The Payback

by Hilary Hawke

Claudia Lopez waits for her husband at Newark International Airport, unaware that he's gone into hiding in the wake of a botched drug deal. Now, eight hours after completing the long flight from... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0595005470
• ISBN13: 9780595005475
• Release Date: July 2000
• Publisher: iUniverse
• Length: 244 Pages
• Weight: 0.89 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.6" x 6.1" x 9.1"

Customer Reviews

The Payback

The opening scene of Hilary Hawke?s first novel, The Payback, is set in the Newark Airport terminal where Margot notices a young pathetic woman sitting on a worn plaid suitcase and clutching a baby.As the story unfolds, we learn that the woman?s name is Claudia Lopez and she has just arrived from Santa Cruz, Bolivia with her infant daughter Juliana. Unfortunately, her husband, Antonio, never shows up at the airport to meet her, and presumably has abandoned his wife and infant child. Apparently, Antonio is embroiled in the trafficking of narcotics and is on the run from some very unsavory characters.We also learn that Margot, who had been at one time a promising actress, is now a high -class call girl. Margot, who sees Claudia as an image of herself when she was younger, has a soft spot for Claudia, and decides to provide shelter for her new- found friend.Unfortunately, their relationship results in some viscerally horrible events. Hawke?s professional training as a musician are in evidence as her prose rolls and rollicks culminating at times in pronounced crescendos particularly in some of the vivid and tense sex scenes. No doubt, many of these scenes may prove to be too grotesque for the squeamish. As generally the case with tales pertaining to prostitution, there is plenty of deviated sex, drugs, lowlifes, and a variety of other undesirables.Hawke?s clean and direct prose shows that she can clearly write.The voices of the principal characters are most natural offering insight into the story of the characters. Moreover, the reader is able to sense the bitterness as well as optimism felt by Claudia and Margot. I found, however, the novel?s ending somewhat unexpected, and readers may be annoyed in not knowing how some of the crimes committed by Claudia and Antonio escaped being unpunished. ...

strong character driven thriller

Having just arrived from Bolivia, teenager Claudia Lopez accompanied by their baby Juliana waits in the Newark Airport for her husband Antonio to pick her up. Antonio had come to the states several months earlier. Margot Fortune assisted Claudia when she first landed at the airport. Having flown back and forth to Boston, Margot notices that the young foreigner and her infant remain where she left them eight hours ago. Margot takes the two lost souls with her.When he arrived stateside, Antonio was enticed by the easy money and fast lifestyle of a drug dealer. However, on the day he is supposed to meet his family at the airport he slowly awakens from a purple haze. He realizes that he failed to pick up Claudia and Juliana, but even worse he lost a kilo of cocaine. His employers want either the kilo, the money, or if not him, Claudia.Surprisingly THE PAYBACK is as much a deep character study as it is an action thriller. There are plenty of tense scenes that will elate the adrenaline seeker, but also the key three protagonists are interesting and fully developed. Claudia is a young stranger in a strange land, but how pathetic and helpless is she? Antonio is a lost soul who too late understands the cost of his short cuts. Most intriguing is the Good Samaritan Margot, who is less than she appears (read the book to learn her agenda). Though the drug crowd is too easily stereotyped as predators and some sub-plotting seem off kilter, fans of a fast-paced suspense thriller will receive plenty of positive PAYBACK from Hilary Hawke's exhilarating novel.Harriet Klausner

Gritty, realistic

Though it is not normally the sort of book I would read, I found myself unable to put it down. I really did not want the advanture to end. Not for the squeamish, it has to be said, but if you like strong women and lots of action, this will grab you and never let go. A lot of people are doubtful about presses such as this, but this novel is as good as anything coming out of the big publishing houses nowadays, and in some places better! This girl can write!

An intense read

Extreme in spots, but Claudia's survival is a story well told. An intense read that really held my interest. I couldn't put it down!