Review: Payback by Kimberley Chambers (5/5)

Thursday 20 March 2014

2014's best book

In January 2013 I read The Trap by Kimberley Chambers and said it would be the best book of 2013... it was. In January 2014 I read Payback by Kimberley Chambers and said it would be the best book of 2014... it is.

I discovered Kimberley Chambers about two years ago when looking for similar books to Martina Cole. I read the synopsis for The Feud, started to read it and after a week of hardly any sleep I finished the trilogy and was telling anybody who would listen how fantastic it was. I then eagerly awaited the release of The Schemer. It was in January 2013 however when Kimberley wrote the book that would give the Mitchell/O'Hara trilogy a run for its money and that book was The Trap. I wrote a review for it where I said it would be the best book I'd read in 2013. Well I read 160+ books in 2013 and The Trap was the best one. 

Luckily 2013 ended up being one of the quickest years ever and so 2014 arrived and I couldn't wait for the release of Payback. I was in London for the week and found Payback for sale in the Isle of Dogs ASDA. After practically grabbing the last copy out of some poor woman's hands I ran to the self service till, ran to the DLR and spent nearly an hour on the platform at Bank reading the book until I realised that the quicker I read it the quicker it would be over and so managed to ration my reading until tonight when I just couldn't put the book down until I finished it, and now I am devastated. It is writers like Kimberley that give people readers block! What the fuck am I meant to read after finishing a book as fantastic as this I have no idea... The whole book just feels so real, the characters, the story, the setting.. I stay in Bethnal Green Travelodge when in London and so could easily recognise some of the places this book was set.



Starting The Trap I thought it would be impossible for Kim to better 'the trilogy' but she really did with the creation of the Butlers and so when starting Payback I wondered if she could better The Trap. Well, she did, and then some. This book was just fantastic from start to finish. I forgot I was reading a book for most of it and instead it was as if I had fell into somebody else's world and was watching the horrors and drama unfold. Vinny Butler is one evil bastard and the bulk of the book revolves around the disappearance of his daughter, after all that Vinny has done literally anybody could be responsible. And that is why the ending of the book nearly made me lose my eyes they were bulging that far out of their sockets. I love a good cliffhanger and they don't come much more shocking than the one in this book. 

For me Kimberley has now earned her place right at the top of the list as the best author of these types of books. Kimberley seems to have the rare talent of actually improving on the last book with each release and the only other authors doing that are Jacqui Rose and Jessie Keane however. To think that Kim might never have even put pen to paper is ridiculous. If ever an authors work deserved to be read in the millions then it is this author. I wrote in my review of The Trap how I wished I could meet Kim and get my book signed so imagine my excitement at seeing she was in Liverpool not only by herself but with another legend Mandasue Heller and then imagine my disappointment when I found out I was in work. Perhaps the release of Butler book 3 will be when I eventually get my book signed but I fear by then Kim's popularity will only have grown even more meaning there will be even more people queuing up to get theirs signed! That said it was fantastic to see Payback hit number 1 in the charts as it is thoroughly deserved. I think it will be a real struggle to find a better book than this in 2014 and I am already considering rereading her other books or rereading some of my other favourite books as any other new book is just going to be a disappointment after finishing a book this good. And it is fucking excellent.  

5/5 

Buy the book in hardback or on Kindle.

Read my review of The Trap which is the first in the Butler series of books by Kimberley.  

2 comments:

  1. Haha, like taking candy from a baby? :) I've done that before at the bookstore as well, I like it was for Shadow & Bone by Leigh Bardugo. I haven't heard of this author but I do like the sound of the book. Plus I love a book with great pacing!

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  2. I'm still reading Payback believe I got it free from Kindle. You are right so entertaining being from East London it really resonates. I didn't know its part of a triology I will have to back track and read the others.

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