Status
Series
Description
Dennis Milne is a man with a past, and a past that involves murder. A former cop, he's earned his living killing the bad guys - drug-dealers, corrupt business men - people who, in his opinion, deserve to die. For the past two days, he's been in Manila, waiting for his next target: a young woman who's made herself some poor life-choices, and some even worse enemies. DI Tina Boyd is a woman on a mission. Tough, spiky and determined, she's looking for the man she holds responsible for the death of her lover. She knows he's ruthless. She knows he's dangerous. But he's in Manila, and she's determined to find and kill him - before he kills her. Two cops with pasts that haunt them - and a present that could see them both dead. They are about to meet. And when they do, it's payback time ...… (more)
User reviews
It’s not necessary to have read The Business of Dying or A Good Day to Die to
Kernick’s other series hero is Detective Inspector Tina Boyd and, inevitably, she and Milne meet and end up working together, despite the fact he was hired to kill her.
Paul Wise, the sadistic drug dealer and paedophile who murdered Tina’s boyfriend, wants her dead but she is determined to bring him to justice no matter what the cost – even if it means conspiring with wanted killer Dennis Milne, who has his own reasons for wanting to find Wise.
Much of the action takes place in the Philippines as the unlikely couple follows leads and put past ghosts to rest: they track down Tomboy Darke, Milne’s treacherous former business partner, and a lot of loose ends are tidied away.
The story is told from various points of view, including a first person narrator: in the past, readers were usually assured the first person narrator would survive but recently writers have been killing them off with impunity and Kernick, I regret to say, is no exception.
The Payback is a thoroughly enjoyable read, exciting, pacey and satisfying: flawed heroes and unspeakably vile villains alike get their come-uppance. As Tina Boyd concludes “Those who sin always end up paying… And Tina had sinned as well. One day, it would be her turn to pay.”