This was without a doubt the craziest and most grossly unrealistic book I have ever read and I loved every second of it.

Claire is a struggling British actress living in New York City willing to stop at nothing to achieve her dreams (and pay the rent). Unable to get a real job due to her visa restrictions, Claire lands the role of a lifetime… luring married men to agree to affairs and catching it on film. But that’s where things get a little tricky. What happens when one man turns her down and his wife turns up dead the next day? Claire finds herself embroiled in the investigation, teaming up with the NYPD/FBI to put her acting skills to the test and bait out a dead woman’s killer. The rest as they say is not history but a mad collection of many, many, many twists and turns that will leave you wondering: what’s real? (and probably a nice helping of whiplash on top because damn, there’s a lot of twists and I’m still getting my head around it).

Steeped heavily in references to Baudelaire’s The Flowers of Evil, Delaney opens up an interesting dialogue on the influence of literature and media on its recipients and their actions. Can books really turn people into a psycho serial killer? In this case, it can. Sinister, alluring and complex you don’t know where this book or the killer will go next. Nothing is ever what it seems and there’s no straight road to the truth. Who can you trust? Claire is the ultimate unreliable narrator. Are we just falling for her act or is she really just a marionette on some strings? Paul is the grieving widow. Are we just falling for his sad sob story or is there really something darker beneath the surface? Delaney keeps you guessing right up until the very (explosive) end. This book may not be everyone’s cup of tea but this is one rollercoaster journey you don’t want to miss.

I was attracted to reading this book as I loved the previous novel by J P Delaney, The Girl Before. It turns out that this book was actually his first book. However, he totally rewrote it, keeping just the overall premise of the book before republishing after the success of The Girl Before.

Claire is playing a dangerous game - not only does she not have a green card to work in the USA she's staring in her own show over and over again to entrap straying husbands. For the first few chapters of the book I felt a little sick, scared for Claire of what could happen to her in what I felt was a dangerous game.

That was only the beginning though. Suddenly Claire is part of a murder investigation, is she a suspect? Maybe if she plays a part again she can clear her name. By this point in the novel I had to distance myself from Claire otherwise I would not have been able to read the book, scared of the danger she has placed herself into.

Once I had settled myself into Claire's new role things began to settle down and then the tables turned, everything I had read was put into doubt. Several more twists and turns abound until really I couldn't take anymore and just wanted to know what was real and what was acting

Really I should have known that Claire is always the actress......

Be prepared for a roller coaster of a ride to rethink what you think you know and what the author wants you to know!

I'm giving this book 4 out of five stars. My thanks to Netgalley for an ARC of this book.

Where do I start.. The plot was so far fetched it could have been a fantasy.
I lost the will to live after 50%.
One of a few books I have been unable to finish this year.
That says it all really.

A real rollercoaster of a read. Lots of twists and turns. Clever writing makes for such a gripping read. 4 stars from me. My thanks to the publisher & NetGalley for the advance reader copy.

I struggled to get through this book,. The story is about Claire, a British girl who is now in the USA wanting to work as an actress but doesn't have the right paperwork to get a job. She starts working as a decoy by a firm trying to catch errant husbands out.

The plot has got plenty of twist and turns but too much bondage, BDSM, crude language and sexual violence for me to enjoy even one page of it. Aside from all that I found the script style of writing very irritating and the use of Baudelaire's erotic poetry pretentious.

Not for me and an author to out ion my 'do not read list'.

A well thought out story line but a bit convoluted and kept me guessing through out. The ending seemed a bit far fetched but I think it is because it took place in France.

This was quite an interesting thriller, with a unique plot. There were so many twists and turns, I wasn't quite sure what was happening. I did enjoy this book, however I preferred the author's previous book, as this was a little confusing at times.

This was a twisty tale that had me mistrusting and second guessing everyone and everything I was told. Thrillers aren't a genre I go for often, so when I do I expect them to be different and keep me guessing. Believe Me certainly delivered on that, and kept me hooked until I found out the truth. I flew through it pretty quickly, and the few times I felt a lull in the plot, a twist quickly came along to pull me back in.

This book starts out feeling like a very predictable thriller. Aside from coming from the perspective of an actress, which I felt was new, we have a murdered wife, a suspect husband, and the burly detective who's attracted to the female investigator - in this case, our actress, Claire. But the surprises start coming when the undercover investigation begins, and I soon got wrapped up in the story. There's also some interesting formatting, as Claire often imagines her life as a film, leading to scenes written out like a script.

In psychological thrillers like this I usually rely on the character to feed revelations to me, but with our main character Claire being such an erratic and paranoid person I found it hard to trust what she said. Having an unreliable narrator made it quite interesting trying to follow the truth, and I was left feeling like the only way to get real answers would be to finish the book. I was right - the twists keep coming right up until the end. Despite this, I felt like after everything the book went back to the same predictable points I had initially spotted.

While I enjoyed the plot, I found myself annoyed by a few things - namely the characters. I thought they were all pretty one-dimensional; Claire was a neurotic, attention-seeking actress, her handler Kathryn was bitchy and work-obsessed, and then you had Henry and Frank, a typical ex-cop and typical detective. Claire was probably the most annoying of all - she says several eye roll-inducing things, the worst of all being "I'm not like other people. I'm just not."

Despite the issues I had, this book was fast-paced, interesting, and kept me guessing the whole way through. It's a quick easy read, and a good way to spend an afternoon.

Thanks to Net Galley and Quercus Books for an ARC of this book in exchange for a review.
Another psychological thriller from JP Delaney. Fast paced with lots of twists.
Claire is certainly a performer, at the start of the book she is a struggling actress has no green card, is taking acting classes and working for a law firm catching cheating husbands. That’s how she meets Patrick, though he chats to her he leaves the bar alone, leaving her with the book he was reading. A few hours later his wife Stella is found dead in her hotel room and a large sum of money is missing from her belongings. Who killed her? Is Patrick the serial killer the police psychologist thinks he is? Claire found him attractive and charming.
I got a little tired of Baudelaire’s poems and for me the ending was not believable. An enjoyable twisty read though 3.5 stars.

I really enjoyed JP Delaney's debut last year and if anything this impressed me more.
Claire is an aspiring actress desperately trying to make it in the cut-throat New York film industry without a green card. Whilst auditioning she takes the only job she can get, trapping cheating husbands. When one of her 'clients' is suspected of murder the police employ Claire to catch their suspect out but is there a lot more to this investigation that meets the eye? Dark, twisty and thrilling, you won't put it down!

Having read The Girl Before I couldn’t wait for Believe me to be released, I loved it from the start, just when I thought I had guessed the twist it twisted again. I would recommend and I’m very much looking forward to The Perfect Wife being released in 2019!

There's always such a risk in reading a second book when you've loved the first so much but I am so pleased I took the plunge. Gripping and twisty.

A great read, not just a thriller, this has a touch of romance / mystery as well. Heartily recommended for htose evening when you just want to have a wine and relax with a good book

I haven’t yet read Delaney’s debut psychological thriller “The Girl Before” as its still sitting amongst many others in my To-Read pile. Having heard good things though and as it is to be made into a film directed by Ron Howard, when a chance to read his latest novel came up I jumped at it.

Claire is an aspiring British actress residing in New York, having left her previous life following an incident at work. Struggling for work, she will stop at nothing to fulfil her dreams of being an actress even if she can’t pay her rent nor afford to live. Alongside taking her drama classes, she takes a job for a legal firm as a honey trap – playing easy to get to catch cheating husbands. Soon however the police ask her to become a decoy in a set up to snare a client whose wife has been murdered… but all is not what it seems as the story twists and turns along.

The characters, especially Claire, are very well written. It’s interesting to see a best-selling male author (JP Delaney is the latest pseudonym for author Tony Strong who has also published as Anthony Capella) write so confidently and seemingly easily from a female point of view. Claire is well-rounded and though I disliked her nature at times, I found that I understood her and she intrigued me more and more as I read along. The structure of the novel is unusual – a mix of first-person narrative together with conservation and dialogue written as a play script, a clever way to resonance Claire’s compulsion and infatuation with all things acting. Having the translations of Baudelaire’s works interspersed and so in-twined into the storyline was well-done – it did not matter that I had no prior knowledge of his poetry, they added extra meaning and depth to the plot. The action is fast-paced and addictive that you will keep promising yourself just one more chapter until you find yourself at the end of the book!

4/5 – A well-crafted thriller that kept me guessing until the end. I look forward to reading more from Delaney and seeing how “Believe Me” translates onto film when the time comes.

Thank-you to NetGalley for providing me with an Advance Readers e-proof copy from publishers Quercus. All opinions are my own and are impartial and free from bias.

Hell's bells this was good! I had to wait to catch my breath, get my heart rate under control and pick my jaw up off the floor before I could write my review.
This is a book in which no-one and nothing is as it seems. Claire is a character actor and one of the most unreliable narrators I have had the pleasure of reading. She is devious, cunning and able to slip into someone else's skin at will. Yet she is also vulnerable and in need of someone to care for her. She is also resilient and brave, foolish and headstrong. I absolutely adored reading from her perspective and didn't want to the book to end, whilst simultaneously rushing towards the conclusion in my eagerness to devour more of this sinuous story.
I am now going to rush out and buy 'The Girl Before' and I'm on tenterhooks for his next release.

Many thanks to the publishers, Net Galley and the author for the opportunity to read an advanced copy in return for an honest review.

I was disappointed with this book although I liked the previous novel by the same author. The basic premise is Claire is an aspiring actress living in the US but as a British native she struggles to find work. Claire works for a Lawyer as a honey trap. This is where she meets Patrick Foglerwho doesn’t fall for the trap but when his wife later dies Claire becomes embroiled in the investigation. I didn’t like the characters and there were so many twists and turns that I got bored. In the end I didn’t care who had killed Patrick’s wife.
Don’t read this as a first book by the author as ‘The girl before’ is far better.
I’m not sure I would read this author again it would depend on the next synopsis and it would not be on the top of my pile.
Thanks to NetGalley and Quercus for an ARC.

I couldn't get into this book at all. The characters were not pleasant or interesting and the story was just a big jumble up.

This book had a lot to live up to. I loved The Girl Before - one of my favourite psychological thrillers of the last few years. But Believe Me did not disappoint! I read it in a matter of hours, keen to discover how Claire’s story would end. So many twists and turns and I loved the darker elements, the Baudelaire poetry and that the plot kept me guessing right until the end. Well done Mr Delaney!

I was really looking forward to this book as The Girl Before was one on my favourite reads of 2017. Overall it was a good storyline but it didn't grip me like his previous book, which was disappointing. It was a good book with a good storyline but it wasn't amazing.

I’m sure this will only echo other reviews but this is a must read.
Find yourself completely pulled into the world of Claire and the thrilling undercover work she carries out to catch a serial killer, or does she? I ran through all the scenarios trying to guess what was going on...
Fantastic read and easily one of the best of the year.