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The Payback cover art

The Payback

By: Simon Kernick
Narrated by: Paul Thornley
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Summary

Dennis Milne is a man with a past, and a past that involves murder. A former cop, he’s earned his living killing the bad guys – drug-dealers, corrupt business men - people who, in his opinion, deserve to die. For the past two days, he’s been in Manila, waiting for his next target: a young woman who’s made herself some poor life-choices, and some even worse enemies. DI Tina Boyd is a woman on a mission.

Tough, spiky and determined, she’s looking for the man she holds responsible for the death of her lover. She knows he’s ruthless. She knows he’s dangerous. But he’s in Manila, and she’s determined to find and kill him – before he kills her. Two cops with pasts that haunt them - and a present that could see them both dead. They are about to meet. And when they do, it’s payback time…

©2011 Simon Kernick (P)2011 Random House Audiobooks

What listeners say about The Payback

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    5 out of 5 stars

Awesome book

Great story so many twists and turns.
Fully recommended , narrator totally captures the mood through out.

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7 people found this helpful

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    5 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars

Great for a good story!

Couldn't wait to get back to it! I really liked the characters and like that you can't help but feel for a baddie and feel hatred for the 'real' baddie! Good am going to get another - like this narrator too!

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5 people found this helpful

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    5 out of 5 stars

Simon kernick does it again

I never thought I would feel sorry for a contract killer but simon kernick pulled it off.keep the books coming please.

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2 people found this helpful

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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

OMG - Best book so far!!

What did you like most about The Payback?

The way in which the author went in out of the 1st person, the story was by any book i have read so far, Totally gripping!

What did you like best about this story?

The research and realism!

What about Paul Thornley’s performance did you like?

Paul Thornley was one of the first narrators I was forced to write a negative review of, now I don't read a book unless its narrated by him! He makes the book....

Did you have an emotional reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?

Laugh, Cry, all the emotions you get from a great and well read book happened with this one!

Any additional comments?

First book I have read by this author it wont be the last I cant wait to get my next credit! :)

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2 people found this helpful

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    2 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars
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    2 out of 5 stars

A terrible amateurish novel

Well, I’m normally a fan of the author, but this novel was awful on so many levels. You have a killer-for-hire who has morals one minute and is then a fearless killing machine the next? He whines about not wanting to kill innocents, after killing people before who may or may not have been innocent… he took the money and killed them. The author tries to make him a conflicted character, but it just comes across as very poorly written and completely unbelievable.

Tina Boyd is just a silly feminist icon (complete with aggressive short blond hair), who befriends a cop killer, while she herself is a Detective Inspector at the same police station the assassin used to work at? No way would that work. This guy has killed some of her colleagues and she ends up teaming up with him and bedding him? Garbage writing.

As for the story itself, you have poor writing throughout. Lots of plot holes, decisions that don’t make sense and then a plot twist near the end that changed the storyline completely.. it was about child killers and then turns into something else out of the blue? It’s like the author just wrote the first thing on his mind and then got it published.

Overall, this was a very poor novel, veering between Scooby Doo, Nancy Drew and The Hardy Boys type of action. Completely implausible plot lines, laughable decision-making and a silly ending, made this a hard listen (although it made me chuckle at times, that’s how bad it was).

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

another cracker from Simon Kernick

Well thought out and delivered. Very enjoyable, with great narration. Storyline a little too close for comfort to a plausible real-life scenario.

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  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars

Blood cruelty murder

Sadistic cruelty in spades and sadly I guess it goes on in this world, here it is and finishes it off with the explosion of a dirry bomb.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Fast paced drama

The narration was excellent. The suspense at times had me holding my breath. Very good plot with believable characters.

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  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    2 out of 5 stars

A very fake thriller

The reader is wonderful but the story line is very feeble. Only a few of the many action sections are vaguely plausible.

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  • Overall
    1 out of 5 stars
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    2 out of 5 stars
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Pay back

Paul Thornley reads a lot of Andy McNab Ali no it’s not a child. Sorry Stephen leather books he should not read books like this and to be truthful. Facebook runs so close to another book written by Stephen leather but it should not have been published.

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