This book was a quick read but left me scratching my head a little. Not with the suspense but the story was all over the place, Sometimes the art of trying to confuse and make you guess works and sometimes not as much. Some of her previous books just flowed a little better and were a little more believable. Thank you NetGalley for an ARC copy of this book in exchange for an honest review,

📖 The Blame Game
✍️ Sandie Jones
🔪 Thriller
#️⃣ 256 pages
🗓️ 08/16/22

My rating: ⭐⭐⭐💫

Thank you to NetGalley + St. Martin’s Press for the eARC in exchange for my honest review!

Naomi is a psychotherapist who has a tendency to get a little too involved in her patients’ lives - although, if you knew what happened to her when she was a child, you would understand why. Now, she’s desperate to help her patient Jacob, who claims his wife has been abusing him for years. In order to help him, Naomi crosses some professional lines…and when Jacob goes missing, those blurred lines give the police reason to believe she might be involved. Can she figure out the truth before it’s too late?

This book FLEW by for me and had me on the edge of my seat the entire time. The action really starts from the very beginning and doesn’t let up until the end. I thought the storyline, while not entirely unique, was really well done and the “unreliable narrator” trope which can get very tiresome quickly was handled great. But… the ENDING!! It just ended SO abruptly and I had a million questions I still wanted answered (that might be a *slight* exaggeration, but only slight). I could’ve easily used another 50 pages. Overall, it was a great story, just an unsatisfying ending.

📁 Psychological thriller
📁 Singular POV
📁 Fast-paced
📁 Therapist MC
📁 Unreliable narrator
📁 Lies, lies, lies!
📁 Secrets, secrets, secrets!
📁 Epilogue

#caitsquietplace #caitsquietplacereviews #cqpthrillers #theblamegame #netgalley #stmartinspress

Who can you trust? That is the underlying thread throughout Sandie Jones's latest psychologically suspenseful read. Naomi is a psychologist who primarily treats people who are victims of domestic abuse. The boundaries get blurred for her with a patient, Jacob. However, when he goes missing, Naomi is a prime suspect. This page-turner was full of twists and turns. As a previous therapist myself, I found Naomi's character and profession to be believable and felt that Jones did an excellent job of portraying the ethical dilemmas that many in service professions find themselves in. Highly recommend.




Thank you to St. Martin's Press, Minotaur Books and NetGalley for providing this Advance Reading Copy

This was just OK. The MC Naomi is a psycholgist who gets overly involved in her patients lives. It was a little unbellievable and a little underwhelming.

I absolutely and completely binged this book.
Cooking dinner? Tablet in hand
Pushing daughter on the swing? Tablet in hand
Doing homework with other daughter? Tablet in hand

(Don’t judge me. It’s THAT GOOD) and within the day, I was done. I’m telling you I could not put this down!!
The blame games was an absolute mind bender of a thriller. I couldn’t stop thinking I had it all figured out, only to be absolutely mistaken. The depth of deception between all the characters was astounding.

Wow what a thrilling thriller. I thought I knew who someone was and then the next minute I was so confused. The story flowed very smoothly until the end. What was that? It was so bad it was good. I'm still baffled and need answers! Definetly a fun end of summer read for the beach!

🤯 what did I just read??? Holy fast paced thriller!! I couldn’t put it down and read it in a few hours 😂 I have read three other books by this author and always found them just ok. I figured, let’s try again and wow, it didn’t disappoint. It’s was definitely a page turner and messes with your mind. I now need to go and find someone to discuss this with asap!!!

Felt like nothing happened then everything and then it was over. Not as twisty or good as her other stuff. None of the characters were particularly like able. My favorite part was the last 50 pages.

I wanted to like this more.

I really enjoy this author’s work, especially her earlier stories. This one not as much. The pace was slow for a good 3/4 of the story but then the ending was fast, rushed. Some of the twists weren’t really predictable because they were odd. Then there were red herrings to throw you off (though the experienced reader of this genre won’t be too fooled by these I believe). As far as characters go, Naomi was just hard to embrace. I get aggravated when someone can’t get out of their own way, making one stupid decision after another.

I did finish the story so it was entertaining enough. Many people have enjoyed this so please give it a try if it appeals. But do take the time to check out her earlier work. I will still always look for the next story from this author.

Thanks to NetGalley, the author and St. Martin’s Press for a copy in exchange for a review.

This was my first Sandie Jones book and I could not wait to dive into it! The synopsis of this domestic thriller just instantly pulls you in and makes you want to know what exactly happens. I definitely enjoyed the whole premise of the book but I did feel that there were a lot of holes in the story. There were also a lot of unanswered questions at the end which I felt took away from the "big reveal". This most definitely was a quick and enjoyable read but it wasn't my favorite.

Thank you, NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for this ARC

This was a very quick read with a few little twists. I just did not like the main character, Naomi. The way she was written just made me find her very unlikeable. I was also have so many unanswered questions about the ending!

3/5 stars

Thanks to Netgalley and St. Martin's Press for my advanced copy in exchange for an honest review

I received an advanced reader’s copy in exchange for an honest review

Wooosh. Loved this one. All these crazy ladies… I didn’t see the end coming. Great for beach reading this summer

Holy Unethical Batman! In what world would a psychologist offer up her property to her patients and get THAT involved with them? This book was just okay, a bit predictable and just didn’t hold my interest throughout.

If you are looking for a thriller with deception, unreliable characters and twists, then pick this up.

Main character Naomi is a psychologist who specializes in domestic abuse. She is passionate about what she does to the point of going above and beyond to help her patients. When her patient Jacob decides to leave his abusive wife, Naomi steps in to help him. Now Jacob is missing and things are not how they should be at home and in her own marriage. Has she gone too far or has her past come back to haunt her?

I was not a fan of Naomi. This usually doesn't bother me in books because some authors write characters unlikeable on purpose. I don't get the impression that Naomi was meant to be unliked, I think she was meant to be rooted for which I could not do.

The story did have a quick paced flow that kept me wanting to know what happened and who was behind everything. The biggest issue I had was that when you get to the end of the story it still seemed unfinished. I felt like I might have skipped a chapter and was left confused.

I give the book 3 stars because it kept me interested and was a easy, quick read that I can see many people enjoying. I didn't love it, but I didn't hate it and sometimes that's all you can ask for in a book.

Thank you NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for this ARC

Naomi Chandler is a psychologist specializing in domestic abuse in The Blame Game by Sandie Jones coming out mid-August. The problem, according to her husband Leon, is that she becomes overly involved in her patients’ lives.

One of her recent clients is an abused husband named Jacob. After working together for three months, she supports Jacob’s decision to leave his wife, even offering another home she owns to him for a safe house. She knows what Leon will say so she holds off on telling him they now have a renter. But suddenly Jacob is missing, and the police want to talk to Naomi about her “involvement” with him.

Naomi is also treating a client named Anna, who is also an abused spouse. With her house now rented out to Jacob, she makes Anna and her children an offer to use the spare two bedrooms of the house she and Leon live in.

The situation with the missing Jacob escalates as readers learn Naomi’s back story in which a murder occurred when she was a teen that changed the trajectory of her life as well as that of her sister Jennifer, from whom she is estranged. Strange things start happening such as Jacob’s file disappearing from her cabinet, news of her father’s release from prison, and neither Jacob nor Anna might not be who they say they are. The plot becomes quite entangled, and the epilogue leaves one puzzling the outcome and the loose ends.

This is the second Jones’ book that was a page turner until it fell apart in the “twist.” For a better example of what Jones can do, The First Mistake is a real page-turner with a twisty plot in which not all is as it seems as it reaches a startling conclusion.

Working as a freelance journalist for more than 20 years, Sandie Jones turned to fiction with her debut novel, The Other Woman in 2018, and has now completed her fifth book. She lives in London with her family.

My review will be posted on Goodreads starting May 13, 2022.

I would like to thank St. Martin's Press and NetGalley for providing me with an ARC in return for an objective review.

I've loved Sandie Jones! But this one was tough...the main character, a psychiatrist, is super unprofessional and sabotages her practice, her marriage, the criminal investigation, and needs therapy herself to deal with her past! I was saying 'Nooooo!' countless times while reading this one. Sorry, Sandie, but I'll still read your next one!

I'm neutral on this one.....

Naomi runs a private Psychology practice out of her home and we are introduced to two of her clients - Jacob and Anna who both are experiencing domestic abuse. Jacob decides he's going to make the brave decision to leave his wife and Naomi offers him the flat her and her husband were thinking of renting out while Jacob gets back onto his feet. Now on to Anna, she also attempting to flee her abusive marriage and Naomi offers up the extra rooms in her house......So this is where my problem lies with this book - in no way shape or form is this ethical and completely crosses IMO that line between patient and doctor. Each time she offered help I just shook my head! I'm like noooo, what are you doing?! She just wasn't believable as a psychologist. I can understand some poorly made decisions/offers but every thing she did completely crossed the line.

Meanwhile,.... Jacob has gone missing. How is this tied together?

What I liked: This was a very quick read and had a few little twists along the way

What I didn't like: Naomi. The way she was written just made me cringe she was just very shrill and it grated on my last nerve. There was nothing calming about her. I get it, files are going missing, your patient is missing and it appears someone is breaking in your house BUT it was too much. The characters to me just lacked depth and just felt one-dimensional. It worked well just for a read but in the end I really didn't care what happened to any of them.

Overall this was a fast read that held my attention - and I wanted to figure out how it was all tied together,

Thanks to Netgalley and St. Martin's Press for my advanced copy in exchange for an honest review

LOVED IT! I'm a big fan of Sandie's books so I was super excited for this one!

The Blame Game did not disappoint. I loved that the main character was a therapist. I've been really into those types of books lately. More than that, our MC helps people who are in domestic violence situations which I found very intriguing.

I loved the twists in this book and how you didn't really know who you can trust throughout the book. I wasn't completely blown away with the ending but I was definitely satisfied with how it all came together in the end.

Definitely recommend!

First of all, WOW! This book reeled me in and kept me hooked through the entire story as I continued to guess who was the real victim.

Naomi is an at-home psychologist who specialized in working with victims of domestic violence. Having been a victim of trauma herself, she knows exactly what her patients need. She seems to be a wonderful therapist, but one of her clients has her worried. Jacob's being abused by his wife and is looking for an escape plan. Working with Naomi they come up with a solution until one night Jacob goes missing. Is Naomi a suspect in his disappearance? Has she taken her help too far?

This was a nail-biter, an edge-of-your-seat guessing game of what comes next and who comes out from the shadows. You have to get your hands on a copy of this one!

Sandie Jones has written one hell of a tense novel! i couldn't stop reading this one. Fast paced, you just need to KNOW what is happening and who is behind the turmoil they are putting Naomi through. Perfect beach book!