I just finished reading "The Blame Game" by Sandie Jones and this is my honest review. Thank you to NetGalley and Edelweiss for providing me with an advanced copy in exchange for a review.
First of all, I am a big fan of Sandie Jones and I have read many of her books. Always entertaining and filled with crazy plot twists, this book is no exception.
The main character, Naomi, is a therapist who helps victims of domestic abuse. She herself comes from a dark family past, which seems like it should have been further explored but it wasn't. Naomi tends to care too much for her patients in particular, a man names Jacob and a woman named Sara. She crosses the lines with both these patients which puts her in a compromising position when one of them goes missing.
In order to protect herself, she lies to the police and to her husband, Leon, but these lies end up making her look suspicious and she wonders who it is that is setting her up.
Through the course of the story there are many red herrings which leads the reader in a different direction, but it all wraps up in the end with quite the explosive reveal.
I enjoyed this book and I think that most fans of this genre will as well. The characters were well written and the story moved quickly it was exciting throughout. My only disappointment is that there was such a focus on Naomi's past and her issues with her sister, and I feel like this plotline was dropped with no resolution. I would have liked to see what happened with Naomi and her sister.
Otherwise, an enteraining read by an author who never disappoints.
Happy Reading!

The Blame Game is an interesting but ultimately disappointing book. Naomi, a psychologist who often tries too hard to help her patients, wants to help Jacob leave his abusive wife. She allows him to move into a cottage on her property without telling her husband. Soon after this Jacob disappears and the police find evidence that Naomi is responsible. She insists she had nothing to do with his disappearance. The book does a decent job of maintaining tension and keeping the reader guessing but the ending is abrupt and kind of confusing. Also, the subplot about Naomi's tragic family history is mentioned several times but ultimately disappears by the end of the book without explanation. Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC.

Ohhhkayyy! This was so good. I was hooked from the first chapter and devoured this trying to figure out who was lying! So many twists and unreliable narrator who's a psychotherapist, yes please! The ending was a little rushed but I enjoyed it so much. Highly recommend. Thank you NetGalley for this ARC

Once again Sandie Jones writes a riveting psychological thriller that's almost impossible to put down! I devoured this one at record speed!

What’s the word to use when you are frustrated by a book’s contents because you feel like it was rushed to complete, without making sure that all of the facts made sense? I don’t know what that word is, but if it exists, that’s my one-word synopsis for this entire book.

Before I continue, I need to be sure to thank NetGalley, St. Martin’s Press, Minotaur Books, and author Sandie Jones for providing a copy of this book without cost for an unbiased review of this book.

Ms. Jones has proven to be one of my most favorite and memorable author’s to date. I love her books, and was so excited to gobble this one up. The first book that I read by her was exciting and I thought I had a new favorite author. So, for this book- I was ready! I read it in less than one day. But as I read, my excitement changed, and page after page left me feeling more and more frustrated. Why?

The whole time I was reading, I kept feeling like someone needed to fact-check it all over again to be sure they didn’t miss something! Heck, I still do because the facts don’t seem to add up and I’m done with the book! And the main character just kept getting on my nerves! I really can’t stand feeble-minded women who are highly educated but can’t apply basic common sense to their lives. It boils down to this as well (in this story, at least)…. at some point, either tell the truth, or no one’s going to believe anything else you say… period! I’m reading the book and I can’t even believe the story in general anymore! Ain’t that crazy? It was just too much- too far-reaching to feel “twisty” (I’m sure that’s not a good word for it but it’s all I can think of). Everything felt “off”, like it was one big LIE! Was I really reading a book by Sandie Jones or was it someone else? Is that a lie too?

Seriously though, she’s a great author- this one just wasn’t one of my favorites and everyone has their “it book”…. This just wasn’t one of mine this time.

So without spoiling anything- I’m going to have to give this book more of a thumbs down that I ever have had to for this author before. I just feel really disappointed this round. Maybe the next one will be better….

Book: The Blame Game
Author: Sandie Jones
Publisher: St. Martin’s Press, Minotaur Books
Pub Date: August 16, 2022

I knew from the very first page this was going to be a great book. Wow. You will connect to Naomi immediately and feel literally every emotion she goes through. I wanted to shake her and tell her to stop helping people! And the surprise twist will leave you breathless. My mouth dropped open. And the ending…the best ending ever! I can’t even explain how mind blowing the last line of the book is. This is a definite MUST READ!

Thank you St. Martin’s Press, Minotaur Books and NetGalley for this sneak peak! Publication date is August 16, 2022.

First off where have I been? I have never read any books by this author so did not know what to expect. Wow. This mystery thriller was spectacular. I found myself saying, just one more chapter repeatedly and ended up reading far into the night.

I will be reading more books by Sandie Jones.

Thank you Netgalley and St. Martin's Press for this ARC of The Blame Game by Sandie Jones.

While this book was fast paced, the motives in it were highly suspect. Naomi immediately starts lying for no reason, digging a deeper hole for herself. We never quite understand why Leon is so suspicious of her. The relationship with her sister is left completely unresolved, it exists solely to throw us off from the real “villain,” which made absolutely no sense to me. None of this book seemed realistic and I’m just left disappointed.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

“The Blame Game” by Sandie Jones is a mystery thriller and the first book I’ve read by this author (I’ve a number of her books on my TBR list). This book seemed like it would be right up my alley - a psychologist specializing in domestic abuse helping clients but discovering that odd things are happening to her so could she be the one actually in danger, not just her patients? Unfortunately, the main character, Naomi, was way too involved with her patients’ lives that it bordered on dangerous from beginning, and I fully understood her husband’s frustration with her actions. I found Naomi’s back story to at first be interesting, but then it seemed to detract from the main storyline opposed to helping. This book also had a number of red herrings that were easy to detect as such. The twist seemed obvious to me, though I did like the little gotcha in the epilogue. Knowing the twist, however, didn’t prevent me from enjoying that part of the book. For the most part, this book did hold my interest and I enjoyed the writing style, so I still want to read another of Ms. Jones’s books.

Wow. I really enjoyed this mystery full of twists and turns. This book tells the story of therapist Naomi Chandler who gets a bit too involved with her patients. She perhaps cares a bit too much due to the issues she faced. Surprisingly, her kind nature leads to turmoil for Naomi in her marriage and her life in general. I could not quite figure out who the bad guy was here. I really enjoyed this book that kept me engaged and kept me guessing.

This book is about Naomi, a therapist that tends to get too close to her clients. I found it hard to relate to Naomi and her lack of boundaries, but she definitely seemed to care for her clients. But this caused her to get caught up in a big mystery that would jeopardize her whole life. It was a good story that I enjoyed reading. There were a few lingering questions at the end, though!

Wow! So many things that I didn’t see coming! This book is everything you want from a psych thriller: fast-paced, dimensional characters, and a great ending! It will keep adding information until you HAVE to finish it as fast as you can to see what the truth will be! I thoroughly enjoyed this book!

Sandie Jones is an author I had not read before but will be reading more of. This book "The Blame Game" is a psychological thriller with so many layers that your head wants to spin and say wait what did I just read. The main character is Naomi, a psychologist who due to events from her childhood has chosen to specialize in domestic abuse. Also because of these events from her past, she wants to fix every case she takes on. This causes her to get overly involved with her clients sometimes to the point of almost crossing the line. At times I wanted to yell oh Naomi "don't do that" but she never listened to me or her loving husband Leon. But as the reader, I had not been given the whole story from her past and could not see where she was coming from. Let me say I didn't see the ending coming the way it did. Love when books do that.A huge thank you to NetGalley, Sandie Jones, and the publisher for giving me the chance to read this ARC and leave my honest review. I see this book becoming a best seller.

This book was sent to me by Netgalley electronically for review. Dark mystery...intrigue...abuse...friends and family...secrets...what does one do? How can one help? What comes next? Is there an answer? Will the abuse end? Marriage and romance...splitting...this book is not always easy to read, and sometimes, it must be put down for a time...however, that being said, it is worth reading to the end.

Definitely not my favorite Sandie Jones novel. While the mystery was fast paced and kept me going, my annoyance toward the MC’s gullible thinking only grew stronger. Can’t wait to read Jones’ next novel, this one was a miss for me.

Sandie Jones never disappoints! I was so excited to begin this book and I literally didn’t put it down until I finished it! Less than 24 hours. The book begins with intrigue and each time I thought I had it figured out, I had as many questions as the main character did! There is only one reason I will be giving this 4 stars instead of 5 - the main character is a therapist and her relationship to her patients is entirely unprofessional to the point of losing her medical license. This is a serious offense and the plot of this book still could have worked while keeping true to career protocols. Thank you for the advance copy - can’t wait for Sandie Jones next book!

This definitely wasn’t my favorite Sandie Jones read, but it was fast paced and I needed to know what happened so I couldn’t put it down. I definitely see this being a book people either love or hate especially after the ending which I kind of saw coming.

Thank you to Netgalley and St. Martin's Press for this ARC of The Blame Game by Sandie Jones.

I have only read one book by this author before and I absolutely loved it. So going into this one I was so excited. That excitement slowly dwindled the further I read but I still kept my hopes up thinking I would be wrong about my guesses and be blown away by the end. Unfortunately that didn't happen and my guesses about who did what was right. While that usually still won't deter me from overall liking the book, I couldn't help but still feel disappointed by then ending and lack of closure and certain questions I still had. It was still an enjoyable read with a great storyline. I just wish the ending gave the reader a little more.

I really enjoyed this one! It was a little slow at first, but once it picked up it had me hooked! I really liked the storyline and the characters!

So psychological thrillers are not my thing. I always want to like them, but they are too much for me. I have to race through as fast as I can to find out what happens at the end. They just stress me out. Well, this must have been a good one because I couldn't wait to finish it. I did not savor the author's engaging writing. I did not pause to think about what was happening. I just had to get to the end. It was exhausting. So if you are looking for an engaging, entertaining and exciting psychological thriller, this is definitely the book for you!