Rating: 2.5

While I thought Kashana brought up some good points of exploitation of the government and society on Black women along with the growing debts of student loans, I wish she'd expounded a bit more it had more heft to the novel. It is a character driven novel so it does take a bit to get to the "action" of the book. Although this book didn't work completely for me, I'd try something from her again in the future.

Jada and her two (former) coworkers were working together to take down the Debt Police.

The pacing of the story was slow, but it was a fun read. The Debt Police were cruel and brutal, so it was a bit dark, at times.

Even though this was slow-paced, it was a short story and a quick read.

- If you are looking for a cathartic read, consider picking up THE PAYBACK. In this slightly altered America, debt police can come after you for defaulting on your student loans. Don’t worry though, Jada and her friends are on it.
- While I wish the characters had a bit more depth, I still greatly enjoyed the ride this book takes you on.
- Cauley very deftly points out the convergences of classism, racism, misogyny, and more in this so-close-to-reality-it’s-hard-to-look-at story.

This was a fast-paced, HILARIOUS, sticking it to the man, heist story and I enjoyed every second of it!! Kashana Cauley is a new to me author but I really loved her style and wit. The story follows a young Black woman in her thirties who works at the mall just to try to keep up with her school debts. When the government installs debt police that are bent on attacked and brutalizing people who fall behind on their debt, she takes things into her own hands and with two others plans a scheme to wipe out everyone's debt!! Great on audio and perfect for fans of the series Good girls. Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an early digital copy in exchange for my honest review. This would make a fab movie and fun fact the events in the book are made into a film in the book's world.

CW: police brutality, use of a strong language throughout

The Payback is a satirical novel about the crippling student loan crisis in America and how a group of mall coworkers set out to dismantle the system. Cauley does a fantastic job of giving the reader a better understanding of the emotional toll and overall systemic dysfunction of student loans. I really enjoyed the friendship/ relationship between Jada, Lanae, and Audrey. My only grip about this novel is that I felt like first half of the novel was very slow and dialogue heavy. I wanted more heist plot line and sooner. Overall, I had a good time reading and thought it was funny, and quirky. I will say with the current state of The United States, the debt police gave me pause. I’d like to see the adapted into a movie. Many thanks to NetGalley and the publishers for a gifted digital arc of this novel in exchange for my honest review.

This is a delightful heist novel. Jada, a young black woman who has a dream of dressing the rich and famous, especially on movie sets, but like many young career women, is sabotaged by an actress who refuses to accept that she has no concept of her own size. As quickly as a seam can rip, Jada is blackballed in the film industry, a career she’s gone deeply in debt for so she can go to film school.
Jada bounces back and finds a job in retail, which she loves. She loves the mall. She loves the vibe at Phoenix, the upscale store she works at for a 20% commission. She can make her rent and chink away at her student loan payments, but a lapse of judgment and a history of lifting goods left behind leaves her unemployed and basically unemployable.
Enter the Debt Police, in their ugly turquoise uniforms and propensity to violently beat anyone behind on their student loans, especially black women. Inspired by the bruises and pain inflicted on her and her friends, Jada masterminds a plan.
You are going to have to read the book to get the scoop, but it’s a quick and entertaining book with a lot to say about culture, race, and the police state that we seem to be flirting with today. The satire drips with authenticity and humor.
The Payback was published on July 15, 2025, by Atria Books. Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for the review copy.

Kashana Cauley’s "The Payback" bursts onto the page as a wickedly funny, audacious heist - equal parts dark satire and social commentary. Cauley’s prose burns with razor‑sharp wit and electric energy, making the novel both a radical act of catharsis and a rollicking, edge‑of‑your‑seat romp. I literally laughed out loud multiple times reading this book. I'm very intentionally not revealing the plot, because I was surprised at every turn and every reader deserves that same journey. "The Payback" isn’t just entertaining - it’s a smart, fiery, unforgettable call to arms. A knockout novel that demands to be read.

ARC Review
📚 Book Title: The Payback
✍🏽Author: Kashana Cayley

Format: eARC = 📱

⭐️ Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️💫


🕑Quick Take:
Jada Williams is wanted by the Debt Police because of her outstanding student loan balance. She hatches a plan with her two co-workers to rid themselves of their debt forever!

💕What I Loved:
This story highlights the burden of student loan debt faced by many Americans, particularly millennial Black women carrying the heaviest load. It explores the underlying messages about the false hope borrowers were given regarding the pursuit of education in America and the lack of return on that investment. In some ways, it is satirical, offering political and social commentary.

Tropes:
- Heist
- Vigilantes
- Ethical Hacking
- Black Heroines

⚠️ Heads Up (Trigger/Content Warnings):
Police Brutality

💭Final Thoughts:
This was a fun, short read with a great underlying message. It shed light on a real problem—the student loan crisis affecting many Americans. I was pleasantly surprised by just how much I enjoyed this book and recommend it.

Thanks to NetGalley and AtriaBooks for this advanced reader’s copy.

⭐️⭐️⭐️1/2

This was a really interesting short little book with a very unique plot and concept. More media needs to be produced focusing on women’s perspectives past their 20s, so I loved that the main characters were in their late 30s. I thought this was an interesting approach to capitalism, racism, and the student debt crisis, and it definitely captures the feeling of being stuck in a never ending loop of debt. My major criticism is that I was left wanting more at the end! There was so much build up but I wanted more heist (I love a heist). I just wanted it to be a little bit longer!!!

Thank you to @atriabooks and @netgalley for an advanced reader copy in exchange for an honest review

#books #bookreviewer #bookrecs #bookrecommendations #newrelease #advancedreadercopy # NetGalley

3.5 stars rounded up.

Thank you to NetGalley for an advanced reader copy in exchange for an honest review.

In general I really enjoyed the premise of the book. It's a classic heist story with fun characters, so I knew that would hook me from the start. However, as the story went on it was harder and harder to really conceptualize the supporting characters. I loved Jada and her unique view of the world through the lens of a costume/fashion designer, but the other members of her heist squad just fell flat.

The book got major points from me in the way it explains the maddening cycle of poverty that predatory student loans can create in already disadvantaged groups, such as Black women. It left you cheering Jada and her team on to really "stick it to the man" in their parallel universe with debt police (something that felt pretty close to reality in this day and age).

Overall, it was a quick and enjoyable read. I'd enjoy a movie or TV version of this story.

One of the most absurdly funny books l've read. What if student loan lenders sent out debt police to harm borrowers who are having trouble paying back their loans? The Payback explores this!
Jada and her 2 friends/coworkers are highly educated, as most Black women are, but all 3 have crippling student loans. They've each been targeted by the debt police in such violent ways. As a result, they come up with a plan for payback.
I had such a fun time reading this book! It was absurd in the best way and so funny. Jada is one of those characters that make you say 'girl what are you doing?!' But once the first violation from the debt police starts, I think her actions are validated.
If there ever comes a time where student loan debt police really come about, I wouldn't be surprised if this is how they would treat borrowers.

One of my first thoughts when the extremely brutal Debt Police make an appearance in The Payback was, “I hope no one in power reads this and gets ideas,” because like a lot of books with dystopian elements, The Payback should not be an instruction manual. Well, unless you’re rooting for the protagonist, Jada, and her friends, Audrey and Lanae, as they come up with a scheme to erase their student debt and take down the system as a whole. The novel shows how deep the problem of debt, especially student loan debt, runs and how difficult it can be to get out from under it. The Debt Police are a violent representation of how much debt can brutalize you and keep you down, adding a physical layer of demoralization, fear, and despair to Cauley’s critique of the current system, ultimately asking the question of whether we need to be paying so much for education (among other things) at all.

Cauley’s characters are well developed, entertaining, and smart, and the novel is a necessary critique of many elements of society. I highly recommend it!

The Payback is a fun, fast-paced read about three women drowning in student debt—and the bold plan they hatch to erase it all. When Jada loses her job and runs out of options, she comes up with a wild idea: break into the debt collection agency and wipe out everyone’s records. With the help of her two friends, Lanea and Audrey, the group sets off on a heist that’s equal parts chaotic and hilarious.

I enjoyed the friendship between the women—it felt real, supportive, and full of personality. While there are lots of funny moments, the novel doesn’t shy away from showing the darker side of debt. One shocking scene where the women are physically attacked over unpaid loans stood out to me and added some unexpected weight to the story.

Overall, this was a clever and entertaining novel—perfect for a summer weekend read.

*** Thank you to NetGalley for the ARC. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

Unfortunately The Payback was a novel where the premise -- student loan heist plot!! -- was better than the actual book. And struggling to get through it doesn't bode well when the novel is only 250 pages. It was well over half the book before the action finally began and when it did, any sort of climactic high point just wasn't there. The book fizzled out and I was left wondering what the point was.

Kashana Cauley’s novel The Payback is a zany satire that takes on the predatory student loan system the only way we can– with a dark sense of humor and a wild revenge fantasy.

Cauley’s dedication claims that the student loan industry’s threatening phone calls made this book possible, and the novel consistently offers shrewd commentary on the debt burden placed on first-generation college students. With the tools of fiction, Cauley makes a speculative leap from threatening phone calls to actual debt police who can use any means necessary to recover debts– physical violence, confiscation of resources, even imprisonment. There are many ways to be indebted aside from student loans– medical debt, mortgages, car payments, credit card debt– and, in this novel, all fall victim to the debt police. What’s worse, in this version of the world, debts aren’t erased after a person’s death, but the debt is transferred to the next of kin.

The novel’s narrator, Jada Williams, is a messy LA millennial, formerly a Hollywood wardrobe designer, and now a retail salesperson at a boutique in the mall. First Jada was fired for something that wasn’t her fault, then she was fired again for something that was. The most absurd and cringey moment for me in the book was the chapter describing Jada’s rock-bottom gig: an ASMR channel for paid subscribers featuring the sounds that food makes when she’s cooking and eating. This was torturous for me to read because of my particular sound-aversions and misophonia-- but that’s exactly the point. We’re supposed to viscerally feel the humiliation and the angst that plague and torture Jada.

In this rock-bottom state, she is ambushed and beaten up by the debt police, and begins to notice the signs of these beatings happening to others. One character in the novel flees from his partner’s funeral when the debt police come knocking because he has inherited his partner’s death on top of his own. What happens when one too many bad hits knocks her down all the way to the ground? And not just her, but all her people too? She finally snaps when her only source of income is confiscated by the debt police because she chose to pay her rent rather than her student loans. So Jada does the only thing she can think of: plan a heist with some friends to wipe out everyone’s student debt for good.

This book paints a picture of a world so insane—with systems so evil, punishment so extreme, people so apathetic—and yet so true to our very real lived experience. Nearly 43 million Americans carry student loan debt, which disproportionately affects first-generation college students and people of color. Black women have the most student debt, statistically speaking, and in the dystopian world of this novel, it shows– in broken ribs, black eyes, and always looking over their shoulder. The imagined revival of the debt police hearkens back to the debtors’ prisons of centuries ago. Debtor's prisons have a long and grim history, particularly in England and the United States, but were mercifully abolished due to public outcry and legal reforms. Perhaps public outcry and legal reforms might also change the current predatory system as well? If not, I suppose there’s always an opportunity for a heist. Or at least a book about one, full of cringey-yet-cathartic, gotta-laugh-to-keep-from-crying moments that will stick with me for a long time.

Jada Williams boldly confronts her predatory student loan company, rallying her mall coworkers, Lanae and Audrey, to join her mission. What unfolds is an exhilarating journey fueled by friendship and a fierce quest for justice.

This book exceeded my expectations! The story expertly intertwines humor and sharp satire, offering a refreshing take on revenge that is both entertaining and thought-provoking. Jada's clever schemes and the dynamic among the trio kept me hooked from start to finish.

I found myself laughing at Jada, Lanae, and Audrey's shenanigans while feeling a deep sense of dismay for these women caught in the grips of our country’s student loan crisis. Their struggles to pursue their dreams while being targeted by the "Debt Police" made this work of fiction resonate all too well.

If you're in search of a book that combines humor with a timely and powerful message about standing up against injustice, I highly recommend The Payback. Get ready for a delightful blend of laughter and inspiration as Jada and her friends navigate their quest for payback!

I was expecting more dystopian tragic — and there is that in the book. I thought it was going to be all about the newly created Debt Police (who are after the narrator, Jada Williams) and the backbreaking onus of student loans. And yes, that’s the book’s scaffolding.

But I was surprised by how really, really funny it is. So well written. The narrator’s love of fashion and her detailed, evocative descriptions of hustling for commission in The Phoenix (a small retail store in a mall in Glendale) were spot on. Her takes on customers, coworkers, and managers were priceless. I’ve honestly never read anything this sharp and emotionally true about working retail.

Also, her side hustle of eating food on the internet for money was hysterical. I’m not sure if she qualifies as a mukbanger (a term I learned after Googling to see if this was a real thing), but that whole storyline was a highlight.

It’s interesting that the main revenge plot doesn’t come in until halfway through the book. It worked for me, but may be a slow burn for some readers. No spoilers, but the story is, ultimately, uplifting.

This was such an unexpectedly fantastic read - I knew I was going to enjoy it from the first page, but it just kept gaining momentum. Cauley has a sense of humor that I haven't come across in a book, and it really hits the spot. This is a great premise, and it felt incredibly relevant and real.

Thank you to NetGalley for the advanced copy of The Payback by Kashana Cauley.

This dark comedy about the takedown of the student loan empire was incredibly relatable and sad just how realistic it felt. The story felt slow at times, but especially once you got to the second half when they were planning the heist, it was a fun read. The authors reflections on how women of color are disproportionately affected and villainized for this debt were also good.

Comic thriller set in a world where debt has become criminal, and debt collectors can assault people on the street. Jada Williams decides she is tired of hiding from the debt police and plans a heist to set herself free. This felt like a Boots Riley movie which is a really high compliment for me. I read this book initially six or so months ago, and in a world of masked ICE agents kidnapping mothers in the street, the world it posits is a lot more plausible.