A lot of lying, blaming, deception and confusion in this psychological thriller. Told through Naomi's eyes, you see through her intentions but what she actually chooses to do. Each time she is backed into a corner, she lies and her troubles expand. As a psychologist for domestic abuse victims, she encounters some sketchy stories. This can sometimes be one-sided and fingers can point in the wrong direction. Naomi extends too much of herself to help her victims and finds her own marriage crumbling.

Jacob is one of her patients that suffers at the hands of his abusive wife. He flees from his home, while Naomi, against her husband's wishes, allows him to stay in their vacation cottage. (The cover of the book is gorgeous) One thing leads to another almost crossing ethical boundaries. Jacob calls her one night to meet in a bar when he thinks his wife has found out where he is. When Jacob goes missing, the detectives have a lot of evidence stacked against Naomi putting a farther strain in her marriage. She lies so many times pushing my buttons.... Her husband reacts with accusations which were expected.

This is not one of my favorites of Sandie Jones' books, but it kept me reading to find out the truth and as more characters are introduced and the detectives elaborate their investigation, you realize things may not be as it appears. Some of it was easy to figure out, but it did not deter me from enjoying it. The ending was questionable. The characters are tough to connect and like. All in all it is a quick read to enjoy.

Thank you NetGalley and St Martin's Press for this title in exchange for my honest opinion.

Naomi has a haunting past that she has managed to leave overseas. Having escaped her childhood, she has made quite the name for herself as an award-winning psychologist. However, at what point does work become obsession? When lines are crossed and business becomes personal, Naomi finds herself in the middle of a missing persons case. The person in question? Her client, and she is suspect number one.

Firstly and foremost I want to give a huge thank you to Minotaur Books for approving me for an eARC of this book!

Secondly, I have to start this review by saying that I loved this book! It was eerie, suspenseful, thrilling, and scarily realistic. The characters were all very intriguing from the guilt-ridden therapist to the slightly creepy clients, I ate the character development up. As I progressed through the book, I changed my thoughts of what was going to happen a million times. At one point the author had me thinking Naomi’s husband was to blame. Was Naomi actually crazy herself? Was it her dark past coming back to haunt her? Or was her client just obsessed with her? But like any good thriller, the answer is not at all what you think it is! I loved that the book was able to keep me on the edge of my seat the entire time. There was never really a time when there was a lull in the storyline. The beginning was a tad slow like most thrillers, but when the pace was set, it felt like a mad dash to the end to figure out what the heck is happening.

The only con I would say was that the ending did leave me a bit puzzled, I couldn’t quite figure out if there was a subplot that was dropped or not. But I can’t give you guys spoilers, so you all will just have to read it and tell me what you thought when it publishes August 16th!

Overall rating: 3.5/5⭐️

Naomi is a married psychologist specializing in domestic abuse. Her past has shaped her career having witnessed her own mother being fatally abused by her father. She has a lot of empathy for her clients but she does what every psychologist should not do...take your work home.

This was the first thing to make me cringe. I began my career in social work. I worked with children growing up in abused homes and I remember my heart aching. But, I also knew, as a professional, I had to draw the line between work life and home life. This is the golden rule. Naomi's bleeding heart has her trying to save her clients even after hours. Naomi is obviously smart having gotten into the career she has. So, then why is she acting so dumb? Sigh.

Jacob is a patient of Naomi's. He is in an abusive relationship and afraid of his wife. He is trying desperately to leave his wife. Naomi helps him out by renting out a flat to him so he can escape his abusive home. Shortly after, Jacob goes missing and Naomi is a suspect. The evidence is piling up against her but Naomi is innocent. Someone is trying to frame her....but who?

The book is a fast read but too fast in my opinion, The second half of the book kind of read all over the place The pieces all just come together quick instead of evolving into a big reveal a-ha moment.

It was okay, I didn't hate it. I didn't love it. I'm not mad I read it. It's a shorter read which I enjoy diving into once in a while.

3.5 stars. Rounding up to 4. Thank you to NetGalley and Minotaur Books for the digital ARC to review.

If you’re looking for a thrill ride with lots of twists and turns and a whodunnit theme - this is the book for you!

Synopsis:

As a psychologist specializing in domestic abuse, Naomi has found it hard to avoid becoming overly invested in her clients’ lives. But after helping Jacob make the decision to leave his wife, Naomi worries that she’s taken things too far. Then Jacob goes missing, and her files on him vanish. . . .

But as the police start asking questions about Jacob, Naomi’s own dark past emerges. And as the truth comes to light, it seems that it’s not just her clients who are in danger.

😱 this book gave me some serious spooky feels and kept me guessing until the end. It starts off super strong, with the “somethings not right” feel to it and just keeps going. The characters and the setting are described so well that they pull you in, or away depending on who we are talking about 😉

My only complaint about this book was that, when it ended, i feel like there are so many unanswered questions and certain things just didn’t seem to make sense, I needed more from it. All in all - a good suspense thriller read.

Thanks so much to NetGallery and St. Martins Press for the advanced ebook copy ⭐️

The Blame Game is a series of lies. The whole thing. Our main character, Naomi, is lying to herself. To her husband. To what remains of her family. Her most troublesome client is lying about his identity, his troubles, his life. And then he's dead--and all of these lies and manipulations certainly make Naomi look suspect.

The Blame Game is as compulsively readable as last year's stellar The Guilt Trip, though without the rotating narration. Unfortunately, it also has a lousy leading lady: Naomi is dishonest, controlling, and not nearly as intelligent as one would hope that their therapist should be. The setting is sublime for the content, but all of the relationships seem half-hearted, and the only aspect that remains once the book is closed is the bad taste in your mouth from all of those lies.

Sandie Jones’ “The Blame Game” keeps readers guessing. This suspenseful, fast read focuses on Naomi, a psychologist who’s especially intent on helping abuse victims. When one of her patients goes missing and she finds out more about them, she’s drawn into a complicated case that makes her question what she knows.

This book kept me guessing and while I wish I knew more about the culprit’s motivations, I couldn’t put this read down! I recommend it.

The Blane Game by Sandie Jones is a psychological thriller about a psychologist specializing in domestic abuse, who gives everything & more to her patients. Then one morning, her office door is found open when it should most definitely be closed & locked. What kind of mess has been unlocked? Read The Blame Game to find out!
This book dealt with some heavy subject matter that is just not something I typically like in mysteries, so that’s on me.
I was able to figure out where it was going for the most part pretty early, which took some of the thrill out of the mystery.
I did appreciate the ending & thought part of it was clever. After I combined my thoughts together, I gave this book 3 stars.
If you appreciate psychological thrillers with complex pasts, I would definitely try The Blame Game by Sandie Jones.
The Blame Game comes out August 16, 2022!

Massive thanks to NetGalley, St. Martin’s Press & Minotaur Books for giving me the opportunity to read an arc of this in exchange for an honest review:

Trigger warning: This book mentions &/or contains loss of parent, loss of child, murder, abuse & violence.

Not my favorite from Jones but still amazing twists and hard to put down. Naomi, the main character, makes you want to shake her in frustration in the begining. However, you'll need to follow along with her crazy ride.

Naomi Chandler is a caring psychologist who is trying to escape her own childhood demons. She often blurs a professional line by becoming too involved with her patients. She develops a somewhat romantic relationship with her patient,Jacob, who is being abused by his wife. As a result, the reader must solve the psychological motivations of not only Naomi and her patients, but also her husband, Leon. The author has created intriguing characters,who each are suspicious in their own way. THE BLAME GAME is an entertaining psychological thriller.

This is the third book I’ve read by Sadie Jones and my least favorite. It was good, but I think it could have been great. The main character, Naomi, was the only well developed character, the rest were pretty much one dimensional. The first 3/4 of the book got bogged down in back story, a slow read; the the last 1/4 pretty much “jumped the shark” with far fetched twists. Themes of abuse, adulatory and gas lighting prevail.

From the first Sandie Jones book I read I have been hooked and she is now one of my all time favorite authors. Blame Game is no exception. Absolutely great story and writing!!!

Oh what a tangled web we weave. Naomi; a practicing psychotherapist, breaks ethical boundaries with her clients, meeting them outside the therapy office, meeting in a hotel bar and inviting them to move into her family residence. As a result, troubles brew and Naomi begins lying to cover her mistakes. Mistakes she keeps on making. She appears.to be more police investigator than therapist and believes somehow that her behavior will save her clients. Naomi lies to her husband and to the police. Much of the book is Naomi's self-rationalizations about her lies. The supporting characters seemed flat and under developed. The story-line was convoluted and at times beyond belief. I have read The Other Woman by Sandie Jones and liked it much more than this.

📖: The Blame Game
✍🏼: Sandie Jones
💁🏻‍♀️: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ // 5
🗓: August 16, 2022

🤔💭: First off, thank you NetGalley and St. Martins Press/Minotaur Books for my advanced eARC and I am voluntarily leaving my review! This book was centered around a plot of deception, lies, and a very dangerous blame game which definitely kept you guessing. Naomi is a psychologist specializing in domestic abuse and sometimes finds it hard to not get over invested in her client’s lives. When Naomi helps her client Jacob make the decision to leave his wife, things may have been taken too far and Jacob goes missing. During the police investigation, Naomi’s dark past is starting to emerge and her life just begins spiraling out of control and she keeps finding herself in a web of lies. I was just a little disappointed with the ending and had some unanswered questions, but overall i thought this was a very good read.

✅ I would recommend checking this out when it’s released in August! 👌🏼

I was truly thrilled to be able to read an early copy of the newest thriller by Sandie Jones, who has become one of my ‘can’t miss’ authors. The Blame Games starts off with a great premise. Naomi and her husband Leon live in a cottage on an estate outside Canterbury. Leon is preparing for a music concert on the grounds. Naomi has established her own psychotherapy practice in an outbuilding on the grounds after being disciplined for stepping over the line ‘to help’ patients in her prior job. Naomi’s practice is focused on abused adults as she herself was abused as a child. Her drive to help, is her Achilles heel, which also interferes with her marriage. Naomi seems to always put her clients first and truly goes beyond a professional ethics guideline. She is to a great degree trying to overcome her own tragic family of origin dynamics.

It is not a stretch to state that some psychotherapists are as daffy as their patients. That appears to be the case with Naomi in spades. She appears to have no real insight into human nature and trusts everything her clients tell her without a ‘spider sense’ to say ‘danger! danger!’. Despite the dippy naïveté of Naomi and the slightly ‘off’ depiction of Leon, the first 2/3 of the book are eminently readable and enjoyable. But….the last 1/3 of the story devolves into psycho-melodrama plot that defies any sense of believability. And for me, the ending feels abrupt.

A big ‘Thank You’ to St. Martin’s Press & NetGalley for the opportunity to read this advance copy in exchange for an honest review.

Thank you to St. Martin's Press for a gifted copy of The Blame Game by Sandie Jones. All opinions are my own.

Naomi is a psychologist who specializes in domestic abuse. She struggles with keeping a professional distance with her patients. She opens herself up to danger by trusting her patients without a doubt and her willingness to help them outside of their appointments. When a patient goes missing Naomi finds herself in turmoil with her life and her marriage. Did she step too far over the boundaries? Will anyone believe her?

Sandie Jones is one of my favorite mystery & thrillers authors. I look forward to her new book every year. This one left me wanting more from the storylines. I'm still a huge fan and look forward to her next book.

General Fiction (adult)
Mystery & Thrillers
Release Date: August 16, 2022

Creative and twisty. 4 stars ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

As a psychologist specializing in domestic abuse, Naomi often finds it hard not to become too involved in her clients’ lives. She decides to step over the line once again to help a client, Jacob, leave his abusive wife. But when Jacob goes missing and the spotlight is on Naomi, it seems her clients may not be the only ones in danger.

You’ll think you know what’s happening when reading this book, and then it turns out you actually don’t… or do you?? Hmmm. There’s a lot of back and forth with what’s really going on here, which makes it fun to read. I enjoyed the twists and turns. The main character can be a little frustrating at times because she digs herself a really big hole and then keeps digging and digging… just tell the truth!!

Overall I enjoyed the many twists and the story!

Thank you to NetGalley for the opportunity to read and review this ARC in exchange for an honest opinion.

From Goodreads: Netgalley and Minotaur were kind enough to share this novel by Sandie Jones. The story revolves around a therapist, Naomi, and her inability to distance her patients. Naomi and her husband are recently married and her husband does not understand Naomi's penchant for allowing troubled people to become part of their lives. Naomi has not told her husband about her own past and that leads to a rocky marriage. I did not enjoy this book and had to push through it. All of the characters are unlikeable, the lack of trust between Naomi and her husband is an example of her inadequacies as a therapist and readers can see the ending coming from a character's introduction. Three stars for the writing and no more due to the predictability and primary character annoyance.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for this ARC in exchange for my honest review.

This is the first book I have read by Sandie Jones and I loved it! Can't wait to read more! I read it in 2 days! If you want to read a book that keeps you guessing - this is the book for you! Even though all my guesses ended up being wrong. Great book!

I love all of Sandie Jones’ books and this one is no exception. The storyline is great and there is a lot of excitement however, it all takes place in the span of just a few days and it was A LOT! So much so that I felt frustrated off and on with how much nonsense was going on between Naomi and her husband Leon and Naomi with her patients. I wanted to like Naomi, I really did, but I just found her to be annoying most of the time.

Naomi is caught in the middle of a cat and mouse game with the suspect/s. There aren’t many characters in the book so the suspect/s could be any of them and they all seem quite dubious in their actions. At times I felt bad for her but other times she brought on most of the trouble herself. She is a trauma survivor trying to help other trauma survivors which is admirable but it causes her a lot of emotional pain and self doubt.

The story ends with an abrupt sentence that wraps it all up neatly. I do recommend this book to mystery lovers and those with an affinity for fast-paced, cant-keep-up-with-all-of-the-mysterious-things-happening kind of books. I can’t wait for Sandie Jones’ next book! Thank you so much to NetGalley and Minotaur Books for the ARC.

Outstanding book, had me hooked after the first sentence. You thank you have it all figure out and the next your taking in a completely different direction. Highly recommend reading The Blame Game you would"t be disappointed. Thanks to NetGalley for the advanced read.