Gripping Payback makes Kimberley Chambers Number One

A MONTH after I had Payback land on my doorstep courtesy of Amazon the day after its publishing date, I have finally managed to complete Kimberley Chambers’ latest offering.

It was a family bereavement that prevented me from getting to grips with Kim’s gripping follow on from The Trap, and my late auntie Jill was a big fan of hers and loved the books she had read.

Family comes first and so reading Payback had to wait. But family is again the big theme of Kim’s Payback.

It has the premise that your family is supposed to watch your back. Not stab you in it. And when the enemy is one of your own, the payback is twice as hard.

The Butler brothers are King in our manor, East London, and their motto is ‘what goes around, comes around’. And Vinny Butler is at the top of the tree.

In their world, family counts; so when the truth about Vinny’s cousin’s death comes to light, it rocks the Butlers to the core.

One by one, Vinny’s friends and family are turning against him… Then, the unimaginable happens – Vinny’s little daughter Molly goes missing.

She’s the one  bright light in all their lives, and the one they’d commit murders to bring back.

I know how hard Kim worked on Payback and the one advantage I have giving my tanner’s worth after finishing at midnight last night, is that we now know she’s has topped the hardback best-seller lists for three of the last four weeks since it came out.

And as I have the honour of giving her a lift every fortnight to our beloved Spurs I know how chuffed she has been at this success. It’s like AVB winning at Old Trafford.

Whatever happens now, they can’t take that away from her. She’s a number one best-seller. And it is richly deserved for our Kim.

She has been on tour with her book since it came out and has missed a couple of White Hart Lane games as she has been in various parts of the country.

But I know many at the 703 club are waiting to give her a hug before the Arsenal game!

When you review anything that a friend has produced, book, film, feature, whatever,  you have to be honest.

The Trap was excellent. And Kim, Payback is better!

It is more detailed and longer than her other offerings, but it has all of Kim’s usual little nuances and attention to detail.

The people and places in various parts of Newham, Tower Hamlets, Redbridge and Havering and Essex that we all know. The characters, the comments and phrases that we all know and use. The  music, the TV programmes of the time, the food we ate and the sweets we loved.

The bloody horror is mixed with the authenticity and makes the book gripping and very hard to put down.

I took my time getting into Payback because I have had a lot to do this last month. But it was worth the wait. The excitement builds in a great style.

You think you know what is about to happen, and then Kim changes tack and takes you on another journey. It’s powerful and enthralling and has a stonker of an ending … and leaves you wanting more,  as all good books should!

Review in one word? Brilliant.