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Payback
Payback, a delicious page-turner, follows three naïve but ambitious young women chasing their professional dreams in late twentieth-century corporate America. Over the years, their growing friendship forms a tight-knit, supportive bond that sees them through challenges related to gender bias, assault, and racism—as well as the joys of discovering their sexual identity, falling in love, and raising children while navigating demanding careers.
Gripping and heartfelt, this tale offers well-developed characters readers will identify with and truly care about. The desire for revenge causes suspense throughout the story. But, what sets Payback apart is its slyly embedded “how-to” career strategies—practical insights woven seamlessly into the story—that give readers tools to overcome their own workplace challenges.
"In this thrilling debut novel, Molly and Peter dig into their deep experience as executive coaches and the stories they have heard. They have captured the drama between the sexes that occurs daily in corporate America. A page turner from beginning to end, this book keeps the reader in suspense as Samantha decides whether to seek retribution or move on with her life after being assaulted."
-Judith von Seldeneck, Founder and Chair Emeritus, DSG Global
Gripping and heartfelt, this tale offers well-developed characters readers will identify with and truly care about. The desire for revenge causes suspense throughout the story. But, what sets Payback apart is its slyly embedded “how-to” career strategies—practical insights woven seamlessly into the story—that give readers tools to overcome their own workplace challenges.
"In this thrilling debut novel, Molly and Peter dig into their deep experience as executive coaches and the stories they have heard. They have captured the drama between the sexes that occurs daily in corporate America. A page turner from beginning to end, this book keeps the reader in suspense as Samantha decides whether to seek retribution or move on with her life after being assaulted."
-Judith von Seldeneck, Founder and Chair Emeritus, DSG Global
230 pages, Hardcover
Published October 28, 2025
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
December 19, 2025
Payback by Molly D. Shepard and Peter J. Dean is a workplace thriller that follows Samantha, a high-performing banker who spends years navigating a toxic, sexist culture and the predatory attention of an executive named Archer Dunne. The story moves between Samantha’s point of view, Archer’s warped inner monologue, and the perspectives of allies and bystanders as the bank’s abuses pile up, push her out, and eventually circle back when Archer, now ill and diabetic, is admitted to the upscale nursing home Samantha runs. There, she seriously considers killing him by quietly increasing his insulin, only for fate to intervene when he dies after a fall, leaving her to grapple with what justice really looks like and how to live with a rage that never fully disappears.
The opening prologue drops you right into Samantha’s mind as she calmly admits she is planning “the perfect murder,” and it is both chilling and deeply believable once you see what she has survived. The early scenes at the bank feel painfully real: the drunken company party, the alleyway assault where she escapes only to realize the attacker is her own Executive Vice President, Archer. The authors lean into clarity more than subtlety, and sometimes the villains are almost grotesquely obvious, but in a workplace thriller like this, that bluntness works. It feels less like a puzzle and more like a long, angry debrief of “this is exactly how they get away with it,” which I found strangely cathartic.
What stayed with me most was how much of the book is about the slow grind rather than just the headline traumas. Samantha’s first boss Margie, who bullies her daily for minor mistakes until she quits, the constant body shaming from her parents, the impostor syndrome that keeps replaying in her head even as she racks up wins at the bank. Her friendships with Inga and Josephine become the emotional center of the story. Inga is a top pharma rep whose numbers are excellent but who keeps getting passed over because she is out of sight, out of mind in the Midwest, and Josephine is a Black consultant who writes speeches for her CEO yet cannot break past a certain rank because of bias in her firm. Their late night strategy sessions at the Barrister Bar feel like war councils and group therapy at the same time, and the book keeps circling back to how women have to quietly train each other to survive systems that were not built for them. That coaching tone does poke through sometimes, and a few passages read like a leadership manual folded into a novel, but I did not mind it. It gave the story a grounded, “here is what actually happens in these rooms” quality.
I also appreciated the choices the authors made around Archer and the men who are not monsters. Seeing scenes from his perspective is uncomfortable in the best way. You watch him stalk Samantha in that alley, brag to his young male “minions” about using women for sex while blocking their promotions, and later seek out the nursing home she runs because he wants one last chance to torment her and even ogle her teenage daughter. When he exposes himself to a vulnerable resident at The Fairfield and Samantha finally has the power to kick him out, her fury practically hums off the page. At the same time, the book gives us Lance, the new CEO who discovers Samantha’s detailed notes about the bank’s abuses and decides to tear out the culture by the roots, and Todd, the thoughtful carpenter who becomes her husband and steady base. That balance keeps the story from sliding into pure despair.
I see Payback as a feminist workplace thriller that also works as social commentary about harassment, bullying, and the cost of keeping quiet. It is not subtle, and it does not try to be. The language is clear, the emotions are right on the surface, and the plot keeps you turning pages to see whether Samantha will cross that final line. If you have lived through a toxic office, care about gender equity at work, or just want a tense, emotionally honest story about a woman who refuses to stay a victim, I think this novel will hit hard in a good way.
The opening prologue drops you right into Samantha’s mind as she calmly admits she is planning “the perfect murder,” and it is both chilling and deeply believable once you see what she has survived. The early scenes at the bank feel painfully real: the drunken company party, the alleyway assault where she escapes only to realize the attacker is her own Executive Vice President, Archer. The authors lean into clarity more than subtlety, and sometimes the villains are almost grotesquely obvious, but in a workplace thriller like this, that bluntness works. It feels less like a puzzle and more like a long, angry debrief of “this is exactly how they get away with it,” which I found strangely cathartic.
What stayed with me most was how much of the book is about the slow grind rather than just the headline traumas. Samantha’s first boss Margie, who bullies her daily for minor mistakes until she quits, the constant body shaming from her parents, the impostor syndrome that keeps replaying in her head even as she racks up wins at the bank. Her friendships with Inga and Josephine become the emotional center of the story. Inga is a top pharma rep whose numbers are excellent but who keeps getting passed over because she is out of sight, out of mind in the Midwest, and Josephine is a Black consultant who writes speeches for her CEO yet cannot break past a certain rank because of bias in her firm. Their late night strategy sessions at the Barrister Bar feel like war councils and group therapy at the same time, and the book keeps circling back to how women have to quietly train each other to survive systems that were not built for them. That coaching tone does poke through sometimes, and a few passages read like a leadership manual folded into a novel, but I did not mind it. It gave the story a grounded, “here is what actually happens in these rooms” quality.
I also appreciated the choices the authors made around Archer and the men who are not monsters. Seeing scenes from his perspective is uncomfortable in the best way. You watch him stalk Samantha in that alley, brag to his young male “minions” about using women for sex while blocking their promotions, and later seek out the nursing home she runs because he wants one last chance to torment her and even ogle her teenage daughter. When he exposes himself to a vulnerable resident at The Fairfield and Samantha finally has the power to kick him out, her fury practically hums off the page. At the same time, the book gives us Lance, the new CEO who discovers Samantha’s detailed notes about the bank’s abuses and decides to tear out the culture by the roots, and Todd, the thoughtful carpenter who becomes her husband and steady base. That balance keeps the story from sliding into pure despair.
I see Payback as a feminist workplace thriller that also works as social commentary about harassment, bullying, and the cost of keeping quiet. It is not subtle, and it does not try to be. The language is clear, the emotions are right on the surface, and the plot keeps you turning pages to see whether Samantha will cross that final line. If you have lived through a toxic office, care about gender equity at work, or just want a tense, emotionally honest story about a woman who refuses to stay a victim, I think this novel will hit hard in a good way.
November 19, 2025
Being a lifetime warrior for economic democracy and employee rights, I was thrilled to get a chance to dive into this timely and much-needed novel, which deals with racial and gender-based inequities as well as other workplace problems, such as harassment and assault. In fact, it was nice to see the authors clearly state, even before the prologue, that it is high time we bring an end to bullying and discrimination in the workplace.
Payback by Molly D. Shepard and Peter J. Dean gets rolling with a superb hook: an unnamed first-person voice tells the reader that, despite knowing that murder is morally wrong, here they are, planning to take a human life, and doing so in order to make the world a better place. So how does one plan and execute a perfect murder?
Difficult moral choices drive great fiction, and the authors draw us into the story before the first chapter even starts. In the very first pages, they outline the dangers that women face in any corporate setting. Our narrator, Samantha, is pretty, impeccably dressed, but tough and professional. She tries to mentor other young women, but they ignore her, and are even disgraced after an office party, during which the booze flows and genitals are exposed atop a photocopy machine (remember, we’re still in the 20th century here…).
The danger of the office environment, unfortunately, follows Samantha into the streets one night after work. Yes, that’s right: one of the company’s vice-presidents, Archer Dunne, follows her out of the office after she leaves a party. He attempts to rape her on her way home. She fights him off, but as she flees, she turns back to look at her aggressor and is shocked to see that it’s one of her bosses.
The first-person narration immediately changes point of view, which is a smart technique, because we get to actually see what the aggressor is thinking. This is a man who finds sexual arousal in domination, and the parallel with corporate life is all too real and grim: these are the types of men who often climb the ladder in corporate America. He describes how he learned to suppress his feelings, which I suppose comes in handy when he says to himself, bluntly and without emotion, that he’d have his victim fired within a week.
Later, we’ll learn of the narrator’s past, a fairly conservative family life, and especially about growing up at a time when women were not encouraged to break out of typical gender roles. Fortunately, Samantha meets other professional women, including Inga and Josephine, both resilient and courageous, who share their stories of abuse and discrimination, and this is what makes the book so powerful: we get to see hands-on examples of how women handle these types of inequities and outright dangers in the workplace. This is the book’s real treasure: watching these women bond, not only in order to fight back, but also to contribute to transforming these toxic workspaces.
I have to say that raunchy and blatantly sexist talk from the narrator’s corporate male coworkers is, at times, disgusting, but always revealing. Having worked at an institution where I won an age discrimination case, I can tell you, this book presents some very real scenarios, and the character motivation here is crystal clear. Will there be a reckoning for Archer Dunne?
You’ll have to buy the book to find out, but I’ll tell you right now, it’s worth it. Payback is a fine thriller and also a timely reminder about the need for dignity and respect at the workplace, which is all too often missing in the corporate world, especially for women, minorities, or anyone else typically marginalized in a profit-driven, patriarchal setting.
Payback by Molly D. Shepard and Peter J. Dean gets rolling with a superb hook: an unnamed first-person voice tells the reader that, despite knowing that murder is morally wrong, here they are, planning to take a human life, and doing so in order to make the world a better place. So how does one plan and execute a perfect murder?
Difficult moral choices drive great fiction, and the authors draw us into the story before the first chapter even starts. In the very first pages, they outline the dangers that women face in any corporate setting. Our narrator, Samantha, is pretty, impeccably dressed, but tough and professional. She tries to mentor other young women, but they ignore her, and are even disgraced after an office party, during which the booze flows and genitals are exposed atop a photocopy machine (remember, we’re still in the 20th century here…).
The danger of the office environment, unfortunately, follows Samantha into the streets one night after work. Yes, that’s right: one of the company’s vice-presidents, Archer Dunne, follows her out of the office after she leaves a party. He attempts to rape her on her way home. She fights him off, but as she flees, she turns back to look at her aggressor and is shocked to see that it’s one of her bosses.
The first-person narration immediately changes point of view, which is a smart technique, because we get to actually see what the aggressor is thinking. This is a man who finds sexual arousal in domination, and the parallel with corporate life is all too real and grim: these are the types of men who often climb the ladder in corporate America. He describes how he learned to suppress his feelings, which I suppose comes in handy when he says to himself, bluntly and without emotion, that he’d have his victim fired within a week.
Later, we’ll learn of the narrator’s past, a fairly conservative family life, and especially about growing up at a time when women were not encouraged to break out of typical gender roles. Fortunately, Samantha meets other professional women, including Inga and Josephine, both resilient and courageous, who share their stories of abuse and discrimination, and this is what makes the book so powerful: we get to see hands-on examples of how women handle these types of inequities and outright dangers in the workplace. This is the book’s real treasure: watching these women bond, not only in order to fight back, but also to contribute to transforming these toxic workspaces.
I have to say that raunchy and blatantly sexist talk from the narrator’s corporate male coworkers is, at times, disgusting, but always revealing. Having worked at an institution where I won an age discrimination case, I can tell you, this book presents some very real scenarios, and the character motivation here is crystal clear. Will there be a reckoning for Archer Dunne?
You’ll have to buy the book to find out, but I’ll tell you right now, it’s worth it. Payback is a fine thriller and also a timely reminder about the need for dignity and respect at the workplace, which is all too often missing in the corporate world, especially for women, minorities, or anyone else typically marginalized in a profit-driven, patriarchal setting.
November 17, 2025
Payback is a thoroughly engaging novel that illustrates the unequal balance of power between women and men in the workplace. Its characters reflect the early struggles women faced in pursuing their own paths — the systemic obstacles designed to maintain the unequal segregation of the sexes — making independence for women not only difficult but perilous on multiple levels. Drawing on decades of real-life accounts from their clients, the authors bring to life the experiences of women who, despite being qualified, motivated, and ambitious, encountered pushback, roadblocks, humiliation, and even violence. The story is at once heartwarming and optimistic, yet also frustrating and angering as it exposes the realities women endured, and often still face on this evolving path. Payback offers a glimpse into the not-so-distant past of the fight for gender equality in the workplace, serving as a poignant reminder that there is still much work to be done.
December 9, 2025
Payback is a gripping, emotionally layered corporate drama that feels both sharply real and deeply personal. The story of three ambitious women navigating sexism, assault, racism, and the everyday pressure of building careers in late 20th century corporate America is compelling from the first chapter. The friendship at the heart of the book gives it warmth and hope, while the simmering tension around revenge keeps the plot moving with real momentum. Blending heartfelt character development with smart, practical career insights, this is a rare novel that entertains while also empowering readers with tools they can actually use.
November 5, 2025
Executive coaches Molly Shepard and Peter Dean have taken their professional experiences to fiction, writing their debut novel, Payback. Three women trying to advance their careers in the late 90s are faced with gender bias and sexual harassment. The likes of chief narcissist Archer Dunne was witnessed by many women of the time. The women, united by their bond, plot revenge just to survive. Lots of twists leaves the reader wondering how things will turn out.
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews