The Caregiver’s Game Unraveling Financial Deceit in the Shadows of Dementia
By Charles E. Wallace Jr. (Indie author, 2025)
Genre: Nonfiction – True Crime/Memoir
Pages (print): 234)
Via: Author request
Note: We received a complimentary copy of this book for honest review.
Kimber: Mom and I are Majorly Miffed. We’re talking Mount Everest of Miffed-ness here. That’s really sayin’ something, too. Cuz about the only time Her Royal Momness gets this miff-ified is when the Dodgers lose on a bases loaded wild pitch in the bottom of the ninth, buster.
Anyway, this new memoir/true crime thingy by Charles Wallace, The Caregiver’s Game, has both of us seeing red. That’s really sayin’ something again. Cuz I only see in one color: Dinner. What?
Okay, okay. Mom says I need to nix the visions of New York steak dancing in my head. And get down to business on this thoroughly engaging and uber absorbing tome. So here goes:
The Story
His mother’s death should have brought peace. Instead, it brought to light years of betrayal at the hands of his mother’s caregiver: missing family jewelry, fraudulent credit card changes, and legal documents rewritten to favor the caregiver and no one else. Joell Fleming trusted her caregiver, “Esmarelda Gomez,” with everything. But the predatory Esmarelda didn’t just steal from Mother. She dismantled a family legacy, too.
A mother with a critical tongue and a knack for collecting husbands, Joell Fleming’s saving grace for her son, Chip, was the 700 miles separating them.
Until dementia came.
When Joell’s health declined, Esmarelda moved in. (Talk about a piece of work!) The cunning caregiver isolated Joell from family and friends while trusted professionals – Joell’s accountant, broker, and attorney – looked on. Over four years, the caregiver convinced Joell to sign a new will, secured a six-figure annuity, and systematically stole hundreds of thousands of dollars in cash and family heirlooms.
Discovering the true depth of the betrayal of his mother’s 2022 death, Chip launched into a devastating three-year legal fight to prove financial fraud and secure his mother’s estate. This true story chronicles the emotional and financial cost of fighting elder abuse when the system is stacked against you. It also comes with a warning: You can never turn your back on dementia or risk elder abuse by cunning caregiver.
Kimber: So okay, everybody! Red alert! Red alert! Re-up those blood pressure meds. Cuz if this tangled tale of deceit, betrayal, manipulation, malfeasance, and exploitation of a lady with dementia doesn’t make your blood boil, better check your pulse.
Well-written and nimbly paced, The Caregiver’s Game takes readers deep into a labyrinthian maze of elder abuse. We join the author as he recounts in painstaking detail how his “gut instinct” told him something wasn’t quite right about Mother’s new “caregiver.” But Chip had no idea just how right his initial instincts were until years – and thousands of dollars – later. And how a serial predator who’d done this before may have faked her death to avoid “facing the music.” Among other things.
Kimber: Can I bite her? Mom: Please do!
The malfeasance list is long and jaw-dropping. It includes selling off Joell’s furniture and jewelry to charity shops, at garage sales, and on-line. Ditto irreplaceable family heirlooms. Swindling Joell out of zillions of dollars. When the author’s suspicions hit fever pitch, readers get a front-row seat as he slowly and systematically untangles the intricate and extraordinary web of deceit Esmarelda wove around his mother while pretending to be a compassionate “caregiver.” Barf. (Caveat: The “witch” stuff? Not a fan.)
If you have or know someone who’s elderly or otherwise vulnerable, The Caregiver’s Game is must-read. Kimber: We’re not talking maybe read here. We’re talking must-read. A section on Protecting Our Elders: Preventing and Recognizing Abuse is included. Golden!
Pages & Paws 