★ Reviews for Dold,

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Book reviews for "Dold,_Gaylord" sorted by average review score:

Samedi's Knapsack

Published in Digital by Minotaur ()

Author: Gaylord Dold

Amazon base price: $23.95

Average review score:

A winner

After spending three years in London, Colorado private investigator Mitch Roberts begins the trek home. On the way to Miami, Mitch flirts with stewardess Rosemary Collins, who suggests he meet her at the Tropical Lounge, just off the Miami-Dade International Airport. However, once in the lounge's parking lot, a masked dude holds Mitch up taking his money and credit cards. Mitch's efforts to obtain a replacement credit card fails so feeling stranded he calls former minor league baseball teammate Bobby Hilliard, a crazy person, for help.

Bobby assists Mitch with some cash, new clothing, and a place to bonefish in the Keys. Bobby later offers Mitch a deal of several thousand dollars to take care of something on Hispaniola. Apparently, someone stole Haitian art that was headed to one of Bobby's Florida galleries. Bobby wants Mitch to find the thief. Reluctantly, Mitch agrees not aware the danger he will face in Haiti.

The latest Mitch Gaylord mystery, SAMEDI'S KNAPSACK, is an exciting tale that moves rather quickly forward. The key (no pun intended) to the tale is that author Gaylord Dold insures his prime characters seem genuine though a bit flaky, which in turn adds essence, reality, and enjoyment to the plot. Fans of a fun to read private sleuth series will want to try other Gaylord stories as well as other novels by Mr. Dold who is solid gold when it comes to novels.

Harriet Klausner

Schedule Two

Published in Hardcover by St. Martin's Press (1996)

Author: Gaylord Dold

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Average review score:

Narc-ing San Francisco. Somebody's got to do it.

Undercover narcotics agent Grace Wu works for the San Francisco police department, and tangentially the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency. She drives a taxi as a cover, making small drug purchases as a dealer. Her matter-of-fact demeanor garners the attention of higher placed dealers looking to expand distribution. DEA agent Lightfoot is ecstatic at the prospect of making a major bust, if Wu's contacts are properly developed. Her immediate boss, John Zito of the SFPD, is not so sanguine. He is a bent cop, leaning on Grace's Mexican connection for kickbacks of money and drugs. Worst of all he has exposed her true identity to that dealer. Grace develops a bigger source, a Korean supplier that needs SF distribution. However, they brutally assault Grace and rip her off of $100,000. Ironically this saves her life, as she changes her daily routine, which thwarts an assassination attempt by the Mexican dealer. Grace and the DEA agent regroup and in an action series of events even the score with all of the bad guys. The mayhem and body count are enough to make an action-movie producer see $$$. Good writing is not confined to classics. SCHEDULE TWO has story development, use of believable dialog, and attention to detail which produce an excellent read. The backdrop of San Francisco and the Bay Area complements the action. Put SCHEDULE TWO at the top of your reading schedule

A very high quality cop story, smart, real style.

Schedule II has merits rarely seen in entertainment fiction these days. No cliche's of thought or speech! (I won't read any more of those stories in which someone grunts on the first page, or the narrator drinks too much, or that begin with two sinister bureaucrats talking, etc.) Beautifully organized, fast-moving plot with perfectly fitted bits of chance and stretches of irony. Neither unique heroine nor chief good guy do anything stupid. Brilliant description of the disintegration of a terminal coke addict. And the villains' fates are entirely appropriate to their individual characters

Six White Horses: A Thriller

Published in Hardcover by Thomas Dunne Books (04 October, 2002)

Author: Gaylord Dold

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Average review score:

200 proof octane thriller

In California, USMC Corporal Palmer waits for his girlfriend Suzanne to arrive at the pier when instead Marine Sergeant Harry Wilde confronts him with a choice. Harry demands Palmer serves as a mule trafficking in drug sales or face jail time for possession. Following being framed of a drug charge of possession of snort, with the help of Suzanne, Palmer flees to Mexico because he knows he cannot win against Wilde.

Several years later, Palmer feels guilty that he abandoned Suzanne, who has given birth to his son whom he has never met. Palmer also realizes that he still loves Suzanne. However, he as a new problem or perhaps a better way to look at it is the return of an old problem. Ex- marine Harry Wilde is in Mexico seeking a new messenger to work his expanded trafficking that now also includes weapons. He sees Palmer as the perfect dupe, but the dishonorably discharged corporal is not the same kid railroaded seven years ago.

SIX WHITE HORSES is a strong thriller gripping the reader in its suspense and never frees anyone until the novel is finished. The story line is loaded with entertaining action, but the key antagonists seem genuine especially the beleaguered Palmer. Some readers will feel Wilde is over the edge with no redeeming qualities, but he serves as the catalyst to all that happens to the other prime cast. Gaylord Dold furbishes a strong take no prisoner thriller that is 200 proof octane.

Harriet Klausner

The Devil to Pay

Published in Hardcover by St. Martin's Press (1999)

Author: Gaylord Dold

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Average review score:

expect bleak expectations

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

attorney basher

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

Where is everyone????

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?

Moon Handbooks: Dominican Republic (1st Ed.)

Published in Paperback by Avalon Travel Publishing (1997)

Author: Gaylord Dold

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Filled With Mistakes

I
drove a car around three-quarters of the DR, using this book every
step of the way for nearly the entire trip. But many times the author
just wrote a lot of nonsense. Places he describes aren't anything like
they really are, like he just asked other people to describe them and
wrote what he heard from people who forgot a lot and gave him bad
information. This book is no good.

Disappointing with many inaccuracies

I'm sorry to say that after a month-long travel through the Dominican Republic, I have to agree with the previous negative reviewer, in that the book is full of inaccuracies and it seems obvious that the author didn't travel to many of the places he writes about. Also, the book seems to derive an awful lot of its material from another book on the Dominican Republic called Adventure Guide. Also, the author seemed overly scared of remote areas, especially around Haiti. It's more a book for older folk who are into golf courses and cigars, not for someone who wants to experience the country and really wander around and meet people. I usually do like the Moon series, though. Don't let this book dissuade you from the usually very competent Moon books.

Gracias, Gaylord Dold!

Thank you for a great guidebook. I have traveled to the Dominican Republic a few times and am now planning another trip for next year, so I just bought the new version of this book. When I was in the Dominican before, this was the best guide I used--it's more than just basic information plugged into a guidebook format. It's kind of like reading a novel. I really liked his essay on "The Essence of the Dominican Republic" before the introduction--it gives you a real sense of what you will experience when you get there. Gaylord Dold obviously knows a great deal about the Dominican--he spends a lot of time on things like history and people, which is good if you have never been there and are interested in getting familiar with the culture instead of just traveling around. And he's really thorough with the practical stuff too and there are tons of choices of places to eat and sleep. I always use this book when deciding where to stay on my trips and have found the hotel info to be dependable. That said, I've used other books from the Moon series (Costa Rica, Ecuador) and I really like them. They're all really big on background info but also they give you a good variety of choices--not just backpacker stuff or places that are too expensive.