An office based drama, not the thriller I was expecting. An okay read but I wanted more from the story.

I found this book to be more of a drama than thriller, at times I was confused by the characters and didnt really connect to them. Unfortunately I could get to grips with the book. I do enjoy how the author builds tension and executes twist in her writing, for this reason I will be looking out for other books from the same author

A cleverly written story of deceit, ambition, determination and corporate competitive culture. Three women are thrown together with one aim in mind and that is to discredit a man who has affected, negatively, their lives in different ways. Whose side will you take? Who is most definitely wrong?

Thank you to Netgalley and Little, Brown for the advance read of this book which was published 2nd September.

First off, it took me a while to get into this book. I enjoyed the way it is written from the viewpoint of three female colleagues working with Jamie. The story is told both from before and after Jamie's death .i really disliked Jamie's charachter and couldn't wait to see how the story unfolded and who had actually killed Jamie.

This debut novel is written by Celia Walden who is Piers Morgans wife.
I was unsure what to expect from this author being who she is but I was pleasantly surprised. I give this book 4 stars

Wow! This book gave me nightmares it got to me so badly. Well written, many things don't appear as they should. I stayed up on far too many nights to read this.

Jamie Lawrence, high-flyer, go-getter, charismatic, womaniser is found dead, impaled on a railing. Was he pushed or did he fall?

Okay, so step back a few weeks from this grisly sight to see what led up to it. Take three women, all of whom work, or have worked at the same property sales company...

Jill: co-founder, with husband Stan, of BWL, the company at which they all work(ed). She's approaching pension age, Stan has terminal cancer, and Jamie wants her out because she's “too old”.

Alex: single mum of a newborn, who has just been fired by Jamie, not because she did anything wrong but she is Jamie's scapegoat and mad as hell, wanting revenge.

Nicole: dissatisfied with her marriage to house-husband Ben, is having an affair with Jamie who, by the way, is married to the gorgeous Maya, mother of their two children.

All three women have an axe to grind, so when they happen to meet at a works do, they hatch a plan – well sort of. They gripe to each other about Jamie, a charming, but nonetheless predatory rat, and how he should be taught a lesson.

The timelines were often confusing, the characters were flat and unimpressive. I realised as I finished this book that I had no idea what any of these women looked like, other than Nicole's lips and that was only because she changed her lipstick. And why was that even relevant? And what was the relevance of Alex's hands? References to the smell of baby powder and eczema and hand washing, none of which was relevant. I had expected some sort of sinister link, but there was nothing. The behaviour of Alex and Nicole is at times, so far-fetched as to be ridiculous. I mean, how many women would bundle a newborn baby into a buggy and set off to meet a woman, in a pub, late at night!

Occasional bad grammar was grating – characters “were sat” instead of “were sitting”. The use of I instead of me really irritates me, and I know it seems picky but when a book is written by a journalist and broadcaster I would have expected a better grasp of English grammar.

This is that sort of sunny-afternoon-in-a-deckchair sort of read. It's instantly forgettable and certainly not the thriller it's cracked up to be. Yes it has a twist at the end, but even that was improbable. Not thrilling, just mediocre.

My thanks to Netgalley for an ARC download.

A fast-paced thriller with plenty of twists!

I really enjoyed reading this book and was kept guessing right until the end.

What a whodunnit. There are many women that want Jamie dead. After three of them talking and devising a plan of what to do he ends up going into decline at work and being found dead-impaled on railings. Was it one of the women or does the blame lie elsewhere?

I had the feeling by about a quarter way through this book that the author was keen to get her message across so when that message gets repeated throughout I really had had enough.
Not a bad drama but not a thriller. A little too quick to get onto the what happened next for me

I did like this in places but i wasn't in love with it entirely. The characters were interesting and i found all 3 women compelling but the story did dip in a few places and i didn't care what the outcome of the characters was in the moments. This had a lot more potential but it just missed it for me overall.

Couldn't put this one down. A great example of how far obsession can take people. Damaged souls self destruction. And what a twist at the end. Brilliant !

I feel this has been seriously over-hyped. I had heard so much about it and was keen to get started but soon found myself disappointed. I did not find any of the characters likeable and I had no-one to root for. The plot was okay but quite confusing and it did not grip me. I did stick with it and finish it which at one point I was not sure I would be able to. I did enjoy the ending and overall direction Walden takes the plot. This has some interesting elements too and I liked Walden's exploration of a modern day working woman's office experience. This was okay but slow, confusing and I needed one person to like, even if it had been a tiny piece of them.

Thanks to NetGalley for the opportunity to read and review this book. It was a hugely enjoyable read. Gripping with lots of twists and turns in the plot. Different points of view in different chapters. Interesting characters and good writing. Highly recommended.

I follow Celia Walden on social media, and have enjoyed her non fiction writing in various publications – but had not before read any of her fiction. I liked the premise of the book – and I can’t deny I also liked the premise that she is married to someone that a lot of the population love to hate! So when Celia was doing the rounds publicising the imminent publication of Payday – I hopped onto NetGalley and was kindly granted a review copy. I’ve only just read it – but that means if you like the sound of it you can buy it immediately:

Here’s the blurb:

“Late one night, three women share secrets.
They barely know each other, but they all know Jamie Lawrence. They know what he’s guilty of. And they agree something must be done.
But as their plan spirals out of control, they begin to doubt themselves . . . and each other. Then Jamie is found dead. And suddenly everything is at stake. As lies are unravelled and truths exposed, two urgent questions emerge:
Who is really guilty?
And who will have to pay?“

The three women in question are Alex (Jamie’s recently sacked PA), Nicole (Jamie’s contemporary) and Jill (Jamie’s partner and mentor over the previous years) . Each has a different reason to despise Jamie – but will they be responsible for his downfall or death??

So many of the interactions were totally relatable having worked in the corporate world (as an accountant) and now working in the property sector (although as a hairy arsed contractor rather than a consultant like BWL the company in the book). Everyone knows a Jamie!

The book twists and turns massively – you know that Jamie has died early in the book – but then it goes back in time to get you to the point of his gruesome death. Each of the women – and some other women too – would have reason to destroy him, and this develops as the book progresses. Some elements of the book were quite predictable – others totally shocked me – which really kept me on my toes.

I have to say that neither Alex nor Nicole were particularly likeable – and although Jill was probably my favourite, she still had times when I wanted to give her a talking to. Each of the characters was very different – but very well observed, and I enjoyed the writing style a lot.

Different chapters are told from different points of view and I felt like the pace picked up as the book developed.

There are elements of #metoo, basic sexism, an ageism / sexism combo – and just downright being a dick by Jamie. He doesn’t really appear to have any redeeming features at all.

The twists and turns and ‘oh wow’ moments keep going right to the very end of the book which I thought particularly clever – but because of that I don’t want to reveal too much of the storyline as you need to discover it for yourself.

Overall a great read – and I could easily see it being made into a TV drama – I devoured it really quickly as I was desperate to find out what happened next. The ending does tie up lots of loose ends for all of the characters which I always like in a book.

Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for my ARC.

I would like to thank the author, the publisher and NetGalley for giving me the opportunity to read an ARC of this book. I certainly drew me in and although a number of the characters were not particularly likeable, I couldn’t put it down. A definite must read.

Payday by Celia Walden is a very clever, deviously female type of story with twist and turns and a twist at the end. I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book and am only glad I never worked there, because it really wasn’t real! Although reading it you would tend to forget. Funny, outrageous, entertaining and also very sad at times.
Highly recommended

My thanks to NetGalley and Little Brown for a copy of “ Payday” for an honest review.

From the premise of this book I was expecting it to be more of a thriller than it actually was.
I think once I’d realised this was more of an office based drama I did enjoy reading it , but I found the characters mostly unlikably , and the plot a little overblown.
Not the suspenseful thriller that I had hoped for but a still decent read , just a little underwhelming

I was looking forward to reading Payday and having read all the rave reviews, I wanted to enjoy it. But I found it difficult to get in to and didn’t get any sense of where it was going in the early chapters. I didn’t connect with any of the characters, and I found there was a lack of the suspense that I look for in a good thriller.

Thank you to the publisher and Netgalley for an advance copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Jamie has it all a great career, looks, money and a gorgeous wife. However when allegations about misconduct, scapegoating and attempts to remove other partners in the property firm it seems there is a darker side to Jamie. Is it all true or could Jamie be the victim?.

The story is told from the POV of three women Alex Jamie’s former p.a, Jill Jamie’s business partner and Nicole Jamie’s employee.

Initially I was gripped I thought this was going to be a story of the me too movement and revenge on the patriarchy. However this was not the case.

It was an interesting plot but just a few too many holes and unanswered questions for my liking. A lot of subjects were touched on but never fully explained i.e Alex’s father? And the conclusion seemed rushed in order to facilitate the reader finding out what happens to the women’s lives after.

Overall a good enough read I would imagine fans of Harriet Trice’s novel blood orange would really enjoy payday.

I'm leaving this four stars as I was unable to download the book before it was archived. Given that I was unable to read it, four stars seems like a fair thing to leave it on.