Title: Payback
Author: Alec Nortan
Publisher: NineStar Press, LLC
Release Date: August 27, 2018
Heat Level: 1 - No Sex
Pairing: No Romance
Length: 45800
Genre: Contemporary Crime, crime/mystery, new adult, kidnapping, ransom, high school, detective, family drama
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Synopsis
When Josh’s sister, Cherry, is kidnapped, her family decides to follow the kidnapper’s instructions and pay the ransom. But when Josh gets attacked and robbed before freeing his sister, they have no choice but to call for the FBI’s help.For Agent Phisburry, this is just another kidnapping. Once she successfully gets the girl back to her parents, safe and sound, the difficult task to find the kidnapper—who managed to get away with the ransom despite all the tracking devices—begins. She has to find who’s telling the truth, and who’s lying, to uncover what everyone’s trying to keep secret.
Excerpt
Payback
Alec Nortan © 2018
All Rights Reserved
Chapter One
Beep beep beep.
Josh stopped the shrill wake-up call with a brusque slap on the top of the clock radio, a red and blue plastic cube he’d had for as long as he could remember. He hopped out of bed and walked to the bathroom for the shower he needed to make his brain work again. One perk of having rich parents: all the bedrooms in the house had their own bathroom attached. His wasn’t the biggest nor the fanciest, but it had all the equipment he required. And it was needed, judging by how much time his sister spent in hers. If they’d had to share one, he’d be late to school every day. Probably even late for lunch…
It had gotten a little better lately. A boyfriend seemed to be a good enough incentive for her to rush around.
Josh groaned at the thought and opened the closet to choose what he would wear that day. Not that he had much choice. His closet was big, bigger than his bathroom even, but most of the shelves he looked at were desperately empty. His parents might be rich, but they believed that a boy his age had to learn how to be independent. They had stopped buying him clothes three years ago when he had turned fourteen. His birthday present had been five hundred bucks and an interview for a job after school, which he refused to go to. And of course the news that, from then on, if he wanted something, he would have to pay for it with his own money. All he would get would be a roof over his head, food, school tuition, and a few basics, although all these luxuries were not free. His father had set a monthly rent that Josh had to pay.
Josh didn’t even try to haggle. He knew it would be hopeless. His father’s threats were never empty ones, and when he made a decision, there was no way to sway him. So, instead, Josh cut down on all his unnecessary spending. He stopped going out with his friends, as booze and gas weren’t free. His taste for designer clothes got crushed too. The only expense he did not give up was the little gifts for the girlfriend he was dating then—without them, he knew she would leave him, and he needed her around even if their relationship was a fraud. It was a cover-up to hide the real him from everyone, girlfriend included. No one could learn about his sexual preferences. It would only make everything worse.
Despite his efforts, the money his parents had given him was gone before he noticed it. He eventually got the job his father had referred him to, and his first paycheck came as a real relief, but it wasn’t enough to prevent him from having to choose between food and clothes a week later. The need for new underwear and shirts was too urgent, and he decided he could skip a few meals.
Josh learned the hard way, but he learned. As he outgrew things or wore them out, the heaps of branded clothes were slowly replaced by much cheaper versions, and only when necessary. He stopped buying his girlfriend presents and, unsurprisingly, got dumped. At least she had the decency not to lie about the reason why she did it. Josh’s situation didn’t get worse for losing her. If anything, it improved. He didn’t have to force himself to buy ridiculously expensive gifts anymore, and as he was now working, he didn’t need another alibi. He was simply too busy to get into another relationship.
He’d never had any reason to be popular at school. He wasn’t good at sports; he was average looking; his grades were not the best. He had never cared about all that before: his parents were rich, and at school, that alone opened a lot of doors. Doors that closed again one after another when his access to a seemingly endless amount of money vanished. Almost overnight, he lost his social rank and merged into the anonymous mass.
He chose gray cargo pants and a faded blue T-shirt. The cuts weren’t great, but time had given the fabric a slightly worn-out touch that he liked. The pants would never compare to a pair of the designer jeans he used to wear, but he didn’t look too bad in them. A little gel to smooth his short-cut brown hair, and he was decent enough to start the day.
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Have you ever read a synopsis of a book, formed an opinion and then be surprised that the book is not what you’re expecting? That was this book for me. I’m a mystery junkie and this isn’t the first time I’ve jumped into a book just because it is a mystery. This is not a romance and is written very differently from other books I’ve read. There weren’t just one or two main characters, but all were main characters or all were supporting characters, I’m still not sure which. And before heading into this, it revolves around high schoolers, something I avoid reading typically. This book has various gay characters but I wouldn’t classify it as a “gay” read as it’s not something involved in the story.
The mystery wasn’t bad, but it was pretty easy to figure out. Josh’s sister is kidnapped and then the resulting debacle was ridiculous and I’d really liked more information on why what happens, happens. First, I’d like to know why a wealthy family has named their daughter Cherry. Second, why did the family send their son to deliver the money to the kidnappers? The son they hated. The son that they only provided a roof for. A son that did no right. None of this made any sense. Why would the parents who loved only their daughter ignore that their daughter was not home? Why would loving parents not even check on their daughter? Why would loving parents go to bed before their daughter got home late from a party? None of this made any sense to me.
The FBI. One of my biggest disappointments is when someone writes police officers and FBI agents as jokes who couldn’t find a bad guy if he was served on a platter with a bow. That’s what happened in this story. The FBI agents came across as incompetent and were outsmarted by teenagers. Not even clever teenagers, which shows how not smart the FBI agents are. And, when the FBI agent figures out what’s going on, she’s all: I hope they have a good life.
So to recap, average high schoolers commit a crime, outsmart all the adults and FBI agents, and go off to live a HEA life with the money they stole. Anyway, if you enjoy books about high schoolers, you may enjoy this one. If you enjoy books where the criminals outsmart the police, you may enjoy this one. If you enjoy stories that have gay characters but are not “gay” romance books, you may enjoy this one.
Rating: 3.5 stars
Meet the Author
Alec Nortan is a French social services worker. Though he learned English at school, he chooses this language to write in. His works are gay-related fictions, varying from young adult, science fiction or fantasy adventure, to romance.Facebook | eMail
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