PLOT--
Naomi is a psychotherapist who specializes in victims of domestic violence. Having been the victim of domestic violence in her home while growing up, Naomi frequently finds herself crossing professional boundaries in order to keep her patients safe, much to her husband’s chagrin.

One such patient is Jacob, a man who has been getting tormented by his wife with physical, verbal, and psychological violence. When Naomi convinces Jacob to finally leave his wife once and for all, she once again finds herself crossing a line to make sure Jacob’s wife can’t find him. But then Jacob goes missing and the detectives become very interested in Naomi as the prime suspect.


CHARACTERS--
Naomi. The main character of this book is honestly one of the most unlikeable I’ve encountered in a long time. Not only is she in a morally grey area with how she “protects” her patients, her first person narration shows that she’s also selfish in doing so at the risk of her own relationship. She’s paranoid and accusatory of those around her even while being the least trustworthy person on the block. I found her narration to be very off-putting throughout.

Jacob. Jacob is a tortured soul from the start. Suffering at the hands of his wife, he’s desperate to find a way out but doesn’t feel safe enough until Naomi offers to help protect him.

Leon. Naomi’s husband has had just about enough of her intervening in patient’s personal relationship troubles. He thinks she should just treat them for talk therapy and call the proper authorities if need be when someone is at serious risk of danger.


SPOILER-FREE REVIEW--
The mystery in this kept me guessing and I didn’t sleuth out the ending which is a great thing. The unfortunate part is that I think that is in large part to the fact the plot is rather convoluted. There are events from the past dispersed throughout and it was sometimes difficult to tell if that narrator was speaking about something that was happening right now or something that happened when she was a kid. I was rereading pages at the end to make sure I was understanding what was going on and I still don’t feel like I got all the answers I was looking for.

Naomi’s character is the only one written with nuance and a history. The characters surrounding Naomi are one-dimensional, which kind of makes sense because we’re seeing them through her perspective, but their actions and behaviors aren’t compelling enough for real character development. That combined with the fact that I didn’t like the narrator made this a tough read at times.

That being said, I was engaged enough to keep reading and I was happy that the twists weren’t fully expected which is my experience with a lot of modern day thrillers. I liked the concept of a psychotherapist who cares too much about her patients and Naomi’s personal life history was really interesting to read.

Thanks to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for an advanced copy of the book in exchange for my honest review!

I love Sandie Jones & her latest was quite the thriller! Twists and turns kept me engaged and on the edge of my seat! Highly recommend!

Very interesting read. Great suspense and we'll formed characters. Definitely a page turner. Would definitely recommend.

This book was a fast read, however there were too many lines to connect and too many characters to keep straight. The ending had a good twist, but I’m still left questioning a few things. I feel as if some parts of the story were just thrown in with no relevance.

Thank you to NetGalley for this arc copy!

Wow! Sandi Jones has done it again. The Blame Game is a fast paced, quick read that will keep you flipping the pages as fast as you can, until the very end. Karma ‘s a #$@#! Vengeance makes for a intriguing read!
Thanks to St. Martin's Press, NetGalley, and Sandi Jones for the opportunity to read this ARC.

I wanted to really like this book but it wasn’t my favorite. It lacked the adventure to keep me guessing. The names were confusing and the plot was lackluster. Towards the end I guessed what happened.

I personally was on edge for it! I was confused throughout most of the book until the very end and I had a hard time following the different plots. I think there was too much going on and hence why it made it hard to follow. There were times I was truly invested and thought I had figured it out. The development of Naomi was very interesting since her history is so harsh.

Sandie Jones has once again wow’ed me with her latest thriller! The Blame Game is a fast paced novel that had me on the edge of my seat from start to finish! I read a lot of thriller and can usually figure out the who, what, where, and how pretty early on, but this gem had me stumped until the very end! Sandie Jones is such a brilliant author and the further I got into this novel and still had no solid conspiracy theories, I knew I was staying up waaay past my bedtime until I was finish! Well, I had very little sleep that night, but it was so worth it!! The Blame Game is a twisty, turn-y 5 star novel! As per usual, I look forward to reading anything and everything Sandie Jones comes out with!

This thriller kept me on the edge of my seat. I was anxious to keep reading and it did take me a little while to figure out the plot.

Okay. Well written but the plot was a bit convoluted. I liked but didn't love this book. xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

This book was utterly amazing! It was action packed the entire way through. This is the exact type of book I love to read! I can't say enough good things about it! If you love twisty action packed thrillers you must read this!

So many lies and twists that make this such a great psychological thriller. I love a good fast paced read but this I felt seemed a little rushed.

The premise of this book is what really drew me to this. The therapist that goes too far was so intriguing and really reminded me of An Anonymous Girl by Greer Hendricks and Sarah Pekkanen.

Overall, this was a great, mysterious page turner. I liked it, didn’t love it though. 3.5 stars from me!

Naomi spends her days helping her clients come to terms with the trauma they've experienced and, hopefully, move past it. Naomi has her own deep trauma which leads her to make choices that are less than professional, offering space to her clients and getting far too personal with them. When one of them goes missing, all the evidence points to Naomi and suddenly her carefully curated life has spiraled completely out of control. For fans of psychological suspense.

The Blame Game by Sandie Jones was such a deliciously frustrating book. You know, the kind where you think you know the culprit and then you are sure you know the culprit and then you are wrong… or are you? And then when you find the answer you get a total what the efff reaction? Yes. This is it. I loved it!
*I received an ARC copy of this ebook from NetGalley in exchange for my unbiased review*

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for the ARC of The Blame Game.

This novel follows a therapist specializing in domestic abuse, Naomi, who has a sad personal history with it herself.

I ripped through this one, it was great. I did predict a portion of it, but it did not make it any less enjoyable. Leon is potentially my least favorite written husband in a long time. Their relationship was hard to understand, and would’ve been better with communication -
Per usual! Ha.

I think the epilogue was very well done and tied up the ends that I wanted them to.

This was a good read, and will be a quick one for thriller/mystery lovers to enjoy this summer.

Thank you NetGalley and St. Martin's Press, Minotaur Books for the copy of The Blame Game. I couldn’t get over how inappropriate Naomi was with her patients and the bad judgment that she showed in her personal life too. The story was pretty good but I don’t think this was a book for me.

In The Blame Game, there certainly is a lot of blame being passed, and many games being played behind the scenes. Naomi is a psychologist who sometimes gets too invested in her clients' lives. This felt very much in the vein of The Golden Couple.

While the premise of this book seemed promising, the execution was not quite there. I never got so hooked by the story that I couldn't put the book down. I didn't particularly care about any of the characters and the writing style was a bit choppy in my opinion. I really loved The Other Woman by this author, but The Blame Game was not the same caliber for me.

I predicted the twist about halfway through the book, and I felt the red herrings throughout the book could have been expanded upon or used differently. Mostly I was just annoyed whenever the main character's past was brought up, because it never added much to the story.

Overall, I found the story to be entertaining, but I think my hopes were just too high after The Other Woman. Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC of this book.

Nobody does domestic thrillers quite like Sandie Jones and The Blame Game is no exception. A therapist with a dark past and secrets of her own. A page turning mystery/thriller that kept me on the edge of my seat.

Thank you so much to NetGalley, St. Martins Press, and Sandie Jones for this eARC!

The Blame Game is a fast-paced thriller that keeps you guessing until the very end. It’ll have you questioning your theories right up until the epilogue!

What I liked:
Super fast-paced
Very plot driven
Unreliable characters

What I disliked:
The ending felt slightly confusing and I wish we would’ve been given just a BIT more closure.

Overall, this was a GREAT, fast read and kept me entertained!

I really enjoyed this book. The characters and storyline were very well written. I had a hard time putting it down and it always kept me guessing.