I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily. Omg I absolutely loved this book! It’s like walking into a dystopian society where having debt is the worst of crimes. But also - everyone who has ever known the feeling of debt and the lengths we will go to in order to afford to survive can relate to this book. A few serious parts but most of the time it was hilarious. Everyone should read this book because you will be thoroughly entertained and quite satisfied by the end.

Thank you Atria Books @atriabooks , and Kashana Cauley @kashanacauley for this free book.
“The Payback” by Kashana Cauley ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Genre: BIPOC Dark Comedy. Location: Southern California, USA. Time: A future that’s almost here.

Jada Williams (39) is good at judging people by their looks. She can tell someone’s inseam, pants size, what style they need. She was a Hollywood wardrobe designer; now she works for minimum wage at the Glendale mall-until she’s fired. In desperation, Jada resorts to eating on camera for money. Barely making rent, she now has to outrun the government’s newly-instated, relentless, turquoise-uniformed Debt Police who beat her up as a warning. (“I thought someone would stand up for us.” “You mean us Black women?”) With debt-burdened (and also beat up) coworkers punk Lanae and hacker Audrey, detail observer Jada plans a heist to erase their student loans forever and get back at the system that promised them everything but is now taking it back.

Author Cauley has written a timely and profound take on heist novels. She astutely (and hilariously) questions the capitalist socio-political, racist systems that control our lives. Cauley makes us laugh, and then care deeply about her characters. (“My right to protect my body and face, to go outside again without fear.”) If you can handle class/gender/race-based politics set in California strip malls, with punk and hacker culture and retro 80s fashions, this book is for you! It’s SO fresh, SO timely, it’s a warning, it’s the Handmaid’s Tale for a new generation, and it’s 5 stars from me🌵📚💁🏼‍♀️. #thepayback #kashanacauley

I received an ARC from the publisher via NetGalley and am voluntarily posting a review. All opinions are my own.
I only vaguely read the blurb of The Payback before requesting it, and decided it sounded fun. But it definitely hits harder in the current political climate, where student loans are actively under threat, with the threat of wage garnishment for people who defaulted on them being one of the more extreme actions proposed. So, this book served as wonderful wish-fulfilment for me and, I’m sure, anyone else who’s been stuck in a rut thanks to their loans and the economy.
While I saw the page count before going in, I didn’t expect the story to be as straightforward as it was. The first part begins a tad mundanely, with some everyday retail stuff, but it kicks into gear by the end, with the worst-case scenario, and things propel from there, with Jada and the others planning out and executing the heist, with the fallout occurring just at the very end.
With it being a very plot and theme-focused story, the character development felt rather minimal, which is odd, as the accompanying letter from the publicist drew comparisons between Jada and some iconic antiheroes of pop culture. However, I do appreciate that the narrative follows a Black woman without having the narrative explore racial trauma, although there are some implications that can be made about how her racial identity intersects with the issues of poverty and class which are more directly unpacked by the central premise as it relates to student loans.
While not the most deep or insightful book, I had a lot of fun with it. If you’re in the mood for a book that’s both a rather timely read about student loans and a fun, if somewhat unevenly paced heist story.

“You haven’t been reading the news? Apparently not paying your loans back is criminal behavior, so they can treat you like shit, because nobody cares about criminals.”

This idea of somewhat vigilante, somewhat legitimate debt police, on top of criminalizing falling behind on loan payments, is scarily plausible. US history certainly has a history of criminalizing and dehumanizing people for being poor, black or both.

Really fun and colorful writing, even if the story’s a bit dark. As cute and snarky as it is, even silly in the descriptions of the debt cops being weirdly new-age, super handsome, morally righteous, southwestern style, and turquoise-clad — the commentary on student loans and the debt market is dead serious.

Thanks to NetGalley for an opportunity to read this advance reader copy in exchange for an honest review.

Smart, sharp, and socially aware. This novel blends satire and suspense to explore power, race, and justice in modern America. Some plot elements were exaggerated for effect, but Cauley’s voice is strong and incisive. A bold, thought-provoking read.

I flew through Kashana Cauley's new novel, THE PAYBACK. This novel is perfect for summer. Part heist novel, part honest takedown of policing, white supremacy, and American capitalism. THE PAYBACK is told from the perspective of Jada, a Black thirty=something former costume designer working retail in LA to pay rent and pay off her student loans. Then the Debt Police show up and Jada and her two co-workers, each also Black women indebted to an American financial system reliant on debt, find themselves considering a heist to solve their problems. THE PAYBACK is smart and funny, a cinematic page turner with teeth. This is a novel that raises a lot of questions about what it looks like to survive in America. I was cheering these women on from the start.

Set in the near-future where people who are behind on student loans risk a beatdown from the Debt Police, The Payback begins with a lazy shift at an LA mall and increasingly amps up the pace. I loved reading from a retail store employee's perspective. An underutilized profession in novels! More "Mall Novels," please, even if only half of this book takes place in one.

And then it all turns into a heist? One of my favorite genres? Yes, of course I loved this book.

Kashana Cauley rips into capitalism in this sarcastic, funny novel about a trio of friends so degraded by their shitty retail jobs and the ever-looming threat of the Debt Police that they come up with the ultimate solution: a heist to erase their student debt. Think Welcome to Night Vale vibes, without the magical realism/surrealist horror perspective. I really enjoyed it! I wish we got a bit more involved with the three characters, we really only get Jada's perspective, and <spoiler>the heist itself doesn't really come into planning/fruition until the end of the novel, which feels like a missed opportunity</spoiler>. I absolutely recommend for the scathing commentary!

Massive thank you to NetGalley and Atria Books for an Advanced Reader's Copy of this novel! <i>The Payback</i> is set to release on July 15th, please check it out!

3.75 stars

This was a pretty solid and quick read. I did leave feeling like I wanted more but not in an angry way. I am usually a huge fan of books that are kind of bare bones. No purple prose, no unnecessary side roads and no overly descriptive scenes. My favorite thing about this story was that we got right to it. I think there could have been more in part three but not to the point where I am mad about it.
Overall, I had a good time. I laughed, I scoffed and I empathized as those loans are coming through.
I also loved that it centered Black woman in my age group figuring it out.

I was really drawn to this book given its premise: three Black women team up to fight back against the Debt Police and loaning instutions by plotting to erase everyone's debt. I pictured an Ocean's 11-type heist that was clever and complex if not chaotic, but well executed, with undertones of anti-capitalism, anti-policing and anti-corporate greed.

While there were a lot of great, big and ambitious themes and ideas explored in this book, including cycles of exploitation for workers and the morally gray things people do when they're desperate enough, the pacing killed the heist feel of this book. The three main characters didn't start plotting until 70% of the way into the book. This not only made the establishment of their relationships and motives feel drawn out, but made the actual plotting, execution and consequences feel rushed, if even unbelievable (and I was ready to believe).

DNF @51%

This is supposed to be a dark comedy. But I think the humor went over my head because nothing about this was funny to me. Also, the main plot of the story has yet to happen at this point.

The Payback: A Millennial's Revenge Fantasy That Hits Different

Imagine planning a heist to escape your student loans. That's exactly what Jada Williams does in Kashana Cauley's latest masterpiece, and honestly? You might find yourself rooting for her.

Fresh off her hit The Survivalists, Cauley strikes gold again. This time she's serving up a delicious cocktail of crime thriller and social commentary that goes down smooth but leaves a satisfying burn. When the "Debt Police" start breathing down Jada's neck, our protagonist decides she's done playing by the rules. Along with two partners-in-crime, she cooks up a scheme to hit back at the loan company that's been crushing her dreams.

The genius of The Payback isn't just its wild premise - it's how Cauley makes you feel seen. Every page crackles with the kind of sharp wit that made her a standout New York Times opinion writer. She captures the Black millennial experience with brutal honesty, showing exactly what happens when the American Dream comes with a six-figure price tag.

The dialogue snaps like Pop Rocks, and the story moves at a pace that'll have you canceling plans to finish "just one more chapter." Sure, you might need to suspend your disbelief a bit (please don't actually rob your loan servicer), but that's not really the point. This is about the fantasy of fighting back against a system that's rigged to keep you drowning in debt.

Between the heist sequences and social commentary, Cauley pulls off something remarkable: she makes student loan debt - possibly the most soul-crushing topic imaginable - actually entertaining. As bestselling author Megha Majumdar puts it, the novel "sharply questions the punitive systems we live within," but it never feels like you're being lectured.

The Payback isn't just a good read - it's a mood, a movement, and maybe even a wake-up call. It's the kind of book that'll have you texting friends at 2 AM saying, "You need to read this."

Rating: 4.5/5 stars

For fans of: Such a Fun Age, Severance, and anyone who's ever checked their student loan balance and wondered if crime might be the answer (kidding... mostly).

This was really disappointing for me. I think I went in expecting a satire on capitalism and I didn’t get that at all.

Thank you to the author, publisher and Net Galley for providing a free ebook ARC of this title in exchange for my review.

Sadly, this book wasn't for me. I found it very difficult to get into and the pacing felt very slow. IT seemed that nothing really happened until well past the 50% mark, but even that was lack luster. Had this not been an ARC, I would have DNF"ed it. I kept hoping for something to happen to pull everything together, but it never really did.

This is categorized as humor, but I didn't find the humor in this book. The debt police are just horrible and the amount and severity of violence was appalling. The mildly humor points aren't enough to make up for all of the terrible stuff. The evolution of friendship between the three black women & co workers was the only redeeming point of this book.

2 stars for 'it was ok'. This is a good book for someone, but not me.

In the Los Angeles of Kashana Cauley’s timely and riotous THE PAYBACK, paramilitary “debt police” beat up anyone who defaults on their student loans—and it’s up to a ragtag trio of former retail workers to pull the heist that will stop them. Whip-smart and hilarious, Cauley's sophomore novel is populated with smart, memorable characters in a landscape both dystopian and beloved (the paeans to the aroma of mall air alone make the book worth the read). A page-turner that will stick with you.

This book reads like a short story~interesting but protracted. For
a mature reader, one who reached adulthood with no debt, it took
just a bit to clear away preconceived thought and enjoy the fantasy
of the dreaded , “Debt Police.”
Student Loan Debt has become a long held perpetual
problem made worse by the brutal methods used by
the “Debt Police.” The measures taken & threatened have
drawn Jada and her friends to drastic measures . And,
if it’s possible to overdue the ‘Team Los Angeles’ trope masters,
this is their truth.
I had too many emotions for Jada and her friends, leaving
me with across the board feelings of humor for ‘The Debt Police.’
My thanks to Atria Books via NetGalley for the download copy
of the book for review purposes.

This book was so well written and I enjoyed it immensely. Everything discussed in the book is so relevant to today’s political climate and I related to the main character more than I thought I would. The parts that talked about working in retail were SO relatable and I felt my brain digging up memories of my own experiences working in retail.

The discussion about student loans was really the center of the story and rightfully so. The cost of college in the US is disgraceful and most of us are forced to take out student loans to cover the high cost. American society has drilled into us that we need to go to college in order to get a good job and then we will be financially better off, but this couldn’t be further from the truth. The book talks about this along with the predatory nature of student loans and what it is realistically like after graduation and what it is like to live with such a burden of debt.

This was such a great read and I highly, HIGHLY recommend it.

Unfortunately, this one missed the mark for me. While the premise is intriguing - three women band together to take down the system imprisoning them in a cycle of desperation, all while being chased by a sinister yet oddly familiar faction of law enforcement called The Debt Police - the execution came up short.

The main character is relatable albeit a bit incompletely fleshed out for my tastes, and the Debt Police are a fascinating manifestation of the current (rightful) progressive distaste of both police and student loans. The author boldly reminds the reader that the burden of a broken economic system is statistically borne by Black women, a group that is constantly asked to come to the rescue of others without ever being rescued in return.

Still, I found the prose lacking and much of the plot to be too unrealistic for even my flexible imagination to believe. It’s a light and quick read, but there isn’t much of substance here, in my opinion. It has the feel of a low budget action movie, which, to be fair, there is often an audience for. Truthfully, however, that audience is just not me.

I tried really hard to care about this book, but after almost 3 months of starting and stopping, I’m giving up. The premise was interesting, but it felt like it was taking forever to get to the intrigue of the debt police. I didn’t feel especially connected to the main character or the mystery. The potential was there but for me personally, the delivery wasn’t.

What a fun and terribly tense read! I loved the heist and adventure of this book. It was fast-paced, the characters were funny and overall the plot made sense and flowed well. As a Black woman with student loan debt, watching the news and the current Administration's attempt to criminalize everything and everyone that doesn't hold up white supremacy - this was a hard read. Colleges and people who choose to go to college have been ridiculed and berated in a ridiculous manner over the last few years. People with students loans are seen as irresponsible and lazy for daring to wanting to better themselves. The debt police were definitely over the top and cartoonish, but writing this review after seeing multiple videos of plain-clothed police abducting people over protesting...its unfortunately not hard to imagine a police force that's allowed to hurt those with debt. Politics aside, this book was an interesting and fast read though the timing is eerie and may be hard for some readers. I also appreciated the main characters being middle-aged Black women.