STELLAR
EARLY PRAISE FOR THE PAYBACK
“An
exciting and hilarious heist novel that centers down-on-their-luck older
millennials who are riddled with debt and decide to take matters into their own
hands to dismantle the system. Timely and witty, Cauley’s plotting, prose, and
character development will keep you hooked from start to finish.”
—Morgan
Jerkins, New York Times bestselling author of This Will Be Undoing
“In
an Afrofuturist world of barbaric debt police and an absurd heist to bring it
all down, The Payback is a delightfully dark comedy of three
coworkers-turned-conspirators hell-bent on revenge. This trio of Robin Hoods
taking matters into their own hands out of grief and desperation will have you
alternating between raucous laughs and fear for their safety. California strip
malls, 80s fashion, punk and hacker culture, all combine in a tenacious
cocktail of sweet justice shared by all.”
—Xochitl
Gonzalez, New York Times bestselling author of Olga Dies Dreaming
and Anita de Monte Laughs Last
“Like Ocean’s Eleven but no one’s
famous. The Payback is a love letter to the American mall, the revenge
of the break room, and a laugh-cry of the gods of retail. The result is
obsessive truth-telling fun, with zingers, dishy thrills, bodysuits, and a few
wigs that have seen better days but are hoping to have the best one yet.”
—Alexander Chee, author of How to Write an
Autobiographical Novel
The Payback
A Novel
Kashana Cauley
ON SALE JULY 15, 2025 FROM ATRIA BOOKS
_______________________________________________
In
the second novel from television writer and author of the “lethally witty” (The
New York Times Book Review) The Survivalists, a retail worker is
relentlessly pursued by the Debt Police and forced to take down her student
loan company with the help of two mall coworkers. The
Payback is a razor-sharp and hilarious dissection of
race and capitalism from one of the most original and exciting writers at work
today.
Jada
Williams is good at judging people by their looks. From across the mall, she
can tell not only someone’s inseam and pants size, but exactly what style they
need to transform their life. Too bad she’s no longer using this superpower as
a wardrobe designer to Hollywood stars, but for minimum wage plus commission at
the Glendale mall.
When Jada is fired yet again, she is forced to outrun the newly instated Debt
Police who are out for blood. But Jada, like any great antihero, is not going
to wait for the cops to come kick her around. With the help of two other
debt-burdened mall coworkers, she hatches a plan for revenge. Together the
three women plan a heist to erase their student loans forever and get back at
the system that promised them everything and then tried to take it back.
About
Kashana Cauley
Kashana
Cauley is the author of The Payback and The
Survivalists, which was named a best book of 2023 by the BBC, Today, Vogue,
and more. Cauley is also a television writer, having worked on The
Great North, Pod Save America on HBO, and The
Daily Show with Trevor Noah. Her writing has also appeared in The
New York Times, The Atlantic, Esquire, Rolling
Stone, The New Yorker, and more. Find out more at
KashanaCauley.com.
MORE
PRAISE FOR THE PAYBACK
“A
stylish, blazingly original take on the heist novel, The Payback is both
a whip-smart critique of contemporary capitalism and a moving character study
of the workers most often caught in its clutches.”
—Grace
D. Li, New York Times bestselling author of Portrait of a Thief
“A
novel of great fun and unforgettable fury, The Payback sharply questions
the punitive systems we live within, the contradiction between social wellbeing
and individual wellness,
and what it means to work toward a decent life.”
—Megha
Majumdar, bestselling author of A Burning
“Smart,
socio-politically astute, and sidesplitting hilarious, The Payback‘s
inventive wit solidifies Kashana Cauley’s place among our most entertaining
social critics and novelists.”
—Camille
Perri, author of The Assistants and When Katie Met Cassidy
About the Book
The Payback
A Novel
by Kashana Cauley
on-sale: July 15, 2025
Atria Books
ISBN 9781668075531
Price: $27.99
eISBN 9781668075555
Price: $14.99