Payback
Anonymous Justice Book 2
Nancy Allen
Grand Central Publishing
May 16th, 2023
Payback by Nancy Allen is the second in her “Anonymous series.” It delves into getting justice when the legal system fails.
“I write legal thrillers because I used to practice law. The main character, Kate Stone, is an assistant DA with anger problems. I had a little help with the concept of the first book. I partnered with a media company, and it was published with Grand Central Publishing. The main character, Kate now has a target on her back. She is having trouble realizing who is friend and who is foe, very much a woman in peril.”
Kate was an assistant district attorney but being dissatisfied with the way the legal system works she decided to quit her job and join this vigilante group. But for some unknown reason to the readers the group has turned on Kate and is now trying to kill her.
“Kate lost faith in the criminal justice system. She joined up with a group of renegades who want to seek justice outside of the law, when the legal system failed. Through the books, readers can see how she and the people she cares about are put in danger. Kate returns to her small apartment in NYC and finds a rat’s head in her bed. The horse’s head from the Godfather is a wonderful image. Since I live in the Ozarks people can find possums. But the setting is New York City, so I thought to put a rat in her studio apartment. The odor of it decaying was terrible. I thought what is the nastiest thing in my bed that I would not want to encounter.”
Kate suspects that Wall Street financier Ian Templeton is behind the vicious and violent attacks against her and the people she cares about, including the death of her father. The D.A. warns Kate that Templeton is untouchable. She remains convinced that the best way to bring him down is to expose his latest fraudulent scheme, a new cryptocurrency scam. But while she is tracking Templeton, someone is also tracking her. Kate believes that her pursuers were hired by Templeton to stop her. However, they may be working for someone with a larger agenda instead. Kate’s father was a New York City cop with evidence of a conspiracy, and she may have stirred up a cold case and a new enemy. Kate questions who she can trust and knows she must always watch her back.
“The theme is corruption. What I wanted to demonstrate with this story is that the criminals are people with money and power with vast resources at their disposal. I wanted to show the destructive power of these criminals and how scary it is.”
Kate is hot-headed, sarcastic, athletic, and intelligent with a sense of humor. “I think she is a tough cookie with an anger problem. She has an appetite for vengeance, making her a dangerous woman. Although she butts heads with her mom, in the end she relies on her to help find justice. There are gifts New York gives you as a writer. I had Kate travel to Comey Island, Rikers, Wallstreet, the Fearless Girl statues, and Harlem, including my favorite setting the graveyard of the Saint Paul’s Church.”
This story is fast paced with a lot of twists and turns.
