The Payback

A 30-something woman strikes back against her draconian student loan servicer in Cauley’s raucous latest (after The Survivalists). Jada Williams is in dire financial straits. A film school graduate with a keen interest in fashion, she once held her dream job as a Hollywood costume designer, which she lost over an “exploding” dress after a narcissistic actor refused to wear an appropriately sized garment. Now, Jada works a retail job alongside two other talented but debt-ridden Black women: Lanae, a classically trained violinist who also plays in a punk band called the Donner Party, and Audrey, a former NSA cybersecurity specialist. In a desperate bid to keep up with her loan payments, Jada steals a watch left by a customer in the store’s dressing room, pawns it, gets caught, and loses her job. Soon after, a squad of new cops known as the “debt police” show up at Jada’s apartment and severely beat her as punishment for late payments. Audrey and Lanae receive similar treatment, and the three unite to take down their loan provider, aided by Audrey’s hacking skills and Lanae’s ruthless eat the rich mentality. As their scheme unfolds, Cauley burnishes her page-turner with shrewd commentary on the debt burden placed on first-generation college students. It’s a knockout. Agents: Martha Wydysh and Ellen Levine, Trident Media Group. (July)