Following up on the success of his debut novel, “Hollywood Hustle,” soap star Jon Lindstrom (“Beyond the Gates,” “General Hospital”) recently announced the next title in the series, “Hollywood Payback,” which is available for pre-order at all major bookstores, including Barnes & Noble, and is set for release on March 10, 2026. The new book follows a struggling Hollywood actor who falls into a life of crime.
“Ever want a little payback? Now’s your chance,” teased Lindstrom in a post on X (formerly Twitter). “My new book ‘HOLLYWOOD PAYBACK’ is coming! July 8-11 Pre-order @BNBuzz for 25% off. Use code: PREORDER25 to get your discount and be among the 1st to get some #PAYBACK when it drops Mar 10.”
According to an official synopsis, the new book follows Jake Ferguson, who, 20 years ago, threw his life away. Once a promising Hollywood actor, he crashed and burned the usual way: with coke, booze, and pills. When that path reached its inevitable end, he made a desperate choice, and an innocent woman was killed. Before being convicted and shipped to Folsom Prison, Jake agreed to testify against his partners-in-crime as the star witness for the prosecution.
Now Jake’s reentering society—coming home to an LA he no longer recognizes and to a life that has lost all meaning. Then he meets Carla, a waitress who understands him better than he expects, and he begins to believe deliverance may be possible after all. Until one night, a murder is committed right in front of him, and Jake knows he’s been set up.
With authorities closing in and more lives on the line, there’s only one way out, for himself and the people he cares about: revenge.
Courtesy of Crooked Lane Books
“Hollywood Payback” is the second novel written by Lindstrom following last year’s release of “Hollywood Hustle.” Earlier this year, it was announced that the novel will be adapted into a feature film with Lindstrom set as an executive producer on the project from financier, producer and distributor AETH Entertainment.
Set in the dark underbelly of the Hollywood scene, “Hollywood Hustle” is a propulsive and tense thriller set in the seedier side of Los Angeles, where it depicts the bold prose of an insider named Winston Greene, a has-been film star who wakes one morning to find his six-year-old granddaughter at his bedside—traumatized, unattended, and gripping onto a thumb drive. She comes bearing video proof that her mother, Winston’s troubled adult daughter, has been kidnapped by a murderous gang demanding all his “movie money” for her safe return. But they don’t know it’s all gone, long gone.
Unable to go to the police for fear the kidnappers will make good on their promise to kill his daughter, Winston turns to two close friends—a legendary Hollywood stuntman and a disgraced former LAPD detective who used to consult on Win’s cop films. There’s no easy way out for Winston or his daughter—the gang is violent and willing to do anything to get the money they’re after, and Winston begins to realize that to get his daughter back, he’ll have to beat the kidnappers at their own game.
“From the opening pages, ‘Hollywood Hustle’ grabs you and doesn’t let go — it’s a natural fit for an electrifying cinematic experience,” AETH Entertainment CEO Eric Woods said in a statement at the time.
“So much of my career has been spent in and around the film industry, and I wanted Hollywood Hustle to capture the look and feel of that world behind the camera that most people don’t see,” said Lindstrom. “I’ve had the chance to play so many great characters imagined by other writers. It’s going to be a thrill to see the characters I created come to life on the screen.”
Like “Hollywood Hustle,” the new novel is also being released by publisher Crooked Lane Books and will feature approximately 70 more pages of thrills.
