Book Review: The Trade Off | Sandie Jones

What a fitting week I chose (of all weeks) to read Sandie Jones’ newest psychological thriller, The Trade Off. This same week, Britney Spears’ shocking and heartbreaking memoir was released. Early reviews have decried the way we all sat by and watched the media destroy a vulnerable young woman.

Jones’ thriller The Trade Off could almost work as an expose of the types of ways the media sets up celebrities and public figures to be taken down, and we all contribute to it by buying into it. Set in the world of journalism, the book sets its sights on the unscrupulous, aggressive, and even corrupt practices that some news outlets (particularly British tabloids) employ to get sales up, no matter who takes the brunt of the consequences.

In a piece Jones wrote for Crime Reads about what inspired the book, she talks about working in journalism for over two decades and seeing the types of journalists who will do anything for the byline and the media outlets who not only allow it, but actively encourage it. The full piece is worth the read, but one passage stands out:

“They quietly build celebrities up, setting them high on a pedestal, but don’t be fooled, because as they lurk in the shadows, they’re lining up for the kill. Waiting with baited breath for the chink in the armour to reveal itself – and just as soon it does….KAPOW! Out comes the hammer and chisel with which to systematically carve out their victim’s insides, leaving them devoid of integrity and honour.”

This very concept is central to the story Jones crafted in The Trade Off, set around the fictional newspaper The Globe and featuring two journalists who couldn’t be more at odds in the cutthroat world of the media.

About the Book | The Trade Off

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.

RISK or REWARD. JUSTICE or REVENGE. INNOCENCE or GUILT. (Synopsis from Goodreads)

My Review | The Trade Off

Told in one continuous timeline and dual perspectives, The Trade Off is narrated by two women who couldn’t seem more different. It opens with young journalist Jess in the office of editor Max Forsythe late one evening in the final stages of a job interview. Jess had worked at a small local paper, but now she’s up for a big spot at The Globe, a major news outlet that covers major stories. This is the type of place that can make the career for a young journalist.

The conversation between Max and Jess hooked me. Told from Jess’s perspective, Max is interviewing her late in the evening after everyone but his assistant has left, and some of the questions he asks makes Jess on edge. Is Max the guy she has heard rumors about? But Jess passes his test when she turns down a suggestive comment made by Max and he explains that he needs someone like her. Max wants to change how journalism is done and make it more of a force for good than destruction. But he needs someone like Jess to help.

Jess as a character is so pure. Her moral compass points due north. She’s not the most fleshed out character, but this seems intentional. Jess is a symbol for justice in a sea of journalists who will do anything for their careers to take off. This may mean looking the other way when something objectively wrong is happening, to flat out setting up people to get the stories they want. Jess isn’t someone I necessarily grew to care for as a person, but I did care about her perspective and her story. And that’s in part because Jess’s story—narrated in first person—is a window for the reader to put themselves into the story. Jess herself has very few defining characteristics, but this allows the reader to fill in those gaps themselves.

Meanwhile Stella is the deputy editor for The Globe. In every way that Jess lacks strong characteristics, Stella has an overabundance of them. She’s ambitious, tough, seemingly ruthless, beautiful, intimidating, and sharp. She presents as calculating and cold, but the reader can see that behind that she’s much more vulnerable and thoughtful than she appears. Stella’s story is narrated in the third person, a choice certainly used to set Stella up as a figure for the reader to be shocked by, to judge, and at times to root for. The reader only knows some of what Stella is thinking at any given time. We see her actions, but she only lets us into her thoughts and emotions in small glimpses through much of her story. We are left questioning if she’s better or worse than what she portrays. At times I considered that she might be both.

Stella is introduced to us in the middle of capturing a story, when an escort is being paid to intentionally bring one of her long-time clients (and a high profile political figure) to a hotel and allow The Globe to get footage of the affair. Stella is orchestrating everything down to the second, and coordinating with a whole group of people who are doing their part to capture the story. When the escort asks for more money or she will go to another outlet at the last minute, Stella’s boss Max prompts her to offer The Trade-Off.

“Of all the questionable practices that come with being deputy editor on a tabloid newspaper, ‘The Trade-Off,’ as Max always likes to refer to it, is the one thing that pricks the very small conscience Stella has left. Despite making it sound as if there’s an option, in reality it gives the paper what it wants or their lives could be ruined within a few column inches. It’s blackmail—pure and simple.”

This is the first glimpse we get into Stella potentially not being the cutthroat person we first thought. While we don’t know her motivation or thoughts right away, we see Stella try to divert Max away from a story they never ended up using that would tank an athlete’s career, or express a “tightness in her chest” when she is asked to employ The Trade-Off. These moments made me wonder if Stella might be less corrupted than she seemed. At the same time, other evidence suggests that while she may have a conscience, she engages and often leads some of the very practices that make journalism so unscrupulous.

The story builds towards a moment where Jess and Stella are confronted in their complicity towards a shocking event. A story about a celebrity chef ends with her taking her own life. In the aftermath, Stella and Jess will both be forced to decide if this career is worth it and how they will each respond. The book pits Jess and Stella against one another, and following the celebrity’s death it seems as though they are on a crash course where only one will survive. But Sandie Jones isn’t done with the story yet.

I won’t spoil where it goes, but suffice it to say Jones went into this with the intent to play out what might happen if someone were to really try to take down a media outlet like The Globe and expose their practices. Twists and turns along the way add the fun and the themes and messages add depth. The ending was exactly right, in my opinion.

A bold and timely thriller!

About the Author | Sandie Jones

Sandie Jones has worked as a freelance journalist for over twenty years, and has written for publications including the Sunday Times, Woman’s Weekly and the Daily Mail. She lives in London with her husband and three children. The Other Woman was her debut novel, and she’s gone on to publish several other psychological thrillers.