The Blame Game

In this enjoyable if flawed psychological thriller from British author Jones (The Guilt Trip), psychologist Naomi Chandler knowingly violates her clinical training and professional ethics by inviting a patient, Jacob, to stay in an apartment she owns to escape his abusive wife. Naomi decides not to tell her husband, knowing he’ll object because her over-involvement with patients has jeopardized her life on at least one previous occasion. Naomi involves herself even more deeply by agreeing to meet a drunken Jacob in a hotel bar. Soon afterward, Jacob disappears, and Naomi is the last person to have seen him. When the police begin to suspect Naomi, she becomes trapped in a cat-and-mouse game with a cunning manipulator who may have emerged from her murky past or may be Jacob himself. The twisty plot offers plenty of surprises, but some readers may lose patience with a main character who persists in making the worst possible choice in every dangerous situation, such as confronting the killer on her own instead of summoning the nearby police. Jones is unlikely to win new fans with this one. Agent: Tanera Simons, Darley Anderson (U.K.). (Aug.)