Title: Payback

Author: Gemma Rogers

Publisher: Boldwood Books

Published: January 9, 2020

Cups of Tea: 4/5

*I received this book from NetGalley and the publisher in exchange for an honest review*

Thoughts

This novel goes back and forth from the present in 2018 to 20 years earlier to 1997 when Sophie made a pact with her friends to lose their virginity before their last year of high school. This group of friends made a pact to lose their virginity to each other because the popular girls in their school have already lost theirs. There would be no strings attached, no pregnancies, and they were sworn to secrecy from telling others.

Now it’s 20 years in the future, in 2018 and Sophie has begun to receive threatening letters, a dead rat on her doorstep and someone has been in her apartment. It’s not just Sophie who is being targeted now; it’s the group of friends who made the virginity pact.

I really enjoyed this thriller; it was quite different from the other thrillers that I’ve read in terms of content – a group of teenagers making a pact to lose their virginity. I enjoyed the twists in the novel which kept me guessing who it was. I thought I knew for sure near the beginning, and then I thought it was someone else, but by the end of the novel I figured it out. I knew it had to be someone we were introduced to from the beginning, and someone who was close to her. The amount of pressure and the building tension was achieved. I kept guessing why Sophie was being targeted, what could have happened after they left the house after they had sex, and why was it just happening now. I will be looking out for Roger’s other books, as I enjoyed her writing style and I can’t wait to see what else she’ll come up with.