailey. For the sake of avoiding spoilers, I won't give you any more details. However, you can probably guess how the story is going to go.
Colloff makes this story a lean page turner. A journalist by trade, Colloff expertly makes this read like a novel while giving you exactly what you need without any fluff. There are no extraneous threads, no ill-placed characters, and no diatribes. I especially appreciated the last aspect. While there are some quick asides and rhetorical questions, Colloff trusts her readers to see what is happening and why it is bad for all of us. When you tell the story of how the least trustworthy man on earth can be called upon in a court of law and be believed, well, we have problems.
You don't have to be a true crime or non-fiction lover. This one is for everybody.
(This book was provided as an advanced reader copy by Knopf.)
After Colloff does a thorough job of showing just how disgusting Skalnik is, she tells the story of how he was at least one nail in the theoretical but maybe literal coffin of Jim Dailey. For the sake of avoiding spoilers, I won't give you any more details. However, you can probably guess how the story is going to go.
Colloff makes this story a lean page turner. A journalist by trade, Colloff expertly makes this read like a novel while giving you exactly what you need without any fluff. There are no extraneous threads, no ill-placed characters, and no diatribes. I especially appreciated the last aspect. While there are some quick asides and rhetorical questions, Colloff trusts her readers to see what is happening and why it is bad for all of us. When you tell the story of how the least trustworthy man on earth can be called upon in a court of law and be believed, well, we have problems.
You don't have to be a true crime or non-fiction lover. This one is for everybody.
(This book was provided as an advanced reader copy by Knopf.)
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews