Payback

Boy Soldier #2

by Andy McNab, Robert Rigby

A series of high-profile suicide bombings are devastating London and frustrating British Intelligence. But that doesn't matter to seventeen-year-old Danny Watts and his former SAS hero grandfather, Fergus, who are living undercover in southern Spain, knowing that the slightest slip could expose their whereabouts to the ruthless killers on their trail. All too soon, Danny and Fergus have their cover blown and are on the run again, with their enemies closing in fast. Suddenly, Danny and Fergus are forced to return to London and clear the family name. But once back in the UK, it appears that Danny is somehow connected to the bombings, and now they both must struggle to bring the truth to light before it's too late for payback.

Genres: Fiction, Thriller, Young Adult, Action, Mystery, Adventure, Adult

272 pages, Hardcover

First published October 6, 2005

About the author

Andy McNab joined the infantry in 1976 as a boy soldier. In 1984 he was badged as a member of 22 SAS Regiment. He served in B Squadron 22 SAS for ten years and worked on both covert and overt special operations worldwide, including anti-terrorist and anti-drug operations in the Middle and Far East, South and Central America and Northern Ireland.

Trained as a specialist in counter terrorism, prime target elimination, demolitions, weapons and tactics, covert surveillance and information gathering in hostile environments, and VIP protection, McNab worked on cooperative operations with police forces, prison services, anti-drug forces and western backed guerrilla movements as well as on conventional special operations. In Northern Ireland he spent two years working as an undercover operator with 14th Intelligence Group, going on to become an instructor.

McNab also worked as an instructor on the SAS selection and training team and instructed foreign special forces in counter terrorism, hostage rescue and survival training.

Andy McNab has written about his experiences in the SAS in two bestselling books, Bravo Two Zero (1993) and Immediate Action (1995). Bravo Two Zero is the highest selling war book of all time and has sold over 1.7 million copies in the UK. To date it has been published in 17 countries and translated into 16 languages. The CD spoken word version of Bravo Two Zero, narrated by McNab, sold over 60,000 copies and earned a silver disc. The BBC's film of Bravo Two Zero, starring Sean Bean, was shown on primetime BBC 1 television in 1999 and released on DVD in 2000.

Immediate Action, McNab's autobiography, spent 18 weeks at the top of the bestseller lists following the lifting on an ex-parte injunction granted to the Ministry of Defence in September 1995. To date, Immediate Action has now sold over 1.4 million copies in the UK.

McNab is the author of seven fast action thrillers, highly acclaimed for their authenticity and all Sunday Times bestsellers. Published in 1997, Remote Control was hailed as the most authentic thriller ever written and has sold over half a million copies in the UK. McNab's subsequent thrillers, Crisis Four, Firewall, Last Light , Liberation Day , Dark Winter , Deep Black and Aggressor have all gone on to sell equally well. The central character in all the books is Nick Stone, a tough ex-SAS operative working as a 'K' on deniable operations for British Intelligence.

McNab's fiction draws extensively on his experiences and knowledge of Special Forces soldiering. He has been officially registered by Neilsen Bookscan as the bestselling British thriller writer of the last year.

Reviews

[Calvin Foun · Rating 4 out of 5]

I thought that payback was a exciting book. It tells of a wanted man and his grandson on the run from the government. I liked that it explained why Fergus did everything. For example, I found it interesting that he slams his door shut to make the bolts tight. When the government snuck into his house at night, they quietly shut the door to not wake up Fergus and in the morning Fergus knew that they came in.

[Milly Hawkins · Rating 4 out of 5]

At the beginning of the book I found the main character Danny,a 17 year old teenager a very introverted and frustated boy. As the story progresses he develops confidence and an a more outgoing personality. Danny and his grandfather Fergus are on the run and hiding in Spain but have to return to England to prove Fergus is innocent. They face many dangerous obstacles on their travels. I think this book would appeal to a teenage audience who enjoy an action-packed, gripping storyline.

[Grace · Rating 4 out of 5]

I loved this book which is the 2nd one in the series. I think the story flows better than a typical McNab book because Robert Rigby writes better than McNab and therefore the book is easier to read. I'm looking forward to the next book in the series.

[Yasar Sadozai · Rating 4 out of 5]

After reading this book it seems very dark and violent, but I actually really fine that interesting and enjoyable. It's about these two main detectives named Danny and Fergus who are trying to solve, these sudden murder cases that has been going on. They made their own secret company to help them figure it out, but due to them always missing the event before it starts, they know somebody in their company can not be trusted. I really liked this book because it talks about how mysterious a crime could be and it takes a lot more than looking for clues, you have ask people use a lot of high tech technology in order to figure who is the person that did the crime. Also the other thing I liked was that the main character Fergus doesn't truly trust anybody because she knows anybody could've been that murderer.

[Evan M.]

I believe this is a good sequel because of the way they switch between characters. I found myself skipping past the parts without Fergus and Danny. So when they transitioned between them and Marcie or other people I would pas over it to keep it so that I never know what happens. The fact that Danny has trauma fro Eddie is great because that's accurate he Would be guilty about it considering he brought him into it.
Marcie is a much more brutal person in this and she is much more cruel. first she felt bad about killing the Mearcher but later on shoots one of her own people for no reason. she also attempts to help them but she really wants to use them and manipulate them. she later uses them for an operation called "Black Star" who is the hacker that Elena contacted to get into the system for Secret Ultra

[J.M. · Rating 2 out of 5]

Sadly I think after having read this book I can say with certainty that this series just isn't for me.

I definitely did have an enjoyable time reading this but when reading a book like this I would prefer to be immersed and on the edge of my seat, this book couldn't offer that for me.

I felt like that the story was pretty average and didn't really bring anything knew to the table. I felt like the writing style was just a combination of loads of different authors.

There was a scene nearing the end of the book where a main character dies but I didn't feel strongly enough to care.

Overall don't think I'll be completing this series as it just wasn't for me 😔

[Maria Schillinger · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book clears up the main story from the first book, Traitor. However, it brings in a whole new mystery to resolve in the following book/books. I liked this book and the first one. They both kept me reading because I wanted to know what was going to happen to Fergus, Danny, and Elena.

[Taylor McCarthy · Rating 5 out of 5]

The. Ok was very interesting and was very action packed which then gripped me t the book which made me want to read more.

[Garry Schofield · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not a bad book defo worth a read not as good as some of andy's other books

[Mike Gormez · Rating 2 out of 5]

An enjoyable book. Nothing too fancy but neither boring.

[Chris Potgieter · Rating 5 out of 5]

It was a very entertaining book. One of my dislikes is that i cant finish the series after this exciting book

[Long Williams · Rating 3 out of 5]

Same review as the first offering. Good story, average writing.

[Paschalis]

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[William Reid · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good read

[Kees van Duyn · Rating 2 out of 5]

Nadat Andy McNab, een pseudoniem voor Steven Billy Mitchell, in 1993 als hoogst onderscheiden soldaat de SAS verliet, schreef hij over zijn ervaringen twee bestsellers, waarvan Bravo Two Zero de eerste was. In 1998 begon hij met het schrijven van fictie en zijn bekendste boeken zijn die met Nick Stone. Samen met Robert Rigby, die als journalist begon en later bekendheid kreeg in de muziekwereld, schreef hij een aantal Young Adult-boeken. De jonge soldaat uit 2005 was het eerste van de Boy soldier-serie. Het tweede boek, Vergelding, verscheen eveneens in dat jaar.

Op een warme voorjaarsdag wordt een aanslag gepleegd bij het parlementsgebouw in Londen. In de kranten is dit het nieuws van de dag en iedereen vraagt zich af wie de verantwoordelijkheid voor de terroristische daad opeist. Dit alles is de zeventienjarige Danny en zijn opa Fergus Watts ontgaan, want ze leven undercover in het zuiden van Spanje. Er wordt echter jacht op hen gemaakt met als enige doel ze om te brengen. Als ze ontdekt worden, slaan ze opnieuw op de vlucht. Samen met Elena, de vriendin van Danny, willen ze hun situatie voorgoed veranderen. Ze keren terug naar Engeland, waar de aanslagen door blijven gaan.

Dat Vergelding het tweede deel van de Boy soldier-serie is, is al meteen aan het begin te merken. Het verhaal gaat namelijk verder waar het voorgaande geëindigd is. Daarom is het sterk aan te bevelen, en eigenlijk is het wel een voorwaarde, de boeken op volgorde te lezen, want dit deel bevat geen enkele duidelijke verwijzing naar wat zich in dat eerste deel plaatsgevonden heeft. Alleen dat al maakt het lezen van dit boek er niet gemakkelijker op. Vooral omdat de lezer geen enkele voorgeschiedenis heeft en zich in redelijke verwarring door (het begin van) dit boek heen moet worstelen.

Het verhaal bestaat uit een groot aantal ongeloofwaardige situaties. De auteurs proberen het wel realistisch te laten zijn, maar zijn daar niet in geslaagd. Verder worden de personages niet uitgewerkt waardoor de lezer de indruk krijgt dat McNab en Rigby er - onterecht - van uitgaan dat zij het eerste deel ook gelezen hebben. Het simpele en dunne verhaal, dat geen noemenswaardige plotwendingen heeft, heeft op een paar regels na geen enkele spanning en een erg gezochte ontknoping.

De schrijfstijl in Vergelding is vrij eenvoudig en voor iedereen te begrijpen. Natuurlijk is het een Young Adult, maar ook van boeken in dit genre mag je verwachten dat het toch wel wat verfijnder geschreven is. Nu kunnen de jongvolwassenen de indruk krijgen dat ze door de auteurs niet serieus genomen worden. Ze verdienen namelijk veel beter dan met dit boek te worden afgescheept. Dit wordt mede gevoed door een aantal inconsistenties die in het verhaal voorkomen. Want een vliegreis vanuit het zuiden van Spanje naar Londen wordt afgedaan als een enorm lange vlucht, terwijl het in werkelijkheid maar een paar uurtjes is.

Beide auteurs hebben er ongetwijfeld alles aan gedaan om er een interessant en spannend jeugdboek van te maken, maar hierin hebben ze hopeloos gefaald. Als ze ooit nog eens het plan opvatten om hiermee door te gaan, hebben ze nog wel wat huiswerk te doen. Pas dan kan een eventueel nieuw boek interessant, boeiend en een stuk spannender zijn.

[Khadija Zahra · Rating 3 out of 5]

Captivating .I really like the building up of the climax and the way the author deals with it .

[Paul Perry · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very very good will reccommend this to anyone i liked it a lot and it has me hooked will be reading hte next.

[RH · Rating 2 out of 5]

Fergus Watts, a former SAS explosives expert and his grandson Danny are hiding in Spain. When there is a chance to clear their name and go back to the UK to live a normal life, they travel back. It is their task to uncover a corrupt MI6 agent, Fincham, while clearing Watts’ name. Together with Danny’s friend Elena, they break into the British Ministery of Defense to find the proof that Fergus was hired to be ‘K’, a deniable operative who had to infiltrate the Columbian drug cartels. When this operation results in the death of several of his troop, Fergus is blamed.

When teenagers organize a series of suicide bombings in the UK, Danny is being framed as terrorist. Fergus, Elena and Danny manage to uncover the truth and see that Fincham was the one who killed the troop back in Columbia in exchange for money. Based on this evidence MI6 eliminates their corrupt agent.


The character development and plot in this book are rather weak.

[Ian · Rating 4 out of 5]

This story follows the adventure that seventeen year-old Danny and his grandfather Fergus take as they investigate and try to put a stop to a train of terrorist attacks in London. As expected, this book had many scenes of action and suspense. For example, "Kev fired two rapid double taps at Fran, who was crouching beside her vehicle, but in the glare of the headlights it was virtually impossible to get a decent aim. He turned the SD on the lights they exploded in a hail of glass"(McNab 128). This was when Danny was in desperate danger of being both exposed and probably killed, and his friends had to come to his aid. This was just one of the many examples of fast action sequences that give the reader a lot of energy and keeps the pages turning. The author also does a great job of ending the chapters on cliffhangers in order to make you keep reading. This book was pretty much the definition of a "page-turner", except for occasional lengthy stretches where nothing significant happened at all. This irritated me throughout because I loved the idea of a book that was nonstop action and thought that this book would satisfy that, but there were times where simply nothing was going on and it felt like all of the action was over. An example of this was what was, in my opinion, a useless scene where Danny and his grandfather were "in the golf club parking lot, keeping a keen eye on Kev. He took a deep breath and prepared for his third attack on the ball. Both feet were planted deep in the sand and the head of his sand wedge hovered a few centimeters behind the ball"(McNab 109). This scene continued to be unnecessary in my eyes and I felt the book could do without these long pauses of action. However, this was the only real downside I could think of. It's action-packed, the ending was satisfactory, and it's an ideal book for the action/adventure genre.

[Roz · Rating 2 out of 5]

I am not in the mood to sit and write a proper review. I have a book I am looking forward to reading waiting and I just want to get this over with.

I don't necessarily want to be overly negative about this book. Granted, it is not what I enjoy, but that doesn't mean that it might not be a good book for boys to read. As I am neither approaching or in my early teens, or a boy, I am not in a position to give this a fair judgement.

What the book has going for it: It uses military acronyms, abbreviations and terminology which is likely to appeal to some readers. McNab and Rigby have created realistic scenarios and means to get past obstacles that also help give the story a bit more realism. It might help make it more appealing too, although I am not really able to judge.

And the 'againsts': The story moves slowly until the final action scene. I have to confess that every time Fergus suggested another recon of whatever target, I groaned inside. A lot of the lines (and I mean word for word here) and tactics were repeated from the first book. I also found it hard to actually feel for the characters in the story. There was a small attempt at getting us to see that Danny was starting to love his grandfather, but I didn't feel it. Yes, yes - boys don't want to be swamped with emotion, and action is not the genre for it either. But maybe I would have actually given a toss about Fergus if I thought that his being alive was a good thing and not just being the mouth for another list of instructions waiting to be given.

I might read the third book, just to find out what is happening with the continuous story, but I won't be hunting for it.

[James Hargest Library · Rating 3 out of 5]

A series of suicide bombings are destroying London and frustrating British Intelligence. But that doesn't matter to seventeen-year-old Danny Watts and his former SAS hero grandfather, Fergus, who are living undercover in southern Spain, knowing that the slightest slip could expose their whereabouts to the ruthless killers on their trail. All is well, until Danny and Fergus have their cover blown and are on the run again, with their enemies closing in fast. Suddenly, Danny and Fergus are forced to return to London and clear the family name. But once back in the UK, it appears that Danny is somehow connected to the bombings, and now they both must struggle to bring the truth to light before it's too late for payback.
Payback is the second instalment of the Boy Soldier series. Payback follows Danny and his grandfather Fergus’s story trying to disappear out of the system, and not appear on the ruthless killers radar. Although they are found, Payback shows how SAS training saves their lives. - Ben K

[Tom · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a very super uper duper amzing book. out of all four this one in my most favorite. Fergus watts(Danny Watts grandfather) doesnt show feelings a whole lot in any other of the books. but in this one he shows that he cares a lot and litterally would give his life to keep his grandson Danny Watts safe. this book keeps you wanting to turn the page. i kept getting into trouble because i would start to read for hours and ignore everything and everyone. i would recomend this book to anyone and everyone that like thriler books.

[Grace Wright · Rating 2 out of 5]

Its definitly confusing. I think it would help if I read the first book first. But even if I had, the rating wouldn't be much higher. Its about suicide bombers, and suicide bombers are a weird thing to read about. Sure I like weird books, but still.

I don't know what was going on in this book. It might be just that I forgot what happened since I read it awhile back and am only doing the reveiw now but I vividly remember being confused and asking myself what was going on.

Maybe it makes more sence when you read the first book.

[John · Rating 4 out of 5]

A good read from Andy McNab that one would expect with the knowledge he has gained on operations for the UK.

The book I beleive was targeted at the younger reader, nonetheless, it does not lack the punch or storyline McNab usally puts out. A good plot that one can beleive if you stretch things but for one little escapade that is the sum of the writers imagination and journalistic licence.

Worth the money.

[Nelsond]

I liked this book very much. I usually don't get all that into a book but this one was fun to read. It is about a boy named Danny and his Grandfather named Fergus. They are both running away from the British CIA because they are both tagged as terrorists. Later in the book they both go to great struggles to try and clear their names while also dodging people who want to claim the bounty for them.

[Cam Marcoulier · Rating 3 out of 5]

The book Payback by Andy McNab is about a boy named Danny and his grandfather named Fergus. They were hiding out in Spain but some criminals found out where thy were hiding and they had to return to London in order to clear their family name. Once there they figure out Danny is somehow connected to bombing that are happening in London. I thought this book was prettyy good, it had a lot of suspence throughout it which made me keep wanting to read. I thought that it summed up pretty well too.

[Chris Harrison · Rating 3 out of 5]

Better than the 1st book in the series, although there was some comparisons with Eddie in the 1st book basically cloned as Joey in the 2nd book and you could see the outcome for him coming long before it happened. Like the way it entices you to get the next book with the epilogue and its looking like it might be an interesting read.

[Josh Keller · Rating 2 out of 5]

"Payback" by Andy McNab is the great sequel to the first book in this series. This is the last and final book. The story is about Danny Watts teamming up with his Grandfather to take out the evil spy in the army. This was a good read. It was a easy read with a good ending. There are lots of army terms in this book. It is a realistic fiction.

[Gregg Stephenson · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is the 2nd in the Boy Soldier series by Andy McNab. I was on the fence with the first book, but made a deal with myself to try the 2nd in the series.
I found Payback to be a much better read. It was more realistic and compelling. So, now I'm on the hook and ready to read the next in the series. Hope its as good as this one.

[Justin Marek · Rating 3 out of 5]

Payback
There is a seventeen year old that had seven kilos of explosives strapped to him. And when he detonated it he killed almost seventy people. In this book I like how they explain things to a certain level. And describe what he did. But I did not like how they did not describe how he did it. Or exactly why he blew everyone up.