Main Characters:
-- Jess Townsend – new junior reporter at Britain’s biggest newspaper The Globe, hired by Max to turn the tabloid into a more reputable publication; Max wants her to work with Stella and report back to Max what she’s working on
-- Stella Thorne – deputy editor of The Globe, known for doing whatever it takes to get a story; believes Max is a better journalist than editor and feels she was wrongfully passed over when Max was given the editor’s job
-- Max Forsythe – editor of The Globe, came through the ranks working side by side with Stella, hires Jess to help clean up tabloid journalism
-- Peter Kingsley – media mogul who has monopolized the industry for more than 30 years; owns the world’s biggest-selling newspapers including The Globe, a multimedia sports channel, and a film production company in Hollywood
-- Harry – the foreign secretary’s bodyguard who Stella pays for leads; there is also a sexual component to their relationship, which Harry sees more as a real relationship than Stella does
-- James McAllister – spent four years in prison for a plot against the prime minister exposed by Max and Stella; on the verge of being released, and Max and Stella know he will want revenge

Chaotic, full of naivety and derision (based solely on the number of times the author used variations of each word), and not as great as I hoped. This is how I would describe Sandie Jones’ latest novel, which releases on August 15. I have been a fan of Jones since her debut novel The Other Woman. That said, this is the second consecutive release that has been a 3-star read for me. 🫤

In fairness, a 3-star rating means a book is okay. It’s not a fantastic read that you can’t put down and keeps you up at night, and it’s not something that you would suggest people not read. But I hoped for more. I hoped for suspense and thrill, but the book fell flat despite Jones’ background in the world of journalism.

The story revolves around the vicious world of Great Britain’s tabloid journalism, told from dual points of view—Jess in the first person and Stella in third. Hired by Max to keep an eye on Stella’s activities, Jess finds herself participating in meetings and activities that are clearly not on the up and up. Stella, who believes that Max didn’t deserve the editor position over her, will do almost anything to get the stories. She’s tough and unrelenting and intimidating.

A lot happens in this story. A potentially wrongfully convicted criminal being released concerns both Max and Stella. Jess feels guilt over the manipulation of stories. Stella personifies a take-no-crap attitude at times but is paranoid and fearful at others. And I couldn’t tell whether Max was good, bad, or otherwise most of the time…which is probably the point, but I think it just makes everything too confusing.

The plot builds really slowly, and things don’t really seem to start happening and making sense until more than halfway through the book. There are enough twists and a decent ending that I won’t give away any of the story line. It just takes a while to get there.

For a book that really started off as a slow burn, I had little hope it would pick up pace. Once it picked up though I could not put it down and read more then 50% of the book in one day. With characters you love, ones you love to hate, and ones you just aren’t sure about - this story about how much of the world media controls sheds a light on the reality of the world we live in.

An interesting and very disturbing insight to the dirty tricks of the tabloids.
Although a good read, this was not my favourite book by Sandie Jones
Thank You to NetGalley, St Martin’s Press, and Sandie Jones for the opportunity to read this ARC.

A friend told me about this book so I searched on netgalley and found it. So glad I had a chance to read this book because I honestly couldn't put it down. 5 star book and I was drawn to the blurb after my friend told me and man I already told others that they need to read this book. I couldn't put it down at all. Might reread it later on in the year.

The Trade Off is a fast paced, interesting view at the world of tabloid journalism and just how far they will go to get the story.

Jess is a newbie reporter at The Globe, and she is quickly asked to compromise her ethical beliefs in service of getting a big story, Stella is her editor, a veteran at the paper who seems willing to do anything to get a story, including setting up a sting to catch celebrities in naughty acts. Their two opposing view seem ready to come to blows when the editor in chief, Max, asks Jess to help him make the paper more honest. But in this newsroom it is tough to tell who is actually after the true story.

Books by Jones are always well written, concise, quick reads for me. I liked this story full of morally grey characters and enjoyed the character development. I did feel that sometimes the action was left off the page- a chapter would end when something big was about to happen, and we would come back to it later but the character had already moved on and was just thinking about what had happened.

The story has ties to the #metoo movement, and that part was compelling. The set up for it was a bit clumsy, with a flashback that I didn’t realize was a flashback and me being confused about what in the world was happening since it seemed like a jump completely out of place. Maybe a subheading saying however long ago that event happened would help?

Thank you to NetGalley and St Martins Press/Minotaur Books for the ARC in exchange for my honest opinion.

It's no secret that I love Sandie Jones -- ever since I read The Other Woman I have been hooked! I was thrilled to score an ARC of The Trade Off and flew through it!! Once again, Sandie Jones had a clever plot and really went above and beyond with her character development. In particular, I thought that Stella had an exceptional character arc -- it truly is the sign of a great writer when you are able to go from disliking to loving a primary character. A MUST READ for 2023!

When I first started reading this one, I wasn’t sure I was going to like it. But then it sort of went cat and mouse and it was fun deciding who were the bad ones vs good ones. A good read about a gossip newspaper and how they went about getting their stories. Some good twists and a few unexpected turns. Another good one by the author who Ive read all of her books and really enjoy! Thanks to Netgalley and the Publisher for the ARC. All comments are my own.

This was a miss for me. I was interested in the premise of a newsroom thriller, but it took forever for the plot to pick up and I just wasn't compelled to want to read it.

This novel follows season tabloid journalist Stella and Jess, a newbie journalist at the Globe. The Globe is a bestselling paper that makes it's most money on catching folks in compromising positions. Stella is deeply unlikeable and while I think the author was trying to make her a feminist who takes no mercy, I ultimately couldn't handle her. Jess is a green newbie, with naïveté that kills ya. The first 30% of the book is multiple instances of the journalists catching celebrities in manufactured and compromising positions, the fall out, and... then again.

DNF'd at 45%.

A workplace thriller centered around the dark secrets and ugly truth of tabloid journalism. Jones delivered a rather chaotic (in my opinion) story about a rookie reporter who struggles with playing the dirty tricks of the tabloids, but does she have what it takes to reveal the truth to the world.

THE TRADE OFF was a big miss for me. I struggled with getting through this one, however I will say that the last few chapters did keep you entertained but nothing outstanding.

Told in alternate POVs, the reader learns about both Jess and Stella. Two women in power positions that allow them to either tell the truth or manipulate it in order to be successful.

Applause to Jones for the character development, unfortunately they are so unlikable that I wasn’t invested.

THE TRADE OFF was more of a women’s fiction book rather than a thriller. If tabloids, workplace drama and multiple storylines are your thing, then you’ll enjoy if not, SKIP.

🖤Thank you NetGalley and Minotaur Books for the eARC in exchange for an honest review.

When Jess lands a highly coveted journalism role at The Globe, she feels on top of the world. Little does she know that the reporting done at the paper, however, is less about news and more about manipulation. Told from opposing points of view, Jess and her supervisor Stella must determine if they want to continue down the path of reporting they are currently on, especially after discovering a tragedy together. What they uncover might be enough to bring them together, or tear the paper down as a whole.

I'm not a big fan of workplace thrillers but because Sandie Jones wrote it I wanted to give it a try. Overall, I think this one was pretty solid but I think my disdain for the subgenre/trope stopped me from loving it as much as I should have. Perhaps I'll go back to it in the future when I'm craving something out of my comfort zone!

Jess is a new reporter at The Globe, a London tabloid. She quickly gets schooled on the cutthroat business of how newspapers will do just about anything for a story. This is a fast read, told in alternating points of view. It was a bit confusing as there were many storylines going, and the main story was predictable. I would have liked more character development, as these were interesting characters. This is the first book I’ve read by this author, and I would be interested in reading more.

The first two acts of this thriller were great, but it fell apart in the third act. I didn't believe the twist. Without giving anything away, the first two acts are super invested in building Stella into one thing, but in the third act it all falls apart. It's almost as if the first two acts were written together in a sprint, and the third act was added after. It's entertaining enough, but now something I would rec to a friend.

I really enjoy this author's writing and found this book to be tense and a page turner, in that I was really hoping to find answers to the many questions I had.

The biggest is why on earth Jess was plucked from her small time newspaper to work for the biggest in Britain, but I can only guess that Max was looking for the dumbest and most naïve person in all literature to do his dirty work. How on earth can someone not know how tabloids work??

Stella was an interesting character in that we were always guessing if she were truly good or bad. And there's a nice discussion of MeToo and Media's complicity in carrying water for corrupt politicians. But I'm not entirely sure if I'd recommend this one. Jess's POV (half the book, with Stella being the other) is just so...annoying (sorry!).

Special thanks to St. Martin's Press for giving me the opportunity to read this ARC through NetGalley in exchange for a review.

Thank you to NetGalley and Minotaur Books for the eARC in exchange for my honest review!

Unfortunately this didn’t hit the mark for me! I felt like I had a hard time getting invested in the story because the beginning had such a long setup that it fizzled out before it really had a chance to shine. If you are willing to muddle through a slow start, the back half of the book is better!

Not really my "cup of tea." Decent plotlines, believable characters. It was a quick read, and I do think that people will enjoy it. I found that it wasn't really a thriller; it was a little suspenseful, but I wasn't really invested enough in the characters or the plot to consider it a book I couldn't put down.

I ended up DNF’ing this book. I feel like the book starts in the middle of the story and there is zero explanation. The first half was sooooo long and overly involved in creating characters that are just in likable.

I so badly wanted to enjoy this novel, but the multiple storylines were just too much for me. Jess begins her career as a new reporter at The Globe and quickly realizes it’s not what she expected. Her boss Stella is underhanded, and her boss’ boss needs Jess to keep an eye on Stella. There are shady dealings with former prisoners, fights for the editors spot, and figuring out how far someone will go to get the scoop.

Overall, this thriller seemed chaotic and I found myself having to put the book down frequently. I couldn’t figure out why Jess was chosen as a new journalist to keep an eye on Stella and why she didn’t walk away from the job at the first sign of impropriety. I didn’t enjoy any of the characters and felt there was something missing the whole time.

A great thriller, centered in the fascinating world of tabloid journalism, "fake news" and viral social media posts. A young tabloid reporter is drawn in to a sensationalized story which ends up hurting its subject very much. She wants to make things right somehow, but someone (or more than one someone) is out to stop her. I look forward to recommending this title.

Ohhh the deception and lies are STRONG in this book! Sandie Jones is one of my favorite authors and I always go into her books wondering who I can trust and I'm literally never right. LOL. Jess is the newest reporter at The Globe and Stella is a cut throat editor who does anything (and everything) for a story. Does it matter if the story is true if it draws in readers? Before long, Jess gets her name attached to the wrong article and she doesn't want anything to do with it -she would never compromise her integrity for this tabloid. Or would she?

Part cat-and-mouse thriller, part popcorn-thriller but I enjoyed it all! If you're seeking the perfect summer thriller for the beach or to pass the time during those hot end of summer days -grab this one! You won't be disappointed!




Trigger warnings:
•Murder
•Kidnapping
•Suicide
•Talk of sexual assault (past tense)