Fantastic novel and I highly recommend if you enjoy a good thriller that keeps you on the edge of your seat. The plot is great and really well thought out. Amnesia thrillers can quickly descent into the absurd but Abbott keeps the narrative tight and it flows really well.

BLAME is a great, fast-paced thriller from Abbott. A novel of lost memories, unanswered questions, and a quest for the truth. Abbott keeps readers guessing throughout, offering plenty of twists and red herrings. Recommended if you're looking for a gripping, engaging thriller/mystery.

Started out slow, but the pace picked up after a couple of chapters and then the suspense build up was really good. A very quick read.

RATING: 4 STARS
(I received an ARC from the NETGALLEY)
(Review Not on Blog)
Listened to on Audio

I am not a fan of amnesia stories, unless it can be really well done and not be a gimmick. Abbott, in my opinion, made me not roll my eyes. It helps that the majority of the characters were teenagers so the high drama can be blamed on the angst. This novel feels a bit like a young adult/new adult book, but it still packs the suspense so don't write it off. Jane Norton, the main character, is a teen that was in a car accident and has now lost her memory from the time of her father's death to now. In the car was her longtime friend and neighbour, David Hall. He passes away and leaves unanswered questions that lead most to believe it was Jane's fault. But when people who were present in the aftermath start experiencing "accidents" Jane knows there is more to that night. As she tries to uncover the secrets, she realizes she cannot trust her own mother. If you like Harlan Coben, Linwood Barclay and Rick Mofina, try this one!

After I got over the fact that this was not the next book in the Sam Capra series, I enoyed it very much. It is rather in the vein of recent thrillers but I find that writers like Abbott are more adept than most and take what in another writer's would have been just an ok story and ratchet it up a bit. I also enjoyed that it was set in Texas where I live.

Two years ago, high school senior Jane Norton was driving the car in which her dear friend, classmate, and next door neighbor, David Hall, was riding. David died at the scene and Jane was severely injured. A traumatic brain injury left Jane with memory loss. While she can recall events from her childhood, she has never regained her memories of high school leading up to the accident. Including the memories of her father's death and the painful days that followed. She returned to school and graduated, and even attempted college. But after flunking out, Jane has been adrift, refusing to live with her mother who stubbornly remains residing next door to David's mother, Perri. In the aftermath of the loss of their only son, Cal, David's father, has moved out and their divorce is pending. Most of the time, Jane hides in her friend Adam's dorm room.

An anonymous Internet threat -- "All will pay" -- and violent confrontation with Perri at David's gravesite on the anniversary of the accident sets in motion Jane's quest to finally learn the truth about the accident and her life before it. What kind of person was she? What was the real nature of her relationship with Kamala, who insists they were the best of friends? Why were she and David driving on that road?

Blame is a tightly-constructed mystery full of unexpected revelations inserted at expertly-timed intervals and surprising plot twists. It also features an inherently unreliable narrator -- Jane -- who has lost both her memory and very identity. She has no self-confidence and the people in her life are largely strangers. She mistrusts their representations about the nature and quality of her relationships with them prior to the accident, as does the reader. Thus, every supporting character is a suspect, including Jane's overly protective mother, Laurel, even though those characters' motivations for wanting to keep the truth from Jane are not immediately apparent. Abbott keeps the action moving at a quick pace that accelerates to a shocking conclusion that many readers will not see coming! Although an amnesiac as the central character is not a unique concept, Abbott's execution of the story is essentially flawless and thoroughly enjoyable.

I have read every Jeff Abbot book and the "car crash of Jane" is more of the great same.

I love Jeff Abbott's books and was thrilled to be able to read a proof early. This one is easy to recommend to customers looking for new author, they come back for more...

Blame" by Jeff Abbott was the first novel of his that I have read. I thought the story line was interesting, but took too long to get to the crux of the story. I must say that I was surprised at the ending.

Published by Grand Central Publishing on July 18, 2017

Blame is often assigned as a way to avoid the powerless feeling that comes from accepting that tragic events are usually beyond our control. Bad things happen, but the pain of living with that reality is displaced by anger if we can blame someone for the tragedy. That, at least, is one theory of blame advanced in a novel that explores blame from several perspectives.

Jane Norton was in a car accident when she was seventeen. Two years later, she has no memory of the crash or of much of her life during the three years before the crash. David Hall died in the same accident. David’s mother and most of his friends blame Jane for his death because of a note that was found at the crash scene. Someone using the name Liv Danger has hacked Jane’s social media site and is threatening to reveal the truth about her role in David’s death — a truth Jane does not herself know. The words ALL WILL PAY appear in Liv Danger’s message. It’s also chalked on David’s gravestone on the anniversary of his death.

Jane is soon caught in a web of deceit as individuals (some of whom she trusts) appear to be withholding information or lying to her, including her mother, a girl who claims to have been her best friend before the accident, a couple of boys who may or may not have been her boyfriend before the accident, a private detective who investigated the accident, and a psychology student.

This is the kind of novel where a number of violent crimes are committed and each time, suspicion falls on the protagonist. The reader, like Jane, is challenged to figure out who is responsible for the mayhem, why it is taking place, which of the characters are telling Jane the truth, which characters are lying, and why the liars are deceiving her.

Jeff Abbott handles all of that with skill. A reader might guess some aspects of the novel’s resolution but I doubt that most readers will figure out the roles played by all the characters before Abbott reveals them. Abbott didn’t quite sell me on the motivations of certain characters, but stretching credulity for the sake of delivering a surprising story is a common feature of modern thrillers and, at least in this case, not one that greatly diminished my reading pleasure.

The plot is intricate and it generally held my interest, although the story is a bit drawn out, creating an uneven pace that builds suspense but lets it dissipate. I suspect this novel could have been 50 to 100 pages shorter without omitting anything crucial. The ending also leans toward melodrama. Everything resolves too neatly, delivering a form of justice to the characters who deserved it in a way that seems too convenient.

Blame has value beyond the plot. The real target of Blame is small town pettiness, the gossipy judgment that is viral in cloistered communities, as residents take secret (or open) delight in the embarrassment of others. Abbott also targets “confessional” bloggers who make celebrities of their family members (as does the writer of a mommy blog) without considering how that exposure will affect the child. I enjoyed reading Blame for those background themes almost as much as I enjoyed the plot ... maybe more.

RECOMMENDED

An electrifying opening for a novel with plenty of twists. Jane Norton is driving with her friend when their car runs off a cliff. David doesn’t survive and Jane has lost all memory of the accident. Immediately following the accident everyone is sympathetic to Jane’s injuries but when a note is discovered, in Jane’s handwriting, stating that she wanted to die, the wave of sympathy turns and Jane is ostracized from the community.

Jane still lives next door to David’s parents but it is clear from any interactions she has with the family that they wish she didn’t live there and her high school friends have turned their backs on her. Jane wishes she could remember the details of the accident and what led to them being out on the road at night. She can’t imagine writing the note and much less wanting David to die.

As if that weren’t enough she is now being harassed by someone online claiming they know what happened and that someone will pay. Who is this poster calling themselves Liv Danger and what do they know? If only Jane could remember but she has her hands full trying to maintain her sanity.

Good pacing in this novel that made you want to keep turning the pages. There were a lot of characters that weren’t trustworthy but kept the reader guessing as to what their agenda could be. The only thing that detracted me a bit from the story line was that this story was set in Austin, Texas. Being that I live in Austin, made up streets and places stood out to me and seemed a bit jarring.

Jane Norton has no memory of the car crash that killed her friend David, or of writing the suicide note that was found after the accident. Years of her life are just gone and she's kind of staggering through the present, trying to make sense of it all. Once the plot gets moving (which is more than halfway through the book) things get interesting, but the beginning really dragged for me.

3.5 stars. For more than 3/4 of this book, I knew I was going to give it a 4/4.5 star rating. It was that good. I was hooked and couldn't stop reading. But then the last part of the book came along and the ending was so contrived and out of nowhere. I still really enjoyed the book, but the big reveal, didn't fit with the rest of the story.

Some books grab you with the premise. In this case, Jeff Abbott's BLAME is a humdinger. A young woman named Jane Norton crashed her car, killing her friend in the process, and came out of the accident with amnesia. Of course this inspires sympathy among all of those who hear of the terrible tragedy. That is, until they discover a note from Jane's hand, which reads "I wish we were dead together."

Whew! Talk about a setup. The interesting thing about this novel is that it takes a familiar character type in many of today's most popular novels, the unreliable narrator, and gives it a fresh twist. Jane's amnesia makes her unreliable. Or does it? Is she just gaming the system? Readers will burn through these pages to discover the answer. I comfortably recommend this book to anyone who likes fast-paced, thoughtful, well-written crime fiction.

I'll be honest, if I hadn't seen so many great blurbs about this book, I wouldn't have picked it up. I was afraid that a book about amnesia would be completely ridiculous and would feel like a daytime soap opera (especially with the "I wish we were dead together" note. If you're feeling that way, too, WE ARE BOTH WRONG.

This book was completely insane in the best way. Even while creepy things were happening, it still felt completely plausible and it never felt like Days of Our Lives or a similar show.

Probably the most impressive thing, though, is the way that Jeff Abbott makes the reader feel sympathy for Jane and Perri, two characters who are completely at odds. The accident completely destroyed both their lives, leaving Jane with amnesia (even now, a couple of years later, she still has a few years of her life unaccounted for) and her future is now totally up in the air because she can't concentrate on things like college. (And what can you do for money without a degree and with a small town that thinks you murdered one of the most popular teenagers?)

And then there's Perri. David was her only child and he died in a pretty horrible way and the person you hold responsible was never held criminally responsible. How do you ever recover from that?

The two of them are pretty horrible to each other, and understandably so. But they don't seem like horrible people altogether and I could understand and forgive both of them.

This is such an intense, fun book. I hope you pick it up. Recommended.

As engaging and un-put-downable as this book is, it's also chock-full of so many characters with hidden agendas that it takes off the "realistic" plane at some point and never sets back down. That being said, the characters are engaging and interesting, the pacing is excellent, and while not every surprise is a shocker, the big ones are.

I just finished Blame by Jeff Abbott, a new-to-me author I now know I like.

A college-age woman, Jane Norton, is injured when she crashes her car on a lonely road. But her dearest friend and next-door-neighbor, David, is dead.

The whole town blames Jane for David's death because a suicide note is found at the scene. Written in Jane's handwriting, on unique paper that she uses.

Now, two years after the accident, Jane suffers from amnesia. The blankness of her condition causes her to wonder if everyone is trying to capitalize on it, to spin reality to suit their needs, rather than the objective reality that once was.

This book is very psychologically twisty, which I liked a lot. The main characters' points of view are conveyed in a clear and understandable way. And there are enough questions and surprises to keep the pages turning.

I kept a running list of suspects throughout most of the book. Abbott is very adept at portraying suspicious characters, and poor Jane doesn't know who to trust because, remember, she has amnesia. Even Jane's own mother hovers in a cloud of mystery and suspicion.

Why were Jane and David together in her car and on that lonely road that night? That's the question that keeps the pages turning until it's finally answered near the end. And what an answer it is!

Excellent psychological thriller; if you're into them, it's a must-read!

Liked:
- Lots of questions posed.
- Lots of twists and surprises.
- Well-crafted, suspicious characters with their own agendas.
- A condemned protagonist who can (and should) trust no one.
- Fairly fast read.

Disliked:
- The obvious reference to a social network called Faceplace. The reference is clear, but I'm guessing Facebook wasn't used to avoid any potential legal issues.

Special thanks to NetGalley and Grand Central Publishing for giving me the opportunity to preview this title.

Blame is running rampant in Lakehaven, Texas. Fingers are being pointed all over the small little town and they mostly seem to be pointing at Jane Norton. A seventeen year old girl who crashed her car with her neighbor and best friend, David Hall in a seemingly one vehicle involved accident. Jane woke up after four days in a coma to discover that she has lost three years of memories. Those three years contain the death of her father and three years at high school.

At first when she woke up, she didn't even recognize her mother. Although that memory came about very soon. Her friends, before high school, she remembers, as fourteen years old, not as they are today. Her new friends made in high school, she doesn't remember at all. She even has to relive the fact of her father's death due to an accident while handling a gun. A memory that was horrible to live through the first time.

When a suicide note is found near the crash several days later, Jane is blamed for the death of her friend, David. David is a very popular guy at school, Jane isn't or wasn't until now. However, her popularity is entirely negative. David has lived next door to her for years, they grew up together. She considered the Halls her extended family, not anymore. The fingers are pointing to blame and it's all in Jane's direction. This leads Jane to extremes in her living situation as she can't stand to live in "that house" anymore.

This is just the start of this book that leads to lots of suspense, action, jaw dropping findings, backstabbing, false newspaper stories, and mystery. The allegations have Jane determined she did not kill David, it was an accident and she will do whatever it takes to change everyone's opinion.

Another great read by Jeff Abbott that I requested on sight and am absolutely grateful to Grand Central Publishing and Net Galley for providing me with a free e-galley in exchange for an honest, unbiased review.

Wow! It's been awhile since I couldn't put a book down and kept reading into the night and any free moments I had throughout the day. The story kept me on the edge of my seat. Each time I thought I had it figured out something would throw me off. Love reads like this. Thank you for the opportunity to read. I will be re recommending the purchase of this title for our library collection.