Leaving her bad experience in foster care and a disastrous on-screen affair with her leading man behind her, struggling actress Claire Wright is a Brit in America without a green card when she's approached by a law firm specialising in divorce. The job? To be a decoy. Using her acting skills, Claire is tasked with finding out if husbands are cheating - or at least thinking of cheating - on their wives. She's not to proposition them first and definitely isn't to sleep with any of the men, just tape the conversation, gather the necessary evidence and get out.

However, when Stella Fogle hires Claire to gather evidence against her husband, all does not go to plan. Not only does Patrick, a university lecturer obsessed with 18th century French poet Baudelaire, not take the bait, later that evening Stella is killed. Did Patrick murder his wife, or was someone else responsible for what happened that night?

The police quickly determine that Claire doesn't have a green card and use this fact to trap her into going undercover for them. The deal? Find out if Patrick is, as they suspect, a serial killer playing out his Baudelaire fantasies and be rewarded with a green card at the end of the job, or be deported. Of course, Claire takes the deal. Unfortunately for all involved, though, Claire begins to fall in love with Patrick. Or does she?

Believe Me is a dark, character-driven thriller that has you constantly changing your mind about the main players. Is Claire lying, or is Patrick? Is Claire delusional, or is Patrick the one that's deluded? Did Patrick kill Stella, or was Claire responsible for murdering his wife? If you're anything like me, you'll find yourself second-guessing what you think you know right through each and every one of the turns and suprises this novel has in store for readers.

Originally released in 2001 as The Decoy by Tony Strong, whose pen name is J. P. Delaney, the book wasn't as well received as he would've hoped, but the success of The Girl Before afforded the author the opportunity to re-work and re-publish his earlier novel. Believe Me is the result.

A very theatrical novel with a lot of drama and goings on behind the scenes. A girl has to do what she can to stay in New York, so that means finding work in a bar and falling into acting as a honey pot only to find that the honey is a LOT more sticky than normal. This honey doesn’t let you go once you’re stuck there..there’s plenty of theatrics in Claire’s life that’s for sure!

It was a quick read, plenty of tension as to what is going to happen.I did find the theatrical snippets throughout the book a bit jarring though and I wasn’t really convinced they added to the plot at all to be honest.

There’s a lot of not knowing what is going on during the story and that’s very apt as Claire and the others don’t know what’s going to happen with the traps. It’s all very cloak and dagger which was fun.

Overall, a good read and an ending that didn’t disappoint.

Ah, the joy of knowing immediately, "it's going to be a gooden' ''. A great mystery that genuinely kept me guessing. Superb characters, my only desire would be for a sequel, please.

okay, so i requested this due to the author previously writing " the girl before" so i definitely wanted to give this a read!
i was not disappointed!
so this story is about a young woman names claire who is trying to make it big as an actress, she needs money so starts to find cheating husbands in return for cash until one of the woman that she is helping ends up dead and she is a suspect!
so the premise alot got me hooked, it was certainly a great thriller/mystery!
3/5 stars.
Thanks to netgalley and publishers for the chance to read and review this book.

I really enjoyed this book. I did not guess the ending at all. I really liked the idea of the story and the way the plot played out. There are a lot of twists to this story and I suspected a few people as being guilty of murder before the end.

Thank you to Netgalley for my copy.

apologies i had already read and reviewed this on netgalley. felt it was a promising concept let down by hammy storrytelling and average characterisation

Amazing book. Very different to his other novels but it kept me guessing until the last minute. I stayed up most of the night to finish this book, I couldn’t put it down. So many twists and turns. Highly recommended

This way a book with so many twists and turns, it makes you dizzy. Just when you think you know where you’re going, the story takes another path. Very cleverly done, a gripping story and would translate really well on to the big screen.

I was reading this on a train and would happily have stayed on past my destination to finish it had it not been the last stop. One day on and I’m still reeling from it. With my rational head I think there’s no way this would happen but with my fiction loving head I think ‘oh my days, what a ride!’ I suspect this may be a bit of a marmite book but I thought it was fabulous and the only way to know for sure is to read it for yourself.
Highly recommended

Claire Wright is British and living in the United states. She is an out of work actress, without a Green card and she is soon to be made homeless. With no success in finding acting jobs, Claire takes a job for a divorce lawyer call Henry. She entraps and seduces men and collects evidence for their wives.
She meets Stella who she thinks her husband is cheating on her and when she meets Patrick, a literature professor who specialises in the Poet Baudelaire especially the poem Les Fleurs du Mal. she realises how different to other men that she has encountered while doing this job. The next day his wife is murdered and he is under suspicion of murdering her. The police use Claire to carrying on meeting Patrick and see if he slips up and comes clean about Stella’s murder. But after a while Claire falls in love with Patrick and their relationship deepens when they open the play about the poem Les Fleurs du Mal.
I was excited to read this, as I had read J.P Delaney’s previous novel The girl before that I really enjoyed. I thought that the idea of this story was good and I liked that there was a lot of twists and turns in this book. But although I finished this book, I didn’t think this was for me. I didn’t really care about the poem and the references of S &M.
Thank you NetGalley and Random House for a copy of this book.

Holy Mother of Twists!!

Once again JP Delaney has managed to pull the wool over my eyes and completely floor me with unexpected twists and turns in this follow up novel to The Girl Before.

Claire is an actress, and though she wants nothing more than to fully immerse herself in characters in film, television, and broadway productions, that’s not the kind of acting that’s currently paying her rent. Broke and sans a green card, she’s limited on job options, so when she’s offered a once-in-a-lifetime role, it is very difficult for her to refuse.

Claire is also a completely unreliable narrator - which adds to the thrill and intrigue of this story, and leaves you wondering what EXACTLY is going on here??

Believe Me is a thoroughly suspenseful story that typifies the devastating outcomes of falling down the rabbit hole, only to discover that it’s actually a rabbit warren, and an entire ecosystem unto itself - where the only possible chance of escape is to let go of who you are, and become the character you’re portraying.

Many thanks to JP Delaney, Quercus Books, and NetGalley for the opportunity to read an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Not read this author before but thoroughly enjoyed this book and I think it will appeal to all those who enjoy a good thriller.

I was never sure how things would turn out next but it did keep me turning the pages.

Overall this is a good book which I can definitely recommend and I don't think you will be disappointed.

Love the idea for this story as soon as I read the synopsis I wanted to read it! Sadly it doesn't flow very well and I found it quite cliche. Good for a summer read but not much else.

Oh I so wanted to love this book as I loved The Girl Before but I just couldn't get into this one. It's a shame but I will still look out for books by this author.

Just couldn't get into this book at this time. I will possibly revisit it in the future.
Thank you to Netgalley and the author for the ARC.

This is the next book from the author of the girl before, which immediately had me requesting and Advance Copy based on that fact alone.  I know I skimmed the description but I dont think I really took it in.
Having finished it this morning I feel like I've been on a dramatic whirlwind adventure.
The story is about Claire, a young woman trying to make it as an actress; she’s got into a school in New York, and is trying to find a way to make ends meet, without a green card.
Her previous life choices have given her a reputation, her roommate needs her share of the rent,  and she soon find that the only work she can do is helping to catch cheating husbands.  When one of the women ends up dead Claire finds herself a suspect, before helping the police with their investigation by going undercover.   The story has a real world tie, to a book called Les Fleurs du Mal and its writer, Charles Baudelaire. Patrick is obsessed with the writer, what we would probably describe as a superfan; he has translated the poems and lectures about the writings and meanings,  How Baudelaire felt, worked and lived  and how it influenced others. I'm aware J P Delaney has edited the poems from their  original  to make them fit the narrative but I find it so intriguing, On the surface this is a book about a young girl just trying to make it in the world, despite not having the best start in life, but theres a dark and sinister subtext reminding us how easily people can be influenced, and although both history and art teach us plenty, sometimes we have to be responsible for the media that is available.  I wonder if this at one point graced the banned books list for more than one country.

As we delve into a world of trust games we wonder who can trust who, and who is really the ‘mark’. Is Patrick really under suspicion or is it Claire? Are the police on her side? Are they even real?  Has the game ended or is it just more elaborate to make her think that its over?  In the end the story is about sharing the good and bad parts of yourself, and knowing who you can trust.

If I had to sum up the story in one word it would have to be “creepy”. I know that probably doesn’t come across from the above, but believe me the more you read of the book the more it will become obvious why I chose that word.  (and just to clarify that’s good creepy not bad creepy)

I didn't love the book. Previous novel 'The Girl Before' really hooked me in, but somehow I struggled here. I did quite enjoy the story, but not the characters. I found it hard to get into a flow and found myself reading more because I felt I had to than because I wanted to. Still, it's a very unique concept that I'm sure some people will love.

An altogether compulsive book that should be used as a descriptor for ‘psychological thriller’.

Absorbing and captivating, Believe Me is a fast-paced thriller that I read quickly, barely able to acknowledge time was passing me by. Part of this is because the protagonist, Claire, is so well written and intriguing, and part of it is that the structure is very linear, with few flashbacks to break the pacing.

I agree with other reviewers that the use of staging quotes (particularly at the beginning) was incredibly distracting and a little tedious. At first I actually thought the book simply had numerous formatting errors. But the plot itself was fast, engaging and incredibly compelling.

The book is narrated by Claire, a broke British actress desperate for a green card, who works to honey-trap men, tempting them to see if they’ll cheat on their wives. During one of these incidents, she meets Stella, but the following day Stella is found brutally murdered and Claire becomes caught up in the ensuing police investigation.

Claire was a very likeable character, despite being notoriously unreliable and erratic. I constantly wondered where the acting ended and the real character began, as well as questioned if she was telling us the whole truth about incidents that happened,.

Not a lot of descriptors here, although they’re not needed because you’re just swept along with the pace of the story and the epic twists that make you go ‘holy cow!’ A fast, easy read that definitely had me gripped until the last page.

Thank you to Netgalley for letting me read Believe Me by JP Delaney in exchange for my honest review.

Believe Me by J P Delany was thriller about Claire an actress who tries to catch out cheating husbands.
I found this book annoying because of the staging language and I did not like the main character.
I would like to thank NetGalley and Quercus Books for my e-copy in exchange for an honest review.

This is a well-written, fast-paced thriller with a fascinatingly drawn main chraracter. Claire is a British actor studying in New York and hoping for her big break. She is highly strung, impulsive, and desperately wants a green card. To support herself, she takes on work as a sort of honey trap, tempting married men to see if they’ll cheat and then reporting back to their wives. During one of these operations, she meets the charming Patrick, a reknowned translator of Baudelaire, and his wife Stella. The following day, Stella is found brutally murdered, and Claire is swept up in the police investigation that follows.

It’s hard to say much more than that without giving things away, but what follows is a tightly woven thriller full of twists and questions. It feels like the author has really thought about every angle, so even seemingly trivial things come back to play a significant role later on. Gripping stuff.