Payback - Hardcover

JAMES, Russell

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0575050780 ISBN 13: 9780575050785

Publisher: Gollancz, 1991

Synopsis

A thriller by the author of "Underground" and "Daylight". After 10 years, Floyd Carter has returned home - for the funeral of his murdered brother, Albie. The Carters are notorious in London's underworld, and a lot more people will die as Floyd seeks his revenge and tracks the killer down.

About this title

From Publishers Weekly

British writer James's ( Underground ) American debut crackles with action and with dialogue Hammett or Raymond Chandler might envy. Ex-boxer Floyd Carter returns to South London to bury his older brother Albie--supposedly a hit-and-run victim. But the youngest Carter brother, Ludo (who at the age of 30 has the intelligence of a 12-year-old), insists that the car "chased" Albie onto the pavement. Although Floyd has been in Germany for 10 years, he quickly learns that Albie owed a delivery of drugs or a lot of money to some very threatening bad guys. Floyd is drawn back into his past and onto the mean streets of Deptford to deal with warring druglords, hostile cops, a boyhood pal's drug addiction, an old girlfriend's rambunctious teenage daughter and his renewed interest in the girlfriend. How Floyd extricates himself and Ludo from danger is a fascinating, intricate story with a very satisfying ending. James's characters sprint off the page and his portrait of a tough London seldom seen by tourists is strikingly etched. That some criminals sound as though they spend their nights watching American gangster movies of the '40s seems appropriate for this story, which is hard-boiled in the grand, classic style.
Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist

It's been 10 years since ex-boxer Floyd Carter has been in England. But when he returns from Germany for the funeral of his older brother, Albie, Floyd winds up having a lot more to deal with than cremation arrangements and hard questions about what to do with addlepated younger brother, Ludo. Albie, it seems, was up to his neck in trouble with drug dealers--about 10,000 pounds' worth--and thugs start hounding Floyd and Ludo for the dough. Floyd doesn't want the involvement, but he soon realizes that if he wants to stay alive, he must quickly determine which circles Albie traveled in and who knew what and why about Albie's death. Floyd's cruise into the depressing gray side of working-class London leads him to crack cocaine and heroin, rival gangs, and one violent encounter after another (where his boxing training and tough hide serve him well). James' writing is in the best hard-boiled tradition, and his evocation of the seamier side of British life is subtly realistic and without sensationalism. Martin Brady

About this edition

• Publisher: Gollancz
• Publication date: 1991
• ISBN 10: 0575050780
• ISBN 13: 9780575050785
• Binding: Hardcover
• Language: English
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 224