Naomi is a psychotherapist who has gotten too close to her client, Jacob. When he disappears, suspicion is turned to her. Is it trauma in her family history come back to haunt her, or is something else going on?

There is an audience out there for this book. Unfortunately, it was not me. From the outset, I had problems with all of Naomi’s unprofessional and unethical behavior. The list goes on and on: telling her husband about a case to accepting gifts to blurring boundaries over and over to lying to the police. Her crossing the boundaries would do nothing to help clients; it would only made them more dependent. There are social workers and agencies that could provide assistance. Why did she not encourage her clients to seek the appropriate professional intervention whether it be social or legal?

Sorry about the rant, but it really bothered me (perhaps because I am a former mental health professional). That said, I tried to overlook it all, saying “it’s just fiction” and buy into the story. It was a very slow burn and I found myself skimming a lot. There were many places the plot could have gone, but the final resolution was just too scattered.

I do think the author is a good writer and I would be interested in reading some of her other works. Again, there are many who will like this book, I am just not one of them.

Thanks to netgalley and stmartinspress minotaurbooks for the ARC

The Blame Game is a suspense book filled with twists. I could not figure out how this story would end. There are so many intriguing characters that have secrets not willing to divulge even with their spouses.
I highly recommend this book.

I read this book fast, but I am not sure it was my favorite by Sandie Jones!
There was great potential and drama, Naomi a therapist working intensely with two different clients, both working through the fact their spouses are abusive. But Naomi finds herself too involved in both clients' lives, and the novel takes the reader through a few twists and turns.

Thank you, NetGalley, for an advanced copy of this novel.

So, I really do enjoy suspenseful reads with twists and turns, but this one had a few too many and left me confused at times. Plus, I am not a fan of educated, experienced characters who seem to have little common sense - I find it a bit irritating to always be questioning "why would you do that!?!"

Thanks to the publisher and to NetGalley for the advance copy to read and review. All opinions are my own.

As a psychologist, Naomi has a private practice specializing in domestic abuse. Her “flaw” for the lack of a better word, is that she becomes overly invested in her clients. Her client, Jacob, is no different, but then he goes missing.

Her past has never been too far from her mind, and with recent events, Naomi can’t help but wonder if her past is catching up to her. Is there a connection between her past and Jacob’s disappearance?

There’s lots of blame to go around . . .

I enjoyed this novel, especially trying to connect all of the dots. Twists and turns until the end!

Thank you to NetGalley, St. Martin’s Press, and Minotaur Books for allowing me to read an eGalley of this novel. #NetGalley #StMartinsPress #MinotaurBooks #TheBlameGame

Thank you Net Galley, Minotaur Books and St. Martin’s Press for an early copy of The Blame Game. Wow what a liar the main character was, did not like her. It was not one of Sandie Jones’ best books. The ending was horribly confusing.

Thank you Net Galley, St. Martin’s Press and Minotaur Books for an early copy of The Blame Game. I Love Sandie Jones books but this was the most confusing one of them all. I did NOT like!!!! So confusing, I still don’t know who did what to who.

This felt typical Sandie Jones style thriller with fast paced chapters, frequent twists, unlikeable main character and a crazy ending. Naomi is a therapist who specializes in domestic violence and is definitely the kind who invites trouble into her life like literally every minute. Even her husband advises otherwise and helps her clarify things, yet she goes ahead with her stupid plans inspite of all the red flags. I do get irritated with such characters when they ignore all the million red flags staring at their faces and Naomi is a prime example for that. I binge read it but I wouldnt consider it her best work for sure.

Thank You to Netgalley and St. Martins Press for providing me with an eARC of this book to read and review!

OFFICIALLY MIND BLOWN!!!!!!!!!!!!
I had it wrong the whole book!!!!!! i was so confused as the the main character guessing the wrong people every time! gotta read it when it comes out August 16th!

Overall a good story. Not as exciting or fast paced as her other books. This storyline was a little more drawn out than I prefer, but as always characters were relatable. A predictable, but great read with a sub plot, which was very interesting.
I received an advance copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

okay I quite honestly want to say this is among the worst books I’ve read this year? although 115 books later, it’s all a bit blurry 🥴

I think I’m just sick and tired of the overused trope where the MC ends up as a prime suspect in a murder or kidnapping and literally lies to the police instead of just telling them the truth … IT ALWAYS ENDS BADLY!

also, I kept asking myself “what was the point” - especially as I approached the last few chapters and the story was not wrapping up at all.

for example, naomi’s sister is back in town and calls her out of nowhere and wants to meet up but seems kind of shady? does it go anywhere? nope.

another example, naomi’s dad (an actual murderer) is released from prison and naomi fears for the worst. does THAT go anywhere? nope.

and I’m not even sure who is worse in this relationship: naomi or leon. naomi who ditches her husband at every single patient’s beck and call and invites them to STAY AT HER HOUSE?! or leon who truly thinks the absolute worst of his wife at all times?

jury’s out.

I just am so confused at what the point of this story was, except to point out that naomi is literally the worst therapist ever. she breaches so many lines and confidential clauses it’s unbelievable.

and the worst part was that I got to the end of the story and we don’t even figure out why the person behind it all did what they did …

I’m done ranting, I just have no idea what I just read. I probably should have DNFed, but I wanted to see where this train wreck was going. spoiler: it’s no where.

rating: 1 star
wine pairing: southern china cabernet sauvignon

This book was a bit of an overused trope for me. A therapist who toes the line more than she should and who doesnt seem to have hwr wits about her. I did enjoy the story telling and prose and the twist was very unexpected which I can appreciate. The last sentence made my jaw drop.

Naomi is a psychologist running from her own past, which may be why she can sometimes walk the line of being too empathetic and helpful towards her clients. When one of her clients disappears, and Naomi learns that she has possibly been lied to, she does not know who she can trust. A slow build up to a climatic end, The Blame Game was a book that I could not put down. My only critique would be that there was a secondary storyline that felt underdeveloped. I wish Naomi's past had been a greater part of the story. Overall, I would recommend this book!
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Thank you to the author, St. Martin's Press, and NetGalley for a copy of this ebook in exchange for an honest review.

A fast paced thriller but no exciting twist or anything that made it stand out from any other thriller. Definitely not my favorite by Sandie Jones but a good story nonetheless.

I was in the mood for a fast-paced thriller and The Blame Game certainly delivered. The Blame Game follows Naomi, a psychologist who specializes in domestic violence. She finds it hard to not invest in her patient's lives, and when her client Jacob needs to escape his abusive wife, she lets him stay at the house she and her husband are planning to rent out. Then he goes missing.

The story moves fast, with twists and turns you won't expect. While I enjoyed the majority of the book, I felt that the ending was a bit too rushed, and I wasn't crazy about it.

Overall, it was a page-turning read.

3.75/5 stars

Thank you Minotaur Books and NetGalley for the eARC!

I didn’t finish this book. It’s a very fast paced novel that keeps your attention, but for me, I couldn’t get past the extremely unprofessional behaviors of the MC. It made me cringe and the book felt like a train wreck. I got about 35% of the way through the book and decided it was best for me not to finish it.
I’m sure there are others who will enjoy this book, but it wasn’t for me.

Thank you to NetGalley and St Martin’s Press for the this eARC.

I love Sandie Jones books, so I was so excited when I got an advanced readers copy of this book through NetGalley! This book was really good and It kept me on my toes the whole time. The only thing I didn’t like was the ending. Without giving away too much, I felt like it was left unfinished, and I have so many questions on how things intertwined. But overall a good read!

I flew through this thriller and it’s definitely an easy read. Unfortunately, I didn’t love this one though. I felt there was a lack of depth of the characters and their relationships and I never really connected with them.

As the book went on I felt it became far fetched and confusing; the connections never really added up for me. I also felt there were some characters that were unnecessarily introduced to the reader.

I will say the epilogue was great and it did clear up some of the confusion. This book kept me wanting to read more so I could figure out what was going on! I do think a lot of people will really enjoy this book, it just wasn’t for me.

Thank you NetGalley and St. Martin’s press for this ARC!

This was one of those novels that the suspense build-up was so much, I almost skipped several sections so that I could hurry up and find out if my scenarios floating around my head were true! Every angle I could think of, I could not figure out where Jones was going with this? But, as I’ve come to expect with this author, she didn’t let me down.

Meet Naomi Chandler. She’s the type of psychologist you want on your side. She’s a great listener. She’s very attentive to her patients' needs. She takes on the role of Captain-Save-a-Patient and gives her all to assist those who need it. Especially patients who are in domestic abuse cases. So how is it that a woman this well put-together with a strong constitution and will power finds herself in a web of lies, deceit and blame?

For starters, her weakest attribute was her strong suit. Hmm…you may be wondering what in the world am I talking about? Because Naomi was a great listener, she took on too much of her patients’ woes and problems. So much so that her willing to give so much of herself was beginning to crumble her marriage to Leon. It was Naomi’s role to guide and give advice when needed, but she never quite took that advice for herself. She was entirely too trusting and that was due, in small part, to her past with her parents and sister, Jennifer.

One thing Naomi could not stand for is any type of domestic abuse. It didn’t matter which adult was performing it—if you struck your partner in any way, shape or form, she was the woman to help guide you otherwise. So, imagine, on the night her patient, Jacob, calls her in a panic and asks her to meet him at a hotel bar so he could talk, this was the opportunity for Naomi to bow out gracefully. But, did she do that? Of course not! She meets him there and words were exchanged. From the outside looking in one could easily assume the two of them were lovers or having some type of an affair, but did that matter to Naomi and Jacob? No! When the police track down Naomi to ask her questions about the disappearance of her patient, Jacob, that’s when the movie reel in her mind began spinning out of control. She did everything to cover her tracks, or so she thought.

When Leon gets home and Naomi tries to explain why the police wanted to talk with her, she realized fairly quickly that she could either tell her husband the truth and nothing but. . .or, she could lie and place blame somewhere else. And that, readers, is where this story begins to go left.

One thing I love about Sandie Jones, she most definitely knows how to keep her readers wrapped around her finger until we’re about to bust! Holy cow, this novel had so many red herrings that it almost muddied the story line. I must have had about four key scenarios happening and I was right with the four I had, but it was the order in which they played out that made all the world of difference. Was this story as good as The Other Woman? For me, not as good, but it had some great twists and turns that I absolutely loved! Jones truly toyed with the story line and bent it in ways I didn’t think was possible. And what really brought it on home for me was the ending. It was something so sweet and simple, there wasn’t any room for doubt.

Lies upon lies upon lies! I do love a fast paced, messed up psychologist story. This is a super quick read so you have to pay attention to all the twists. This is my first read with this author and I’ll be checking out her backlist. Thank you Netgalley, St. Martin’s Press and the author for this eARC in exchange for my honest review. This book is available for purchase on August 16, 2022.