I have received a NetGalley copy of this book in exchange for an honest opinion.
Jane’s deeply troubled sixteen-year-old niece, Kayla, has vanished, and no one seems to care. Neither does Jane. Until she sees a picture of Kayla and recognizes herself in the young girl’s eyes. It’s the empty stare of a sociopath.

I am absolutely in love with Victoria Stone's Jane Doe. She is finally back. I have the most fun reading deeper into Jane's character and her self diagnosed sociopathic tendencies. I actually do not see anything wrong with her. Yes, she is not as warm as society tells us a woman should be, but would we be that shocked if Jane Doe was Jake Doe? We probably wouldn't think twice. Stereotypes? She just sees things as they are cutting through manipulation and bullshit. Go, Jane!

4.5 stars!!! I loved it. My favorite sociopath is back. Jane doesn't sugar coat anything and pretty says whatever she is thinking. Not sure if I like the addition of Kayla. Hopefully, she will not be too much for Jane to handle. Although, I'm pretty sure Jane could handle anything thrown at her. How can you not love Jane? Yes, she loves revenge and and I would never want her on my bad side. She also "loves" her cat and Luke. Luke is perfect for her. He normalizes some of her crazy. I'm not even sure how Jane survived her childhood. Her parents and brother are simply awful. I loved everything about the book- the story, characters and writing style. Kayla might cause some problems. Actually, I'm pretty sure Kayla will cause tons of problems in Jane's life.

Definitely recommend the book. I find Jane very humorous. She has a way with words, usually four letter words when talking with her family. She is smart and tough and knows how to get stuff done. She also knows how to blend in as "normal." She's simply AWESOME!!! I'm hoping there's more books in the Jane Doe series. I LOVE her!!! I can't wait to read more mores by the author!!!

I received a complimentary copy of this book from Lake Union Publishing through NetGalley. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

Thank you to NetGalley for my ARC. Jane is a lawyer living her best life in Minneapolis when her brother’s ex calls to tell her that her niece has disappeared. She heads to her small town Oklahoma to find her. I enjoyed the mystery and I enjoyed hearing about OKC, Jenks and Tulsa. I don’t care how authors portray Oklahoma to be only red dirt and red necks. Good read. #problemchild #victoriahelenstone #march2020

I loved the writing style of this book. And while it definitely dealt with mature and serious parts of life, the character was quite funny. I was kind of torn on what to rate this book. It is fairly entertaining, but at the same time there were a lot of repeated phrases or moments. Or overly descriptive portions of the book that made me want to just move forward. But overall considering the deep and disturbing storyline the author was able to capture a lightness to the book as well.

After reading the first book about Jane Doe and absolutely loving it, I couldn't wait for the next installment. I love reading anything from the crime/ thriller genre and will read anything I can get my hands on. I loved the first part of the book and thought that the super bad-ass Jane was back! After this, I became disappointed, she started to become rude and sarcastic - this made me unsure of how the author actually wanted to portray the character. It made me have absolutely no emotional involvement with the character, Then, towards the end, it suddenly became interesting again and left the reader on a complete cliffhanger. I am now left wondering what is going to happen and need to read the third installment to find out!

I would recommend this book - even though a lot of the book, I feel could have been condensed.

Very much enjoyed this follow up in Jane's story. Love her snarky remarks and how she sees the world. I would say that the storyline of the first novel was a bit more compelling as it directly related to Jane's life. The storyline in this book takes Jane out of the city where she spent so much time in the first and introduces a whole slew of new characters. I did enjoy seeing her background and how she was "created" though. Either way, I am fully committed to this series. Love Jane and can't wait to see if she gets up to anything else in subsequent books!

Thank you NetGalley for the ARC.
I'm going to have to read the first book about Jane especially because I really liked the snarky crazy Jane!

I requested this book before I knew it was actually a sequel to the original novel, Jane Doe, so I downloaded that to read first, hoping that it was good so I hadn't downloaded a book I wouldn't actually read. Luckily I loved it, so I couldn't wait to dive straight into the follow up!

Problem Child follows Jane from the first book as she navigates her new life - settled for the first time with a lover, and doing well in her corporate legal job. She's immediately up to her old tricks when it comes to dealing with those who take advantage of her (or try to), and we see her manipulate every situation to her own advantage, trampling those who try to undermine her. But the story really begins when she receives a phone call telling her that her troubled niece, Kayla, is missing, and no-one is looking for her. Intrigued by the hints that Kayla - who Jane has never met - may be a sociopath just like she is, Jane flies out to her former home town to investigate, and to find the nice she hopes may be like her. If she can find Kayla, might Jane finally find a family after all?

I really loved both books in this series, and am hoping that the open ending in this one means there may be another on the way. Jane is such a brilliantly written character - we see sociopaths portrayed unsympathetically all the time, so it was great to get a slightly different take on it and see her as a real person who just happens to see the world differently. Although some of Jane's responses to situations are off the charts, I loved that she takes no prisoners - it was brilliant to watch her deal absolutely ruthlessly with those who crossed her, and it was sometimes laugh-out-loud funny (the scene after the turbine was delicious!). I also liked the ending (though that's all I'll say about that as I don't want to leave any spoilers!)

I'll definitely be recommending this one, and can't wait to read more from this author.

Thank you to NetGalley for providing me with a free ARC copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Jane is back and more snarky and vicious than ever. From the ending, there is going to book three and I can't wait. Loved her observations and rants at some parts Jane was hilarious at others she was deceiving and scary.

Our favorite sociopath is back in the new novel, Problem Child. Jane has a job, a boyfriend and a cat. But her co-worker is throwing her under the bus, her boyfriend wants to move in together and she is bored. When she gets a call from one of her brother's baby mamas about one of his spawn, Jane returns to her hometown to help. It is rumored that Kayla is like Jane. Jane is intrigued at the thought of being able to talk to another sociopath. We meet her parents, her brother, her teachers and find out what shaped Jane. She rescues her niece and and they return to Minnesota. Along the way her co-worker learns to never cross Jane and her boyfriend moves into her new house. AND THAT ENDING! I did not see that twist coming. I can't wait to see Book #3.

Victoria Helen Stone created the character that we didn't know we needed until we read her story.

Problem Child is the lovely yet slightly less impressive sequel to the wonderful Jane Doe.

"Dinner in my underwear with a good book. What a treat."

Jane is as endearing as ever and the pacing throughout was perfect for me. I appreciated Jane's growth curve and her bizarre path to self awareness. She is capable of far more than she first thought, but this of course could end in two very different ways - growth or destruction, and here we see the path to one of those.
I would have liked to see more smut as Jane's relationship with her boyfriend develops. That's just not the Jane books though, which some people will certainly prefer! As with the first book the sexual references are there and are great within context but do not derail the narrative.
The writing style is smooth, witty, and thoroughly enjoyable to read. I adore (the love interest) Luke - he is a warm light and he should be protected at all costs.
Jane's fierce life view is refreshing and I found myself highlighting passages about her feminist viewpoint. So sassy, so well done.
The backtracking is on par with many modern series that would prefer to stand alone as much as within their already established audience. You could read this alone, but you'd be missing out.
I'd absolutely recommend Problem Child if you liked Jane Doe and I'm eagerly awaiting the next part of this series!

[This eARC was generously given to me via NetGalley & Lake Union Publishing in exchange for an honest review.]

This was another @netgalley book as I thought I would tackle some of my outstanding books. My nephew helped with this photo but he’s actually not a problem child at all. I wanted to use my other nephew but he wouldn’t cooperate (#problemchild jks 😂)
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The book is about a woman named Jane who has a unique personality trait...she’s a sociopath. When a niece she has never met goes missing Jane is called upon to return to her hometown to try and find her.
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I was really hooked from the start as the character Jane is terrific. She is a strong woman and the author did an amazing job with her character. I was pleased that the beginning started off great as I don’t find many books do this. The middle part was somewhat uninteresting and slow but it definitely picked up at the end and finished strong.

I was pleasantly surprised to learn there was going to be a sequel to ‘Jane Doe’ and jumped at the chance to read it.
Jane is still Jane. Cold, distant and slightly odd. When we catch up with her again she is busy plotting the down fall of another (deserving) man while trying to maintain a ‘normal’ relationship with her boyfriend Luke.
Jane doesn’t care about other people, her family even less, until she learns her teenage niece Kayla has gone missing and decides to investigate. And the only reason Jane is interested in finding Kayla is to see if she is a sociopath like herself.
I must admit I struggled with finishing ‘Problem Child’ due to it’s pacing. The book opened really strong and then got a bit weighted down in the middle. And I don’t think the story really recovered. This has affected my rating for the book, going from a 4 star at the beginning to a 3.5 stars overall.
I will look out for book 3 in the series, just to check in on Jane and her antics.

4⭐️
Normally, I’m not a sequel type of reader, but when I saw that there was another Jane Doe book, I knew that I had to read it. (I also really have this thing for reading about problematic sociopaths)

Jane is back, only this time she’s in love...,errr I think it’s love? This story follows Jane, who receives a phone call that her 16-year old niece is missing. Being the superhero that she is, she decides that she has to be the one that finds her.

Jane’s scandalous dialect and quick witted attitude made this book. This was a fairly quick read for me, and I also had a lot of fun during it. I’m hoping to read more about Jane in the future.

I’d like to thank Netgalley and Lake Union Publishing for the arc I received of Problem Child. I remember what a surprise Jane Doe turned out to be so when I found out this was a sequel to it I immediately requested it. Unfortunately, this book wasn’t half as good as the first. I also detested Jane, I don’t understand why she’s so obsessed with food. Is is supposed to be because she’s a sociopath so she doesn’t care how her figure looks so she eats what she wants? Because that’s how it comes across to me.

Problem Child is a psychological thriller that I could not put it down. Well written and interesting. The characters are well developed and creepy. A great series and must read.

Jane is back with a vengeance. In this book she is searching for her missing neice, and is more of a sociopath than ever. The middle of the book was a little slow but what an ending!
Many thanks to Lake Union Publishing and to NetGalley for providing me with a galley in exchange for my honest opinion.

Jane is a character that isn’t easily forgotten. You can be an avid reader and she won't be one that will easily slip the mind. She sticks out among a sea of protagonists like a sore thumb. Mostly because she is a sociopath with a knack for destroying lives in the most deceiving and psychotic way possible. And that is exactly why readers fall for her. She is a bad bitch and we fucking love it. Yet I can’t help but feel like something went horribly wrong with this sequel.

I never thought that I could claim to be bored while reading any novel involving Jane. In fact, it seems criminal. But all of my notes talk about how nothing has happened. Don’t get me wrong, the first chapter was the venomous women that I fell hard for. But after that, Stone navigates away from the feel of the first novel and takes a new approach. Problem Child focuses a great deal on the mind and thought process of Jane verses her actions. Some reader’s will love this, reader’s like myself will find it incredibly boring. I spent most of the book bored and making comments about how much of the details and happenings seemed like filler. After finishing and internalizing what was read, I understood it was a deeper look into Jane’s psyche. But it sort of fell flat. I have many theories on why that is.

First, I think with this novel we see less of the sociopathic behavior. Instead, we are often told and reminded she is a sociopath but we see less actions indicating this. Based on the previous novels, I think some expectations will not be met in that regard. Actions speak louder than words in this case. Where is the woman who destroyed a pastor’s life? I miss that mean girl.

Another one of the problems is the synopsis. It is incredibly misleading. When I read this synopsis, I thought I would be getting a story about Jane dealing with her sociopathic niece. While that does happen, it literally doesn’t happen until the tail end of the book. Otherwise, the story is just detailing Jane eating, drinking and traveling around pretty much. Again, an in depth look into her mental workings. But honestly, fuck that. I want an in depth look into Jane outwitting her niece. It should have been an epic battle of the sociopaths. But it wasn’t. Instead you meet the “problem child” in the last 20% of the book. Not only was the synopsis misleading, I find the title to be as well.

Okay, I have one other complaint. In this novel, I feel as Jane lost some of that sociopathic edge that we love. She isn’t supposed to “care”, yet she most certainly does especially about her relationship. As a reader, I don’t want to see growth in Jane. That is not why I love this character. I love her for her ruthless ways. I need her to remain scantless otherwise who am I even anymore?

Overall, I wasn’t really impressed with this novel. I think Stone took away some of the core components that made Jane Doe the success it was. I understand the approach taken but it just did not resonate like it should have. I really hope Stone unleashes the fury should there be a third installment. I’m jonesing for it.

Thank you NetGalley and Lake Union Publishing for a copy of Problem Child.

Ooooh yay this was a good one!

I loved Victoria Helen Stone's previous book, Jane Doe, so I was ecstatic when I got approved for an ARC on NetGalley.

This was exactly what you'd expect from good ole' Jane! I love her character and miss seeing females like her in fiction. It's not everyday you get inside the mind of a sociopath! I'm not on her level (I don't think), I have emotions, I can cry over nothing, and I definitely experience love. Yet... and that's a huge yet... I can relate to her SO MUCH! I loved getting to know her and reading about her life after the first book.

The book itself read pretty fast. I enjoyed being alongside Jane as she journeyed back to her family home whilst looking for her niece, Kayla. There's a lot of doubt as to Kayla's behavior. Is she similar to Jane? Could this be a genetic trait? Or is she just like the rest of us, boring, normal, yet missing.

The first third of the book was the best. I loved Jane's methods of manipulation and getting information to further her investigation. There was a storyline that I felt got cleaned up way too easy and way too fast.

The ending was great and I believe it definitely leave a third book waiting in the wings, and you best believe I will pick that up if VHS decides to write it.

An enjoyable and interesting read. Jane the lawyer in this book demonstrates and describes her behaviour as that of a sociopath. It gives a great insight and understanding of someone with sociopathic traits. How she manages her life and the issues involved. These are well intertwined with an exciting and entertaining storyline. I thoroughly recommend this book.