[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":-1},["ShallowReactive",2],{"doc-detail-115348-en":3,"doc-seo-115348-105":30,"detail-sidebar-cat-0-en-105":92},{"code":4,"msg":5,"data":6},0,"success",{"doc_id":7,"user_id":8,"nickname":9,"user_avatar":10,"doc_module":4,"category_id":11,"category_name":12,"doc_title":13,"doc_description":14,"doc_content":15,"file_id":16,"file_url":17,"file_type":18,"file_size":19,"view_count":20,"is_deleted":4,"is_public":11,"is_downloadable":11,"audit_status":11,"page_count":21,"language":22,"language_code":23,"site_id":24,"html_lang":23,"table_of_contents":25,"faqs":26,"seo_title":27,"seo_description":14,"update_tm":28,"read_time":29},115348,962084925636,"Olivia Brown","https://ap-avatar.wpscdn.com/davatar_994ba38a5ba835b3df7d355c54d3ed8d",1,"Story & Novel","Catch the Devil - A True Story of Murder, Deception, and Injustice on the Gulf Coast","Catch the Devil traces how con artist Paul Skalnik became Florida’s most valuable witness and how his testimony shaped decades of felony convictions. The narrative follows the author’s investigation from court filings to a federal prison meeting, juxtaposing Skalnik’s version of events with claims from men who said he fabricated everything. It explores confessions, judicial error, and the difficulty of undoing long-embedded lies that lead to life-altering outcomes.","[OceanofPDF.com](OceanofPDF.com)  \nA BORZOI BOOK  \nFIRST EDITION  \nPUBLISHED BY ALFRED A . KNOPF 2 0 2 6  \nCopyright © 2026 by Pamela Colloff  \nPenguin Random House values and supports copyright. Copyright fuels creativity, encourages diverse voices, promotes free speech, and creates a vibrant culture. Thank you for buying an authorized edition of this book and for complying with copyright laws by not reproducing, scanning, or distributing any part of it in any form without permission. You are supporting writers and allowing Penguin Random House to continue to publish books for every reader. Please note that no part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner for the purpose of training artificial intelligence technologies or systems.  \nPublished by Alfred A. Knopf, a division of Penguin Random House LLC, 1745 Broadway, New York, NY 10019.  \nKnopf, Borzoi Books, and the colophon are registered trademarks of Penguin  \nRandom House LLC.  \nThis page constitutes an extension of this copyright page.  \nLibrary of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Names: Colloff, Pamela, author.  \nTitle: Catch the devil : a true story of murder, deception, and injustice on the Gulf  \nCoast / by Pamela Colloff.  \nDescription: First hardcover edition. | New York : Alfred A. Knopf,[2026] | Includes bibliographical references.  \nIdentifiers: LCCN 2025054369 | ISBN 9780593230862 hardcover | ISBN  \n9780593230879 ebook  \nSubjects: LCSH: Skalnik, Paul | Informers—Florida | Prisoners—Florida | Judicial error—Florida | Evidence, Criminal—Florida | Murder—Florida | LCGFT: Case  \nstudies.  \nClassification: LCC HV9468 . S585 C66 2026  \nLC record available at [https://lccn.loc.gov/2025054369](https://lccn.loc.gov/2025054369)[ ](https://lccn.loc.gov/2025054369)Ebook ISBN 9780593230879 [penguinrandomhouse.com](penguinrandomhouse.com | aaknopf.com)[ | ](penguinrandomhouse.com | aaknopf.com)[aaknopf.com](penguinrandomhouse.com | aaknopf.com)  \nCover photograph by Jeremy Noyes Cover design by Tyler Comrie  \nThe authorized representative in the EU for product safety and compliance is Penguin Random House Ireland, Morrison Chambers, 32 Nassau Street, Dublin D02 YH68, Ireland, [https://eu-contact.penguin.ie](https://eu-contact.penguin.ie).  \nep_prh_ 7.5a_ 156711532_c0_r0  \n[OceanofPDF.com](OceanofPDF.com)  \nCONTENTS  \nDedication  \nEpigraph  \nPrologue  \nPART I  \n1. Skalnik  \n2. Fool Me Once  \n3. Sunshine State  \n4. Confidence Man  \n5. False Witness  \n6. The Closer  \nPART II  \n7. Jim  \n8. Shelly  \n9. Jack  \n10. Dark Waters  \n11. Snitch  \n12. A Simple Lie  \n13. Conviction  \nPART III  \n14. Starke  \n15. The Art of the Deal  \n16. An Unreal Dream  \n17. Six by Nine Feet  \n18. Small Fictions  \n19. Fail-Safe  \n20. E. Paul Smith, Esq.  \n21. The Call  \nPART IV  \n22. Eleventh Hour  \n23. Zombie Case  \n24. Catch the Devil  \n25. Lockdown Epilogue  \nAcknowledgments  \nNotes on Sources  \nImage Credits  \nA Note About the Author  \n[OceanofPDF.com](OceanofPDF.com)  \nFor Chad, Jake, and Lucy  \n[OceanofPDF.com](OceanofPDF.com)  \nHow easy it is to make people believe a lie, and how hard it is  \nto undo.  \n—MARK TWAIN  \n[OceanofPDF.com](OceanofPDF.com)  \nI first met Paul Skalnik in the fall of 2018, when he was serving time in  \nfederal prison. All I knew then were the broad strokes of his story, pieced together from court filings in Florida: He was a small-time con artist, married nine times, whose testimony prosecutors had relied on, decades earlier, to win a staggering number of felony convictions. Skalnik had a gift: Whenever his luck ran out and he ended up in jail, men confessed their crimes to him. More than thirty years after he had testified against them, some remained in prison. One sat on death row, awaiting an execution date.  \nYet from the beginning, these men told a different story: They said Skalnik had made it all up. I wanted to know: Were they lying—or was he? How did he get these confessions? And how did a con man become the state’s most valuable witness?  \nI had ","cbCaigEB2eEkSn4g","https://ap.wps.com/l/cbCaigEB2eEkSn4g","pdf",14232821,8,305,"English","en",105,"# Contents\n## Part I\n## Part II\n## Part III\n## Part IV\n## Dedication, Epigraph, and Front Matter","[{\"question\":\"Paul Skalnik在书中扮演什么角色？\",\"answer\":\"Paul Skalnik被描述为一名小规模骗子，他的证词在数十年前被检方依赖，从而换来大量重罪定罪，成为州方最有价值的证人。\"},{\"question\":\"作者如何展开调查以判断真相？\",\"answer\":\"作者先从佛罗里达州的法院文件拼凑出故事主线，随后追踪到德州的联邦监狱与Skalnik会面，并试图弄清他如何获得“供认”。\"},{\"question\":\"书中核心矛盾是什么？\",\"answer\":\"书中呈现出两种相互冲突的说法：Skalnik称自己没有捏造，而那些后来仍在监狱中的人则表示他编造了一切，并追问这种证词如何造成严重不公。\"}]","Catch the Devil - A True Story of Murder, Deception, and Injustice on the Gulf Coast | PDF",1785472552,470,{"code":4,"msg":31,"data":32},"ok",{"site_id":24,"language":23,"slug":33,"title":13,"keywords":34,"description":14,"schema_data":35,"social_meta":87,"head_meta":89,"extra_data":91,"updated_unix":28},"catch-the-devil-a-true-story-of-murder-deception-and-injustice-on-the-gulf-coast","",{"@graph":36,"@context":86},[37,54,69],{"@type":38,"itemListElement":39},"BreadcrumbList",[40,44,48,51],{"item":41,"name":42,"@type":43,"position":11},"https://docshare.wps.com","Home","ListItem",{"item":45,"name":46,"@type":43,"position":47},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/","Document",2,{"item":49,"name":12,"@type":43,"position":50},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/story-novel/",3,{"item":52,"name":13,"@type":43,"position":53},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/catch-the-devil-a-true-story-of-murder-deception-and-injustice-on-the-gulf-coast/115348/",4,{"url":52,"name":13,"@type":55,"author":56,"headline":13,"publisher":58,"fileFormat":61,"inLanguage":23,"description":14,"dateModified":62,"datePublished":63,"encodingFormat":61,"isAccessibleForFree":64,"interactionStatistic":65},"DigitalDocument",{"name":9,"@type":57},"Person",{"url":41,"name":59,"@type":60},"DocShare","Organization","application/pdf","2026-08-25","2026-07-31",true,{"@type":66,"interactionType":67,"userInteractionCount":20},"InteractionCounter",{"@type":68},"ViewAction",{"@type":70,"mainEntity":71},"FAQPage",[72,78,82],{"name":73,"@type":74,"acceptedAnswer":75},"Paul Skalnik在书中扮演什么角色？","Question",{"text":76,"@type":77},"Paul Skalnik被描述为一名小规模骗子，他的证词在数十年前被检方依赖，从而换来大量重罪定罪，成为州方最有价值的证人。","Answer",{"name":79,"@type":74,"acceptedAnswer":80},"作者如何展开调查以判断真相？",{"text":81,"@type":77},"作者先从佛罗里达州的法院文件拼凑出故事主线，随后追踪到德州的联邦监狱与Skalnik会面，并试图弄清他如何获得“供认”。",{"name":83,"@type":74,"acceptedAnswer":84},"书中核心矛盾是什么？",{"text":85,"@type":77},"书中呈现出两种相互冲突的说法：Skalnik称自己没有捏造，而那些后来仍在监狱中的人则表示他编造了一切，并追问这种证词如何造成严重不公。","https://schema.org",{"og:url":52,"og:type":88,"og:title":13,"og:site_name":59,"og:description":14},"article",{"robots":90,"canonical":52},"index,follow",{"doc_id":7,"site_id":24},{"code":4,"msg":5,"data":93},[94,97,101,105,110,115,120,124,129,132,136],{"id":11,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":46,"category_name":12,"show_sort_weight":95,"slug":96},90,"story-novel",{"id":47,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":46,"category_name":98,"show_sort_weight":99,"slug":100},"Literature",80,"literature",{"id":53,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":46,"category_name":102,"show_sort_weight":103,"slug":104},"Exam",70,"exam",{"id":106,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":46,"category_name":107,"show_sort_weight":108,"slug":109},5,"Comic",60,"comic",{"id":111,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":46,"category_name":112,"show_sort_weight":113,"slug":114},6,"Technology",50,"technology",{"id":116,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":46,"category_name":117,"show_sort_weight":118,"slug":119},7,"Healthcare",40,"healthcare",{"id":20,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":46,"category_name":121,"show_sort_weight":122,"slug":123},"Research & Report",30,"research-report",{"id":125,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":46,"category_name":126,"show_sort_weight":127,"slug":128},9,"Religion & Spirituality",20,"religion-spirituality",{"id":127,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":46,"category_name":130,"show_sort_weight":127,"slug":131},"World Cup","world-cup",{"id":133,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":46,"category_name":134,"show_sort_weight":133,"slug":135},10,"Lifestyle","lifestyle",{"id":137,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":46,"category_name":138,"show_sort_weight":106,"slug":139},19,"General","general"]