How do you trust someone who you know is an expert liar???!
This book is very cleverly constructed with twists and turns that leave you in a spin. Who is guilty, who is innocent? Who is genuine, who is false? Just when you think you know what is happening, you spiral off in another direction. A great read.
Many thanks to Netgalley/ J.P. Delaney/Quercus for a digital copy of this riveting novel. All opinions expressed are my own.

I absolutely loved JP Delaney’s previous novel, The Girl Before, so Believe Me was one of my most anticipated books of the year and I was ecstatic when I received an ARC from Netgalley. The premise was very intriguing: a young actress illegally working for a private detective agency in NY without a green card finds herself entangled in a murder investigation – to get herself out of trouble she agrees to work for the police as an undercover decoy to help catch the killer. It sounds very original, and dangerous, just what I like. Remembering the tension and claustrophobic atmosphere that immediately captured my attention in The Girl Before, I was looking forward to see how Delaney would tackle this plot!

Anyone who reads my reviews will know that I love a mystery that messes with my mind – and this book surely managed to do that! In fact, at one point I was so confused that I had no idea of what was really going on. The author takes the theme of unreliable narrator to an extreme, because each and every character of the book tells lies – you can’t take anything for granted! I really liked the premise of Claire taking on different personalities as character studies for her acting career, who makes her a bit of a slippery fish. Is she telling the truth, or is she acting? I could never be sure, but I really enjoyed the parts of the book that describe her acting classes, which opened up a whole different world to me. Parts of the book are written like scenes from a play, with a location and a dialogue between the different players, which was a very original idea. As they are seen through Claire’s eyes, who often lets her imagination play out pretend scenarios in her mind, I was never sure if those conversations really took place or if they were solely her own construction. Clever, I thought, even whilst feeling like a blind man tapping around in the murky darkness trying to find out the truth. To be honest, I am still not quite sure about some things ....

Whilst the novel immediately drew me in and got my attention, I found myself floundering a bit around the half-way mark, as I was trying to untangle the lies from the truth, coming up short. At times I felt like the author was trying to pack too much into the story, going off on different tangents that didn’t add much to the overall plot for me. I also admit I didn’t care at all for the BDSM theme, and the excerpts from Baudelaire’s twisted S & M poetry, a subject I found disturbing, seedy and sickening and which detracted from the main story. In hindsight, looking at how the overall plot played out, I think that Delaney had a great, original idea, with a clever, multi-layered plot that unfortunately got drowned in convoluted detail and dwelling on the dark subject matter of the BDSM scene. For me, the strength in The Girl Before lay in its claustrophobic setting and a relatively small cast of characters, which created tension. Here, we have a multitude of unreliable characters, all of whom are untrustworthy, and many different settings, to a point where it all got a bit too confusing for me – instead of tension, I felt frustration on the many different directions this story was taking, and felt it could have used a bit of editing to bring it back on track. Delaney states in his postscript that Believe Me is the re-write of an earlier novel he thought he had not done justice to – maybe this explains why it felt a bit disjointed to me, as if different aspects of the book didn’t quite gel.

Whilst I never fully warmed to Claire, I found her background intriguing and I thought she made a perfect protagonist for a psychological thriller. It was soon obvious that she could take on any personality at will, as part of her aspirations to become a great actress, and her foster-child background, which meant that she had very few personal ties and was a bit of a wild child. I really enjoyed the parts where Claire described her acting methods, and the way she could lose herself in her many different roles – and the way she used these skills to ensnare her subjects. However, I felt that parts of Claire did not quite ring true, and she always kept me at arms’ length, denying me a deeper connection that would have invested me more in the story.

All in all, this was a mixed bag for me, and the subject matter not really my cup of tea. However, lovers of twisty thrillers with unreliable characters will undoubtedly be as intrigued by the premise of this story as I was, even if they may find themselves floundering in this maelstrom of lies and thoroughly unlikeable people they encounter along the way. Whilst the final denouement was a bit farfetched, I found the overall unravelling of the plot clever and original, redeeming those parts of the story that didn’t work so well for me.

I can't honestly say that I enjoyed reading this book. I would have given it up as a DNF but for the fact that I've recently ditched several others.

It has a very clever plot with many twists and turns, but I didn't like any of the characters, well-written as they were. I didn't like the Baudelaire references - sounds perfectly vile to me, but just the sort of thing that one can imagine cult-hungry followers latching onto and revering.

So all in all, it's a no from me.

My thanks to NetGalley and the publishers for an ARC in return for my honest review.

I loved The Girl Before, it was a great read that sped by as time does when you are enjoying yourself.

Unfortunately I just didn't feel the same with this book. I really didn't like the sexually deviant bits and found the storyline disturbing and a little offensive. The main character might seem to be down in her luck, but also seemed overly confident and self assured. It was just too contrived and didn't flow well to me.

However, I still wanted to know what happened so did get to the end eventually, but I didn't relish going back to it. It is an interesting premise, but it sometimes felt like a screenplay rather than a novel. I'm very disappointed that I didn't enjoy it more, but I gave it a good try!

I have read books previously written by the author and enjoyed the twists and turns of the plots. This was not one of her best. Whilst the ending was very clever, I thought the book lacked the flow and intracesies of her other books. It wasn’t believable and was if possible to detailed and so, given the title means that the book wasn’t one to believe in.
With thanks to Netgalley and the publishers for the ebook in exchange for an honest review.

I read this book on holiday and and whilst a lot of people find they read avidly whilst sitting by the pool I normally find there are too many distractions to concentrate. Not so with this book it’s so addictive and has so many twists and turns that you are glued from the start. A great psychological thriller which has a dark content which is both scary but fascinating that evil can be so hard to spot. I loved the drama and literature content and the characters, whilst not necessarily likeable were easy to picture in your head. My favourite genre is thrillers and I always expect to guess the end but this book keeps you on your toes. As I was reading this prior to its release I was unsure whether parts of it were written as a play to match the subject or whether this will be changed prior to publication but whatever it’s a good read.

Cleverly written in script form, this book will draw you in and leave you wondering where the acting end's and the real people begin. Fantastic twists.

I was excited to read and review J.P. Delaney's novel Believe Me after reading the description and enjoying The Girl Before, Delaney's first thriller. Believe Me is narrated by Claire, a British acting student living in NYC (with no green card), working under the table for cash for a divorce firm -- catching out cheating husbands by entrapping them and recording them. She finds herself in the middle of a murder investigation when one of her sting operations results in Stella's body being found hours after she hires Claire to catch Patrick cheating. What follows is a very twisty novel when you're not so sure what's real....and what's "staged."

I found Claire and Patrick both interesting individually and intrigued by their interactions. Patrick is a professor and a translator of the French Poet, Charles Baudelaire, whose poems about sex, infatuation, brutality, love fuel much of the plot. Between the Baudelaire facts and the in-depth look at the actor's processes weaved in throughout the novel, Delaney gives the reader something fresh and interesting to learn.

I did deduct a few stars due to the lack of cohesion, and a lot of extra scenes thrown in that distracted from the central story. The frequent twists and turns became a bit more than I could handle - some major questions / crimes got lost in the shuffle. Claire is purposefully an unreliable narrator -- the flighty, neurotic actress who gets very immersed in her roles. All in all, an interesting, informative read that will definitely keep you turning the pages.

Thanks to NetGalley for my ARC in exchange for an honest review.

you meet her, you trust her, well you shouldn't! meet Claire an actress who plays both sides of a real life murder investigation.

A struggling actress a Brit in America without a green card Claire needs work and money to survive. Then she gets both. But nothing like she expected. and now she's in deeper then she expected and there is no turning back,

Claire agrees to become a decoy for a firm of divorce lawyers. Hired to entrap straying husbands, she needs to catch them on tape flirting with her asking her to go to there Hotel Room and with their seductive propositions. The rules? you Never hit on the mark directly. Make it clear you’re available let them come to you let them make the move..

then the games changes takes a shocking turn

When the wife of one of Claire’s targets is violently murdered, the police are sure that the husband is to blame but they have no proof they want and need to catch him before he kills again they then enlist Claire to lure him into a confession. but can she do it? sure she can shes Beautiful a great actress who’s mastered the art of manipulation shes sure she can do it she sees it as her biggest acting to to date but to catch a killer do you have to be a killer? But who is the decoy . . . and who is the prey? who's telling the truth and who's telling lie's will they catch they catch the killer before the killer kills again?

i was really looking forward to reading J.P. Delaney's new book as i loved his first Book The Girl Before that was a book that was hard to put down that took thrillers to a new level, but even though his new book "Believe Me" has the same creepy feel to it it does not really match up to The Girl Before it is always going to hard to write 2 second book if the first one was a best seller but i did like it a lot i like the way .J.P. Delaney writes it is creepy haunting you don't really know ho to trust who's side to be on its a thriller that will keep you waiting till the very end even though there was a few things i did't get but that doesn't matter as it was a good book i think its a thriller that you will have to read a second time to really understand it and that's what i will do this is a great 2nd book but i still think his first "The Girl Before" was amazing thank you to Netgalley and The Publishers for my copy

I really enjoyed this book, It had an unusual storyline and characters and I never knew what was coming next.

Ghost train ride of a story!! It really is a must read!! I thought "The Girl Before" was a brilliant read, this one is so much better. Lots of twists and turns. Is he? Isn't he? Is she? Isn't she? Is it someone who we haven't come across? Is the author keeping something from the reader regarding the plot? You really must read this.

SPOIlERS ALERT Well ,I enjoyed the girl before and I did enjoy this too ,it was unique and it truly is an unreliable narrator ,I prob won’t find one quite like her again
Having acted before a little bit myself I can see how one can get lost caught up in the role they are playing full of intense feelings ,where do I begin and end as me. If I enjoy acting am I always acting or just being human ,A right head scramble
The character in this is exhausting an just when u think oh ok this is where we are heading there’s another concept being read and another idea thrown in ,which yes at times I did question how convulted we cd go but hey it fitted with the question mark over the characters reliability and state of mind
There were times I struggled or questioned things ,over a couple of things ,SPOILER alert .....no way a normal guy cd get a friend discharged from hospital wouldn’t have that much power really and I was a bit confused ,I got he went to see her and why but not how he cd get her released as even police at that stage were not behind her and agreeing to this admission an though they may have been colluding allalong as Patrick I’d question how easy it was to get her out of there .
However overall enjoyable ,not brilliant as so convulted but I did love the character and she herself was full of quick fire ideas as to what was going on ,is she para ?and I truly can say she lives on the stage all the time
Well drawn scenes I cd picture the play ,the scenes and felt darkly erotic at times but I don’t think ,though aware some disagree it was pornographic in tone at any time or overly sexual just descriptive of that kinda work
What I I think was also good was the use of distraction as I forgot about the beginning of the plot and her being recruited for a job and is she still conning him ,I mean sometimes I’d think of it then think mmmmm maybe not or she’s doing all nthis ,but it didn’t preoccupy me as u are thrown another thread u focus on till the end then bam it is what it was
Thanks netgalley and publishers for letting me read another of this authors ,I look for ward to their next one !

Claire, a young British actress living in New York makes a living by entrapping men into disclosing their tendency for infidelity. One evening she meets Patrick, a highly intelligent and cultured academic, fails to entrap him but is nevertheless intrigued by him. Later that evening his wife is murdered and she is drawn into the case. With the French poet Baudelaire's poems from his scandalous collection Les Fleurs du Mal forming a background for the story, this is a dark and unnerving tale which is difficult to put down. It is also very original and would make a terrific film. My only criticism is the unwieldy stage directions that appear throughout but I can understand why they're there. I found them a bit irritating but that's just my taste. Overall, i enjoyed this. Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC.

Having read and loved The Girl Before, I was excited to see Delaney had in store next. The plot really appealed to me and I was immediately curious about the plot.

Unreliable narrators have become a bit of a tradition in thrillers lately but providing they are good ones, I have no complaints! Claire certainly fits the bill and although you find yourself eye rolling at her at several moments during the book, I love that I trusted absolutely no one in this book and that just made the story even more thrilling. You truly question absolutely everything and everyone and thus, are not exactly sure where the story will go.

The use of scripted text really highlights Claire's obsessive nature with acting and are a really clever touch as you just know this is how Claire sees things in her head. I enjoyed the short chapters and felt like adequate time was spent on each poignant moment, except the ending where I desperately wanted to know more. I wanted everything neatly tied up and to understand how everything that had happened had came to be but it felt a little rushed.

Thanks to NetGallery for my ARC copy of Believe Me.

After reading The Girl Before I was excited to read the now book by JP Delaney. It left me feeling a bit flat. Each twist took the story in a whole different direction which was confusing and felt like I was reading a completely different book. However, the storyline as a whole was a good one and I would still read more by the author in the future.

If ever a book deserved the #WTFthatending hashtag, this is it! I was thrilled to read this noir novel from JP Delaney, as I was a huge fan of The Girl Before. This reworking of an earlier project has all the hallmarks of what I liked about my first experience reading Delaney: an education on niche subjects (in this case, Baudelaire and the actor’s craft), plenty of twists and turns, and possibly the most unreliable narrator I have ever cone across. Recommended!

I loved “The Girl Before” so I was looking forward to reading this book. It was actually published a few years ago but wasn’t received very well so the author re-wrote it and will re-release it in July 2018.

I enjoyed reading the first half of the book but towards the end it became a little confusing as to what had happened and what was only imagined. I found the ending was a little disappointing but this won’t stop me reading the next book by JP.Delaney.

Wow!! I loved this! I thought the way it was written was really different, not read a book written like that before. I love that it was based on a real book, I want to read that now too.

Really enjoyed this book. Lots of twists where the reader thinks they know what's happening but it all changes. Claire and Patrick are interesting characters to say the least.

Oooooh I loved this book! Claire was a very flawed character but she is an actress. You never know if what she is portraying is real.
I kept this in the back of my mind the entire time but I was still very surprised by the ultimate twist. I thought something like that was going to happen but I just was not sure!

Read this book if you love a story full of twists and interesting characters