THE PAYBACK

"Dear Borrower," sighs narrator Chanté McCormick, voicing the exasperated, exhausted Jada, a 30-something Black woman who has defaulted on her student loans after having lost her job at the mall. College was supposed to be the answer to every question you have at age 18. In her sassy narration, McCormick invites listeners into a perilous and absurd alternate reality for student loan borrowers: one controlled by the Debt Police. They are a nightmarish gang of Los Angeles tech bros who only add to the wild fun of this black comedy. While McCormick's comic timing makes this a laugh-out-loud audiobook experience, her tonal expression of Jada creates some confusion over the age of the character, which feels disruptive to the experience of getting to know her. K.L.L. © AudioFile 2025, Portland, Maine [Published: NOVEMBER 2025]