Sandie Jones has once again given me a suspenseful thriller full of twists and surprises that made me desperate to read this every spare second I had! I loved her debut, The Other Woman, so much I immediately requested this from NetGalley the instant I saw it.

Alice runs a successful company with her second husband, Nathan. After tragically losing her first husband, Nathan seemed like the perfect man, showing up right when Alice needed someone the most.  She also has a best friend named Beth that she can always count on, and two wonderful daughters. Life is pretty good for Alice, until she finds something that makes her start to question everything she thought she knew about those around her.

The twist took me by surprise and I'm glad I didn't see it coming because man, was it insane! This is definitely a quick read but there are quite a few characters to keep up with.

If you're looking for a thriller chock full of twisty revenge and suspicion, make sure to pick this one up!

Thank you to NetGalley for an ARC of this book. 4.5 Stars

I was lucky enough to receive a digital review copy of The First Mistake by Sandie Jones, but I also won a paperback copy from a bookstagram giveaway. I chose to read this one on my Kindle because I found it easier to read in bed. It was a page turner and kept me reading until my eyes were blurry with sleep. The First Mistake is a domestic thriller set in England. The main character, Alice, owns a design firm where she works along side her husband, Nathan. Alice's first husband and love of her life, Tom, passed away tragically, leaving her and their daughter behind. Shortly after his death, Alice meets her current husband and ends up having another daughter. To say her heart was broken is an understatement and she constantly compares Nathan to Tom.



Alice is a complex character who seems manic at times, but for very good reason. One day her life was ordinarily perfect and the next her husband was missing, presumed dead. Alice suffered a severe mental breakdown which lead her to spend a portion of time in a psychiatric ward, which strangely enough is where she met Nathan (hmmm.... because meeting your next husband shortly after your last husband passed away, and you had a mental breakdown and were forced to be committed to a psych ward is totally normal....I was suspicious of Nathan from the start.) Alice struggles to hold it together while she runs her design firm, but slowly erodes day by day as she starts to suspect that Nathan is having an affair. The inkling initially forms when she finds a random earring in the family vehicle she shares with Nathan. Could this be one of her daughter's friend's? One of her friend's? Alice runs through the scenarios of who could possibly be the owner of the earring, but nothing seems logical. Nathan travels for his position with her design firm and recently returned from a meeting in Japan regarding a potential investment for Alice's company, which also happens to be a huge investment that Nathan seems adamant that Alice should commit to. Suspicion is still rising in the back of Alice's mind, so she rummages through Nathan's suitcase and finds a hotel receipt with two massages, two meals, and several drinks. Alice's mind runs wild with the possibilities. Her world feels like it is caving in as she starts to reason that her first husband left her and her daughter and now her second husband is going to be next.



The First Mistake has a strong female friendship presence with Alice and her closest friend, Beth. Their daughters are best friends and they naturally met during school drop off and pick up. Beth confided that she has not seen the father of her daughter since she found out she was pregnant. One evening, Beth confides more about her ex and they both discover that it could possibly be the same man Alice was madly in love with, who tragically passed away, Tom. Alice's manic worries start to spiral as her world crashes down on her. The First Mistake is split into three parts, the first is Alice's current life with Nathan and her suspicions of an affair, the second is Beth's prior passionate relationship with Tom and how she found herself to be pregnant and single, and the third is back to Alice and Beth's current life and how their paths intersect with their relationships.



Needless to say, I was initially suspicious of Nathan. He swooped into Alice's life months after Tom passes away, meets her while she is committed to a psych ward, works for her company, and is incessant about Alice investing in a costly venture several countries away. Things did not add up for me, but I strangely did not predict the plot twist with Nathan. I thought I had the book pegged half way through, but was still thrown by the twist. I did predict the ending, but that was only a few chapters that wrapped up the book and wasn't enough to influence my overall opinion.



Overall, I thought The First Mistake by Sandie Jones was a fun, fast paced domestic thriller that kept me questioning reality. I really enjoyed the aspect of Alice's two marriages and how her suspicions of Nathan's affair played out. I tend to read thrillers frequently and I was still surprised by the plot twist. It wasn't a "holy sh*t, what just happened?!" twist, but more of a surprising "No way, now this makes sense!" twist. Any twist that I do not predict, is a good twist for me. Sandie's writing is clear and fast paced. I tend to like more character development, but that is something you do not see often in the thriller genre. Alice's character came off manic and unhinged, but towards the end of the book, the reader uncovered more of what was going on and Alice came off as more of a reasonable lover scorn. I liked that her character was redeemed because I think a lot of leading ladies in the thriller genre come off as psychologically distraught or like damsels in distress. Alice's character took a turn for the better in the third part of the book. Not all female characters need to be psychologically unhinged, so thank you Sandie Jones!



The format of the book also made it read very smoothly. I feel that books that are broken up into parts or sections read much quicker and feel less daunting. Overall, I rated The First Mistake by Sandie Jones as a solid ★★★★ thriller. I highly recommend it if you like domestic thrillers with a psychological plot twist. Very fun read and I felt grateful to receive a copy to read and review. Thank you to Net Galley and Minotaur Books for the free advanced copy of The First Mistake by Sandie Jones, in exchange for an honest review.

After multiple attempts, and never making it past the first 60 pages, I finally gave up. No spark, no connection with the lead character, no idea where this was going since Sandie Jones only glossed over what could have been the moments that caught my attention.

I loved the author’s first book, “The Other Woman”, so I had been looking forward to that sort of plotting. The kind of not knowing, but suspecting, then being thrown off again. Unfortunately, “The First Mistake” did not live up to the hype or show the depth that I had been anticipating.

This domestic thriller tells the story of Alice, who after losing her husband Tom years earlier, now has a new husband, a daughter, and a best friend named Beth. Life should be good but Alice is plagues by problems, lots of them to be exact. Between all her problems with her marriage, her kids, her kids at school, and her own inner mental health issues it became too much and really a story that if you've read psych thrillers with any frequency then you've read this type of character and storyline before. For all those reasons the plot seemed predictable and although it moved along at a decent pace, the middle completely dragged when the narration changed to past tense. This was too much backstory and I found myself just not caring

I like domestic suspense thrillers but this one didn’t make much impression on me either way. It did have twists and turns but some of the twists seemed a little convoluted and contrived. If you just want a light read and don’t want to think about it very much, you could enjoy it for that.
Thanks to NetGalley, St. Martin’s Press, and the author Sandie Jones for a digital review copy.

My god this is such a soap opera and the plot is totally preposterous. It’s billed as domestic suspense, but it’s all domestic, no suspense. Cheating husbands, wronged women. Not my genre of choice, and since it is the second book that I have not liked from this author, I must not try again. I received a free copy of this book from the publisher.

Immensely enjoyed the writing and pace of Sadie Jones new novel The First Mistake . However ,it was a bit too predictable for me and I figured it out early so it made the novel not as enjoyable as I had anticipated . That being said, its a fast thriller and highly entertaining .

I received a copy of this book from netgalley in return for my honest review. This book was so good. It kept my attention and really kept me guessing!!!! I never knew what was going to happen next!!!! I would highly recommend this book to anyone who loves a good mystery!!

The First Mistake by Sandie Jones
For me this book started a bit slow but it picked up and all the twists and turns kept me reading and I am glad I did! Well written and good storyline, great summertime read! Thank you Netgalley and the Publishers for this book and letting me leave my opinion.

Wow! This book took some turns I was not expecting. It started out as a slow burn for me. I found Alice a bit to wordy the first 100 pages. But after those pages.... OH yeah it was a fast paced read for me. Do you really ever know who you are married to? And who your friends are? We go on a twisty ride with Alice to find out.
I really enjoy Sandie Jones writing! Thanks to Netgalley for the e arc and thanks to Sandie Jones and Macmillan for the physical arc copy.
Highly recommend this great summer thriller!

You're best friend or your husband who would you save? Alice has lost Tom, her first husband love of her life. His passing was difficult. Now she meets Nathan comes into her life. He is a gift and is lucky to be married to him. Not many people are let into Alice's life but Neth is a godsend. The best friend a person could have.
What does she do now? Beth has lied and manipulated her. Nathan married her first money and is in the process of stealing all her money and leaving her and her two children destitute. Who should she pick, a thief and a liar? Or, a manipulative friend.

*Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an advanced reader's copy in exchange for an honest review.*

I was hooked from the start with this book! With a great mystery and a bizarre twist, I was a happy camper. The ending left me a bit too hungry for more to give 5 stars, but I will read anything this author writes!

I thought Sandie Jones' first book, The Other Woman, was incredibly cleaver. But after reading her second, The First Mistake, I am pretty sure this one is just masterful!

The First Mistake is an addictively suspenseful story about a family who seems to have it all. Alice, the wife, married once before, finds true love again with Nathan, the second husband, who seems to emulate what she loved about her first husband, Tom. They have two children and a thriving company which they are about to take globally.

Suddenly Nathan starts to act strange. In ways which Alice cannot and does not want to understand. Would he try and hurt their business? Their family? And if so why?

Alice's best friend Beth is her rock. She knows all Alice's secrets. She is Alice's sounding board. Until something happens and then their friendship explodes. She can't trust Nathan and now she can't trust Beth.

Alice only has herself to get her out of a mess she doesn't really even understand. How strong is she really? Can she force herself to see what she doesn't really want to?

This story was incredible! There were so many twists and turns my head began to spin even as I was thinking give me more! and more!

Do yourself a favor and add Sandie Jones to your must read list. You will not be disappointed.

Thank you #NetGalley #MinotaurBooks #SandieJones #TheFirstMistake for the advanced copy.

While I did enjoy this book it wasn’t the thriller that I was expecting. I did have a good character mix and several twists and turns. I would definitely recommend it but more of a suspense type book. Thanks to NetGalley for the opportunity to read and review this book.

Oddly, while there was not as much action as I prefer with thrillers I did find myself really enjoying this book. There were a lot of twists and turns that were not revealed until the ending and it caught me off guard. I remember when the first twist is given I was decently surprised. It was hard to put the book down after that!

The main and supporting characters are well thought out and very easy to distinguish from each other. Not to mention, they have believable personalities and quirks. I felt that the author did an amazing job on the characters and keeping them in their roles.

The story line moves at a decent pace and keeps the reader engaged. It is a little bit slower for a majority of the story, but it isn't so slow that you lose interest. I did find myself during the first 75% of the book waiting for the other shoe to drop, so it did have suspense in that aspect. Overall, I did actually really enjoy this book and I cannot wait to read another by this author.

First line: “Sophia, let’s go,” I call out from the hall.

Summary: Alice’s life is beginning to come back to normal. She has remarried after the death of her first husband. She has two beautiful daughters and a successful business. But when her husband, Nathan begins acting strangely she turns to her best friend, Beth. As they talk about the situation Alice begins to wonder who she can trust anymore.

My Thoughts: This by no means is anything groundbreaking or new to the genre but it was a lot of fun to read. It went by very fast and kept me interested the whole way. I liked how it was divided into sections for each of the women. We got a look into each of their lives and pasts which helps build up to the conclusion.

I would highly recommend this to anyone who likes a fun thriller. It is a perfect summer read!

FYI: Sandie Jones’ first book, The Other Woman, is fantastic as well!

This book was very well written, but somewhat predictable. i found the characters a little underdeveloped and not as likable as compared to some other psychological thrillers I have read. Overall, I did enjoy the book.

This book just wasn’t that memorable to me. It was good, it was well written, but I just didn’t feel the “psychological thriller” and it didn’t stick with me. In fact, someone asked me a month or so after I read it if I had read it and I told her “no” because I had completely forgotten about it. A lot of people seem to love it, though so it may be worthy a shot of you.

I’m so grateful to have received a copy of this from NetGalley! I saw tons of people talking about it and tons of hype, so I had to check it out for myself. Im so glad I did!

The book definitely hooked me and I was super eager to find out what was really happening. I really enjoy Sandie’s writing and the characters she’s created. It was packed with drama, and let’s face it- that’s what we all want in a domestic thriller.

Overall, I did like the book and will now definitely be picking up her first book, The Other Woman! The First Mistake was released on Tuesday, June 11, so run out and grab a copy!

The First Mistake by Sandie Jones is one of those books that are almost impossible to put down. I was hooked on the story within the first few pages and finished it in less than 24 hours. Ms Jones' heroines seem so real I found myself telling them not to be stupid at times. This is the first book I've read by this author, but certainly will not be the last. I was given a copy to review.