THE FIRST MISTAKE is a truly suspenseful mystery with two female protagonists and a plot that is masterfully planned and executed.

Alice finally seems to have her life together. After her first husband, Tom, died, she went to pieces. But for the sake of their daughter, she turned things around, relying on Nathan, who she met and married less than a year after Tom’s passing.

Alice’s life with Nathan has seemed perfect until recently. He has taken her daughter and treated the girl as his own. They quickly have another daughter together. Nathan works with Alice at the design firm she started with Tom. Unfortunately, a few things have happened to make her suspect that he is having an affair.

"This domestic thriller will keep you thinking about the characters and what happens long after the last page is turned.... Brilliantly done, THE FIRST MISTAKE is a pleasure to read."

However, AT Designs has the possibility of a huge new project in Japan. Since Alice won't leave her daughters to go there, Nathan handles the travel. When the deal falls through and Nathan makes a surprising proposal, Alice is all in. But between her suspicions about his infidelity and her anxiety over problems one of their daughters is having in school, she has no time to think clearly about anything.

Alice's best friend, Beth, has never met Nathan. Yet Beth's daughter, Millie, and her daughter are good friends. Soon, however, Beth's past intersects with Alice's in a way that neither of them ever expected.

Sandie Jones, whose debut, THE OTHER WOMAN, was a Reese Witherspoon x Hello Sunshine Book Club Pick, creates a plot wherein readers think that one thing is happening, but it is not. While most novels usually have only one other thing going on, this plot has several. Things are not what they appear to be, and even after the first layer of camouflage is peeled away, things are still not what they appear to be. Irony upon irony.

This domestic thriller will keep you thinking about the characters and what happens long after the last page is turned. Savvy readers will pick up clues along the way about what might transpire, and some of those do lead to the final denouement. But for many, it's only in retrospect that they will see how everything adds up. All is mysterious and deceiving; all is logical.

Brilliantly done, THE FIRST MISTAKE is a pleasure to read.