The Book:
The Trade Off by Sandie Jones
Published August 15, 2023 by Minotaur Books
Date read: July 29, 2023
The Characters:
Stella and Jess
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The Plot (from Goodreads):
From the New York Times bestselling author of the Reese’s Book Club Pick The Other Woman comes The Trade Off, an electrifying new novel of suspense that begs the Would you tell a story, if you knew it was a lie? Or tell the truth and sleep at night?
For Stella, deputy editor of The Globe, the choice has always been clear. It doesn’t matter how low she has to stoop―getting the best story is what she’s built her reputation on.
For Jess, The Globe’s rookie reporter, the story stops when the truth does. But she knows that the dirty tricks of the tabloids will be hard to overturn.
And when a celebrity is hounded by The Globe and pays the ultimate price, Jess wonders just how much Stella and the paper are responsible.
Determined to show the world what the tabloid is capable of, Jess will do whatever it takes to uncover the truth, but she needs to watch her back, because someone else is prepared to kill to bury it.
How did The Trade Off end?
The Reveal:
Max had set MacAllister up. Stella claimed she didn’t know, but the man hired as the driver had recorded a conversation with Max that implicated him. Max was doing it to hide some sleazy actions on the part of the newspaper owner. They also had slandered those other celebrity women to cover up the fact that the newspaper owner had raped them. Stella was almost date raped by the owner but switched their glasses, and exposed him by posting a video of it online.
The Ending:
Max tried to kill Jess and Stella, but Harry rescued them. They both went to work for the Post.
The Review:
Sandie Jones’s most recent book is about Me Too and the good old boy network that still rules the profession of journalism. As Jones used to be a journalist, I enjoyed the behind-the-scenes look at the newsroom. It’s scary to realize how easily an owner of a paper can manipulate what is reported.
I wouldn’t consider this one a thriller, there’s just some light suspense. While the message is interesting, the plot moved somewhat too slowly for my taste. Things pick up by the end, but at that point I wasn’t feeling particularly connected to either character.
I did love that Jones narrated the audiobook herself. It’s one of my favorite things when authors narrate their own work!
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