Payback

by John Cusack

In 1981, Andre Simons the CFO for a Mexican telco was kidnapped in Mexico City. He had found something, and that was a problem. A ransom was paid. The kidnappers took the money but still put a bullet in his chest and one in his head. The Simons family left, to return to Switzerland. Ten years on Simons Jr, James (Jim) was now 25 and mentored by his father’s brother. Jim was working with his Uncle at the International Credit Bank of Liechtenstein in the legal department. In just 7 remarkable days, Jim Simons sees the world, the Bank and its customers through a new lens. Simons has found things that were meant to be kept secret. A suspicious death of one of the Banks wealthiest clients, leads Simons to other clients suspected of involvement in grand corruption, massive fraud & cartel size drug trafficking. Simons begins to realise a family secret of its own may hold the key to piece together the financial links which reveal secrets that must be exposed but powerful people won’t let that happen. As Simons gets closer to solving the puzzle, powerful internal and external forces are determined to stop him. Will Simons put it all on the line, and get justice at last for his murdered father?

253 pages, Kindle Edition

Published January 2, 2026

About the author

John Cusack is an actor, producer, screenwriter and political activist. He gained fame in the 1980s for his starring roles in movies such as "Say Anything" and maintained his popularity in the following decade while creating his own production company.

After the turn of the century Cusack increased his political outspokenness and began writing blogs for publications such as the Huffington Post. After meeting Edward Snowden in Moscow, the conversations were converted into the book "Things That Can and Cannot Be Said."