Due to a sudden, unexpected passing in the family a few years ago and another more recently and my subsequent (mental) health issues stemming from that, I was unable to download this book in time to review it before it was archived as I did not visit this site for several years after the bereavements. This meant I didn't read or venture onto netgalley for years as not only did it remind me of that person as they shared my passion for reading, but I also struggled to maintain interest in anything due to overwhelming depression. I was therefore unable to download this title in time and so I couldn't give a review as it wasn't successfully acquired before it was archived. The second issue that has happened with some of my other books is that I had them downloaded to one particular device and said device is now defunct, so I have no access to those books anymore, sadly.

This means I can't leave an accurate reflection of my feelings towards the book as I am unable to read it now and so I am leaving a message of explanation instead. I am now back to reading and reviewing full time as once considerable time had passed I have found that books have been helping me significantly in terms of my mindset and mental health - this was after having no interest in anything for quite a number of years after the passings. Anything requested and approved will be read and a review written and posted to Amazon (where I am a Hall of Famer & Top Reviewer), Goodreads (where I have several thousand friends and the same amount who follow my reviews) and Waterstones (or Barnes & Noble if the publisher is American based). Thank you for the opportunity and apologies for the inconvenience.

Gemma Rogers shows that you can never really hide from your past:

No one thinks that what they did in their teens would come back and haunt them but twenty years later, when they are brought back together with the death of one of them in a suspicious car crash. It is after the funeral that Sophie White starts to receive threatening messages, all that have to do with the party 20 years ago. Now Sophie is trying to figure out who knew about the party or if it was one of her old friends that is trying to kill them off one by one.

This book starts out really good and I was really interested in what was happening or going to happen, but I was able to figure out this book quite early on, so that did take the suspense out of it for me, and from then on things just became too predictable. I also thought that the perspective in 1997 pretty boring and I do not think that it needed as much page time as it received.

For some reason I seem to be reading quite a few books lately where I cannot understand the main characters choices when it comes to someone stalking them, this is another book where this occurs/ Why is it so hard to involve the police right away? I just don't get it, especially in this book, who cares that you had a sex pack thing that happened over 15 years ago, that is probably nothing compared to what youth are doing now. Just stop being embarrassed and do something to protect yourself. Like you life is worth more than a little secret.

I think this book would have benefited with a second POV, that way we would not just have to deal with all of Sophie's bad choices, or that of Mark as he was in the police and he could have handled the investigative part of the book.

I'm not sure what else to say about this book, it just wasn't for me. i know that Rogers has the ability to write an interesting story, and she does write really well, but this one was just too predictable for me. I will however read another book by Rogers.

Cheers!!!

A totally brilliant crime thriller that hooked me in right from the start, I highly recommend this book .

Payback is a gripping new thriller by Gemma Rogers.

As a teenager Sophie White organized a party for her and her friends to lose their virginity to their guy pals. Twenty years later, the group gathers after the death of one of the guys, Gareth. His car accident is followed by threatening notes being sent to Sophie. How did a pact made as teens lead to a campaign of harassment after twenty years? Someone wants vengeance, but who? Sophie is scared but determined to find the culprit.

Payback is a real thriller, revealed through shifting timelines (1997/2018) from the perspective of the main character, Sophie. Flashbacks can be tricky and confusing but Ms Rogers handles them seamlessly with appropriate chapter headers. I was totally engrossed and didn’t want to put the book down. The characters are strong, vibrant and well-developed with complete backstories. The suspenseful plot kept me guessing, incorrectly, until the very end. I loved it and rate it 5 out of 5 stars. If you like thrillers, grab this one and prepare to be intrigued.

My thanks to Boldwood Books and NetGalley for the opportunity to read an advance copy of this book. However, the opinions expressed in this review are 100% mine and mine alone.

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. 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. 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.

Set in dual time lines we follow a teenage Sophie as she sets up a meet up for herself and her three best friends to lose their virginity with four equally innocent boys.
Fast forward to the present date were a grown up Sophie is starting to receive threatening messages and targeted by vandalism it appears someone wants payback but for what?
I have read a couple of books by Gemma and much like this one I have enjoyed them all, I really enjoy her style of writing. The characters were well developed, the novel was cleverly thought out, full of suspense and had me up several late nights.
I did start to have my suspicion of the suspect but it didn't go unchallenged which made the book even more enjoyable.

New author to me and I love a new author. So when Payback by Gemma Rogers came out I had to read it. What a brilliant book this was. I just loVed it and was hooked from the very first few pages. Its full of twists and turns and so twisted! It was very hard to put down.

Sophie White tells the story from her point of view. It's set when she was a teenager in 1997 to the present day. Sophie and three of her girlfriends decide they want to loose their innocence before the summer is over and the last year of school. Sophie holds a big party and invites her childhood buddy Gareth and his mates to make it easier for them all to have some fun and hoping they will loose their innocence with them.

However, things to not go to plan!

Why?

They all go their separate way,

Many years go by and Sophie's group of friends are brought back together but not in a good way. Gareth is killed in a car accident and Sophie's has started to receive threatening messages and she does not know who is leaving them! The party Sophie arranged twenty years ago was not so innocent after all!

Who is sending her these messages and Why?

I definitely recommend this book and will find time to read Gemma's first book called The Stalker which was the first book 10th September last year.

Big Thank you to Boldwood Books, Netgalley and Gemma Rogers the Author for this copy which I reviewed honestly and voluntarily.

5☆ A Twisty and Gripping Thriller, with an Engrossing and Gritty Plot. An Unputdownable Must Read!

Payback is a Gripping, Engrossing and Taut Thriller that i devoured in two nights I struggled to put it down!

Wow! What a Taut and Thrilling Read.
It literally kept me on tender hooks the whole time!
I loved how page by page it ramped up the tension until it became impossible to know who to trust.
At times it was really chilling it felt almost like i was reading a psychological thriller.
So many secrets just when I thought I sussed things out another curve ball was thrown into the mix.

I'm not going to discuss the plot in too much detail as the blurb pretty much tells you what you need to know.
But don't be fooled! This story is so much more!
Yes it's about a group of teenage friends who plan to lose their virginity together, not literally incase your picturing an orgy lol
But something happens that night that no one is aware of. Someone is keeping dark secrets.

Fast forward several years, the friends as you do, move on and drift apart. But the death of one of them brings them back in contact.
As sinister things start to happen... Anonymous Cards with threats appear, a dead rat on the doorstep,.... just who is behind the threats and why?
What happened that night?
As Secrets have a way of slipping out and Truths are revealed the threats start escalating and so does the danger level.

Can they find out who is behind the threats before someone else dies!

This is my first book by Gemma Rogers and I'm so glad I discovered her book. I can't wait to read more.
Her writing is gritty, pacy, easy to read, flows along seamlessly and the chapters are short and snappy just how I like them.

The Characters are Perfectly Written and evoked the right emotions you expect from this genre. Some Characters I really liked, others not so much. Sophie the main character drove me insane at times but if I was being stalked I guess I might be irrational like her!

What I did really enjoy was that the chapters were written in past and present, it was easy to follow and very relevant to the plot.
It gave a nice build up as the reader gets to discover the lead up to how and why Sophie and her friends are being stalked.
Which also helped to create that chilling atmospheric pressure that kept on building.

I loved all the cleverly plotted twists and turns galore, I seriously thought I had things sussed then a cheeky curve ball I didn't see coming was thrown into the mix.
It wasn't till nearly the end I worked it out. Which I appreciated as I don't like it when things are revealed too soon.

If you love Twisty Thrillers that are gripping, a lil bit chilling and sinister at times, keep you guessing, have an Engrossing Plot, then
Payback is the Must Read Book For You!
Gemma Rogers is definitely going on my Authors to watch out for list!

Thank you to Boldwood Books for this copy which I reviewed honestly and voluntarily.

Last year I read my first book by Gemma Rogers called Stalker so when I had the opportunity to read Payback I was so excited!

It did not dissappoint! Set in dual time lines we follow Sophie. The first timeline is set in 1997 where Sophie and her teenage friends decide to make a pact to meet at a house her father is selling. The Pact to pair up together and lose their virginity before they finish highschool, no strings attached, no pregnancies, and no one tells anyone! Nothing could possibly go wrong in this senerio right?
Then 20 years later this group in brought back together when one of them dies in a car accident. Sophie starts to get strange messages and weird things start occuring to not only her but some of the others involved in that crazy night in 1997.
Payback is a great thriller! I was hooked right from the start and devoured this as I just needed to find out both what unfolded in 1997, and who was behind the messages 20 years later. Definitely would recommend to my thriller loving friends!

I read, reviewed and absolutely loved Gemma's debut novel 'Stalker'. I have been impatiently waiting for her to release her second novel. Well ladies and gents, the wait is finally over because Gemma's second book 'Payback' was released on 9th January 2020. Gemma has done it again and she has written one hell of a fantastic read, which I thoroughly enjoyed but more about that in a bit.
I wasn't quite sure what to make of Sophie, who is the main character of this book. When we meet her in the present day, she is an estate agent and she has taken on the running of her father's business. She comes across as being a workaholic, devious, cold woman. She doesn't have many if any friends and the only socialising she seems to do is with one of the people, who works for her. Something happened when she was a lot younger which still affects her to this day. Back then she was a schoolgirl with quite a close and small network of friends. They had planned to all do the same thing at the same time but I won't go into any more specifics than that as I would hate to spoil the book for anybody. Needless to say that it didn't go to plan. In the years following this incident, the friends have drifted apart and left the village or town- all apart from Sophie that is. I think that she has thrown herself into her work to forget. The group of friends drifts back together following the death of one of them. At the same time Sophie finds herself the victim of a few unsettling and unnerving incidences. What was it that happened back in the day? What went wrong? Why is Sophie the victim of somebody's hatred? What does fate have in store for Sophie and her former school friends? Well for the answers to those questions and more you are just going to have to read the book for yourselves to find out as I am not going to tell you.
It took me no time to all to get into this story. In fact I was addicted to the book from the moment I read the synopsis never mind from when I started to read the story itself. I had an inkling that I was going to love this book from the start and I did. Reading this book became an addiction that I was not willing to break under any circumstances. Once I started to read that was it, I did not put my Kindle down again. The book literally travelled everywhere with me. I had my own suspicions as to what was going to happen and I had to keep reading to see whether my suspicions were correct or if I had the wrong end of the stick entirely. The pages seemed to turn really quickly and I seemed to motor through the story. I soon reached the end of this gritty, well plotted and fast paced book, which I was gutted about. I don't mean that I was disappointed with how the story ended but I was enjoying the book so much that I just wanted it to carry on and on.
'Payback' is brilliantly written. The author captures your attention from the start and much as an angler reeling in a catch, the author reels you in. Gemma writes so realistically and uses such vivid descriptions that I felt as though I was part of the story myself. I found that I went through every experience and emotion that the different characters went through. Gemma certainly kept my attention throughout the book and she certainly kept me guessing. I was gripped by the story and on the edge of my seat throughout. The book is written using two different timelines, which run parallel to each other. One of the timelines describes events as they happened back in 1997 and the other timeline describes things as they happen in the present day. I did wonder if this way of telling the story might be a bit confusing but I needn't have worried because the two timelines interlinked really well and the story flowed seamlessly as a result. I loved the fact that part of the story took me back to 1997, when I had just finished my 'A Levels'. I had a nostalgic trip into my own past as I was of a similar age to those in the story and I recognised a lot of the cultural references that were made.
In short, I thoroughly enjoyed reading 'Payback' and I would definitely recommend this book to other readers. I will definitely be reading more of Gemma's work in the future. The score on the Ginger Book Geek board is a very well deserved 5* out of 5*.

Gamma Rogers is an exciting new author for me. Her writing style draws her audience into her world and maintains their attention.
The drama begins one summer with four teenage girls intent on losing their virginity invite four teenage boys to share their adventure. Initially not all are as keen as others but finally they all concent to this most secretive event.
Twenty years later one of the 'boy's is killed in a car accident but was it an accident ? Once other sinister things start happening it becomes apparent that everything is leading back to that fateful night twenty years ago.
Fast paced and exciting even though I guessed the twist at the end quite quickly it was a thoroughly enjoyable read.

This is not only a terrific thriller it’s also a great nostalgic trip to the 90’s. Any book that has a dual timeline I normally favour one over the other, not the case here at all. The mention of Rimmel Heather Shimmer did bring a smile to my face, although it was late 80’s when I wore it being a decade older than Sophie the protagonist.

I really liked Sophie and you don’t understand why she is being targeted. Yes she made some mistakes but what teenager doesn’t? But as it flicks back and forth you learn more of what happened that fateful night and more potential suspects come to the fore. I was guessing nearly everyone at some point.

The pace is great right from the start but towards the end the tension mounts until the denouement when all is revealed. I did guess who was behind it all but in no way did it spoil my enjoyment.

The only criticism I have strangely enough is the cover. I see this type of cover mostly on gangland thrillers and I personally would lose the woman.

Thank you Boldwood Books and NetGalley for a complimentary copy. I voluntarily reviewed this book. All opinions expressed are my own.

Payback
By: Gemma Rogers


*REVIEW* 🌟🌟🌟🌟
When you were in high school, did you have a core group of friends? Did you make pacts to do things that you now realize were actually reckless or really stupid? Told in past and present perspectives, we meet Sophie White and her friends in 1997 as they make a deal to all lose their innocence before their last year of school. When all is said and done, one couple in this group will not discuss the true happenings of the fateful night when innocence was lost, but why they remain tight lipped is unknown. Then, we see Sophie White in present day. I won't give too much away, but recent strange and deadly events point to that night in Sophie's past. What really happened? As Sophie gets in touch with her friends from 1997, details begin to surface about the truth, and it's clear someone wants payback. The question is why and why now? Justice? Revenge? Regardless, the secrets held by the past have resurfaced to haunt those involved. This story is a thrilling and suspenseful read with twists and turns aplenty. I enjoyed the guessing game of who did what back then. Sophie is an interesting character with genuine flaws and characteristics. My overall impression of Payback is favorable, and I recommend it for fans of mystery, suspense and drama.

Payback is my first but definitely not my last read by this author as this was a great read.

We get told the story from Sophie’s point of view..in the present and as her as a teenager. I couldn’t read this fast enough. What was happening? So many questions was going through my head.

This is a well written story. Can’t wait to read more from this author.

It's 1997 and Sophie White and her friends decide they want to lose their virginity before Summer is over. 20 years later the group are brought back together and Sophie starts to receive threatening messages. Somebody wants payback!

This is an excellent stand alone thriller by Gemma Rogers. The plot is intricate, the characters are likeable and plenty of twists and turns to keep you on the edge of your seat. I really like Gemmas writing style and finished this book in no time at all.

Highly recommended. Will definitely look out for more by this author.

Thank you to Netgalley, Boldwood Books and the author for an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

A teenage party starts to have repercussions, over twenty years later, with fatal, and sinister results. There is a steady build-up of drama, plenty of psychological suspense and an underlying ethos of menace, as Sophie’s life disintegrates, even though she tries to carry on as normal.

A dark. pacy thriller, with complex characters, who harbour lies and secrets, from their past. The seemingly innocent event that happened in their teenage life, has sinister echoes. Someone wants revenge, but for what?

The story is told from Sophie’s point of view, as a teenager in the past, and a present-day adult. A plot, full of twists reveals just enough clues, to the mystery and antagonist, as it progresses. The characters are authentic and relatable, and the ending packs a punch and doesn’t disappoint.

I received a copy of this book from Boldwood Books via NetGalley in return for an honest review.

This book is told from a dual timeline. The present day and also the teenage years of the protagonist Sophie. In brief, Sophie is being stalked by someone from her past but who is it?

I was hooked from the very first page and couldn’t put the book down. The pace of the book was excellent. I loved the characters in this book. The authors writing style has written so much suspense into the pages. There were moments in the book where I felt uneasy and this is a feeling that I like in a suspense novel. The author kept the suspense throughout the whole book and I didn’t guess the ending.
A must read for fans of thrillers or suspense novels.

Thank you to NetGalley for the opportunity to read this book in exchange for a honest review.

Payback was a suspenseful thriller.
The story starts back in the 90s when the group of teens is focused on the idea of "losing their innocence" by the end of the school year. The group of girls is led by main character Sophie. It seems like their plan all works out, aside from one of the couples who doesn't seem to want to talk about what did or didn't happen.

The story then jumps right into present day where they're all adults and moved on with life. Suddenly, Sophie starts to receive twisted letters from an anonymous person all pertaining to that one fateful night. She gets in touch with the group from her teen years, and that's, my friends, when things start to get REALLY intresting. The twists in this book will have you unable to put the book down!

Sophie is being stalked by someone from her past. She had made a pact with her friends twenty years ago. They thought it a good idea to loose their virginity tomeach other on the same night. Her dad was an estate agent so Sophie takes the keys to an empty house. But Sophie lost touch with her friends, she was the only one who hadn't oved away. She eventually takes over her dads business when he retires. But things start happening that have links to the night twenty years ago.

The story goes back and forward in time from 1970 to the present day. Things start happening , the first being someone getting killed in a road accident. This is a tense and gripping read with plenty of twists to keep you guessing. I did guess correctly where this story was going but it did not spoil the book. I read this book in one sitting. This is my first read by the author but it wont be my last.

I would like to thank NetGalley, Boldworld Books and the author Gemma Rogers for my ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Holy cow, I love this author! She is amazing at putting together a fast paced, disturbing, and absolutely shocking thriller! Rogers will grab you by the throat and have you gasping for breath, until you finally finish her book!!! Highly, highly recommend to those who love darker thrillers that really know how to shock you!
Will make sure I buzz up on different platforms!