Review: Explosive Start to a Great Series
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 10 22, 2012
Michael has a date with a vampire and has checked his list twice -- stake, crucifix, Rohypnol, Holy water, and oh yeah -- eyeliner. He's on a vigilante crusade to dole out justice for his best friend's death, Scary Mary, and on any other night he'd welcome the attentions from the hot guy looking for a light and taking up everyone's attention at the bar, but he's looking for a very specific person -- or vampire. He's nervous, but determined. As the seduction he's set in motion finally begins to work, Mr. Hot and Popular from the bar just won't seem to stop vying for his attention, and as such, they both find themselves with the vampire in a seedy motel room.From the moment Wild Bill sidles up to Michael at the bar and casually calls him Michael, Michael, Motorcyle, this story just takes off and doesn't let up. I remember when I read this for the first time, devouring it three times in one sitting because not only did it have the hottest m/m/m menage encounter I'd read, but also such a unique and uncomfortable one. Michael is there to avenge the death of his best friend Scary Mary, who was killed by Ambrose Gray, and the charismatic bad boy Wild Bill, who seems to be having the most relaxed fun of all of them, even while Michael is simultaneously mentally shooing him away and stuck in his sexual thrall. Right away, I could see that there's something inexplicably there between Michael and Wild Bill, that I couldn't wait to get more of.As the very first story of the series, Payback is different from the rest in a lot of ways, mostly in that the relationship between the two main characters is still floundering and awkward, but already having a strong connection. This story is what makes me excited to read the rest whenever I pick up this series. This story sets the tone for the others without expense to them because, like in all great stories, we learn and grow about the world through the characters, which makes this first story like first fumblings of an awkward and edgy youth, full of promise and excitement and incredibly new in experience. The more I read it, I never lose that feeling, and that has to be a testament to JCP's skill as an author. This might be a story about vampires and the world inhabiting them, but it is real in a way that most fiction isn't by focusing a lens on details that seem purposefully gritty or mundane.There is a ton of great things to talk about when it comes to the relationship between MIchael and Wild Bill, as well as their personal lives, but I'll save those for later reviews since Payback doesn't deal with them much. This is one of my all time favorite stories, as well as series and characters, so I'm very much looking forward to tackling the rest of the series and getting to write about them this time I urge you to pick up this story if you haven't yet read this series, or if you're a fan like me, to pick it up again just because.