I know all new psychological thrillers are touted as the next Gone Girl, but this one truly deserves that title. The author managed to maintain the suspense until the very end, unlike many books I’ve read recently. I have to admit that the book starts off very slow though. Claire’s histrionics and over-the-top reactions to everything in her life did irritate me at the beginning, but that was before the first twist. And what a good one was that! I absolutely loved the book. Highly recommended if you love dark, twisty psychological thrillers!

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for the ARC.

This book evoked many emotions - fear, curiosity, and more than some frustration. I loved Claire from the beginning and was very sympathetic to her situation. I found the writing to be easy to follow and loved the scenes that Claire does in her head. I was frustrated because I wanted to be more in the know as the reader but understand the reasons why not.

Certainly a book you can read in two sittings!

Thanks to Net Galley for the opportunity to read this early!

I was really excited to read this, as I thought the premise was intriguing. It did have some crazy twists and I thought it started out strong. But really didn't care for the main character and there were just too many"yeah right" factors that I lost interest. All the quotes from the French poet got a little stale as well. But I would like to thank netgalley and the publisher for this arc in exchange of my honest opinion.

Interesting, page-turner, psychological fiction from, the author of The Girl Before. Lots of twists and turns, so many that the reader is never quite sure who to believe! Claire is an aspiring actress who moonlights catching philandering husbands. When the wife of one of her suspects ends up dead, Claire finds herself in the middle of a murder investigation.

What makes a great actress?

There are other schools of acting theory, but Stanislavski's System, which was developed a century ago, remains one of the most important. Claire Wright, Age: 25 (can play 20–30), Height: 5’7”, Nationality: British, Eye color: Brown, Hair color: Flexible, is deeply into the System as she trains in New York City.

Claire's here on a legal student visa, but that visa restricts her ability to work. She has no outside source of income and finally takes a job as a decoy, a woman who works for wives looking for incriminating evidence against their wandering husbands. Claire doesn't like deceiving people and the job is not quite legal on her visa, but she needs the money and thinks she is safe in the care of her handler, an ex-cop turned private detective.

One night, though, one of the wives is murdered and the MO is that of a serial killer that the police have been tracking. Claire was the last person to see the victim and the police trap her in a merry-go-round of deception. Is Claire the suspect or is the husband the suspect or is someone else the suspect? Are these people really even police?

It's a fascinating story that gets into the mind of a young actor. The structure is like a play, with a story arc and even some dialogue, the kind of inner dialogue that Stanislavsky's actors are taught to use.

I recommend it highly.

Good, but not great. Perhaps I have had enough of predictable unreliable narrators. There is an oxymoron for you.

I was really looking forward to reading this book after reading The Girl Before by this author. I was sorely disappointed. A struggling actress Claire, takes a job with a divorce lawyer firm and sets out as a decoy to try and trap unsuspecting husbands who stray. She places herself in a bar and eventually the man she is tailing comes up to her. All seems to be going as planned until a wife of an unfaithful husbabd turns
up dead. Then Claire becomes embroiled in5 the murder while trying to solve it herself.
The story drags and then to make it even worse, poems are translated which doesy nothing for the plot. I couldn't wait to finish reading this. Hopefully the author will write again on the lines of The Girl Before as that was an outstanding book.

Having enjoyed JP Delaney's The Girl Before, I was eagerly awaiting reading Believe Me. The book hooked me pretty quick and I breezed through the first half but then once the book got to the third part, it took a strange turn for me and I just did not care for it at all! It took me about 2 days to read the first two parts and then I kept putting off reading part three because I just could not get into it anymore. Still, it ended up being a pretty good book and very interesting. I think some readers will enjoy part three and the little twists and turns that you don't see coming. For me, it was just a little too predictable!

A fast-paced thriller that I couldn’t put down. Interesting plot with lots of twists and turns. I enjoyed reading parts of the book as a play and felt that added to the theatrics of it all. The unreliable narrator made you uneasy and unsure of what was to come and made me finish the book in less than a day!

FANTASTIC. This thriller kept me guessing. The last section was more all over the place...but the ending wrapped things up beautifully. I LOVED the writing style of a movie script. The audiobook was also done beautifully. Highly recommend.

(1 1/2). I am getting a little tired of these psycho, twisty turny, strange relationship stories. Where the author does their best to conceal what is real and what is make believe. Conspiracies run rampant. Claire and Patrick make an interesting and strange pair, guided by of all things, Baudelaire; and we are taken deep into their world. I only wish the trip could have been a little more worthwhile.

3.4 - dark and twisty and fun - but didn't quite live up to the hype; I now understand that this was a better-edited version of a previously published novel, and I'm glad that the author took the time to do a re-write

A must read! I could not put this book down. If you like psychological thrillers this is a book for you. You think you know what it going on with the characters but you really don't The author takes you on a ride of twist and turns. . You don't know who to believe, who is lying and what really happened until the very end.

Very well done. This is the first book I have read of JP Delaney and I am looking forward to her other books.

Thank you NetGalley!

This one was a good, fast read that held interest. You were never quite sure who was "the good guy" and "bad guy" and it got way more confusing before it got clear. But things wrapped up smoothly at the end and all loose ends were tied up.

This story was a really interesting change from the typical books I read. The main character was so all over the place, it felt like there were twists inside of the twists.

I have read books by this author, and like the other, this did not disappoint.

A quick read that kept me hooked!

I received an ARC from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

In this twisty psychological thriller from the New York Timesbestselling author of The Girl Before, an actress plays both sides of a murder investigation.

A struggling actor, a Brit in America without a green card, Claire needs work and money to survive. Then she gets both. But nothing like she expected.

Claire agrees to become a decoy for a firm of divorce lawyers. Hired to entrap straying husbands, she must catch them on tape with their seductive propositions. The rules? Never hit on the mark directly. Make it clear you’re available, but he has to proposition you, not the other way around. The firm is after evidence, not coercion. The innocent have nothing to hide.

Then the game changes.

When the wife of one of Claire’s targets is violently murdered, the cops are sure the husband is to blame. Desperate to catch him before he kills again, they enlist Claire to lure him into a confession.

Claire can do this. She’s brilliant at assuming a voice and an identity. For a woman who’s mastered the art of manipulation, how difficult could it be to tempt a killer into a trap? But who is the decoy . . . and who is the prey?

* * * * *

I have always been partial to psychological thrillers as they can cause me to question long held beliefs however I have always been able to decipher what is real and what isn't from the character's perspective. Not so with BELIEVE ME. Just as soon as I start to figure out just what is happening in Claire's life when the ground is swept away and I have to start questioning reality.

I actually found the beginning of this book to be a bit slow but it quickly picked up and I almost wished that things would slow down a bit so that I could figure out if anything that is happening is real or if I (or Claire) just dreamed it all. I was literally glued to my iPad as the tale continued as if I was going to miss something important as the ride continued.

I don't want to give away the story but I do want to highly recommend BELIEVE ME to anyone that enjoys a good thriller. This book will have you questioning everything that you read and think that you know. It does contain violence which can be graphic and some sex that isn't. Be sure to let me know what you think of this book. Did it baffle and intrigue you as much as it did me?

***I received this book for free from NetGalley in exchange for a fair and honest review. All opinions are my own and not influenced by the publisher or author.

Thank you to net galley, the publisher, and Author for this copy of Believe me.

A extremely twisty tail of Claire a struggling actress living in New York City. She lands a job acting as a decoy to catch cheating souses, when she gets caught up in a murder investigation.

It was so dark and twisty! I found myself asking is this really happening? I enjoyed the first half more the second (were I felt things started to get a little confusing for me). I will say this book was unpredictable, and that what I love about a good thriller. I thought none of characters felt relatable, but I felt like that was by design to not know who's good or bad or involved.

Believe Me had me hooked from the very first page. I've been in quite the reading slump, and this was the first book in a very long time that I didn't want to put down. Believe Me was twisty, and dark, and I devoured every moment of it. It was quick, smartly written, and full of dark undertones. 

Claire was so much fun to read, because she was sort of unlikeable, but not to the point where I couldn't stand her - just not someone I'd be friends with, if that makes sense. I was constantly trying to read into her mind, and there were a number of times I wanted to slap her for her naivety and rash decisions. 

I'm having a hard time writing this review, because I don't want to give anything away because I feel like this will be a great book to go into blind, without much context. This book had some dark elements to it, but not overly gory, and I really enjoyed that aspect to it. I was absolutely loving the forensic psychology aspect to the story as well. I thought it was really interesting reading about the profiling of serial killers. 

Overall, this was a strong 5 star read for me - so much so that it made its way onto my 'Favorite Thrillers' shelf on Goodreads! I can't wait for more of my friends to read this one! Please message me if you've read it and want to talk more about it! I'd like to thank Netgalley and Bellatine books for my copy of the book. It was my pleasure to provide an honest review!

I had to give this some thought before writing a review because I kept going back and forth between 3 and 4 stars and I needed to let the book resonate a little. I absolutely loved Delaney’s first book, the Girl Before, which is one of my staff picks at work. This one didn’t quite hit the mark for me, unfortunately. I do feel that the plot is refreshingly original. It involves a struggling actress named Claire who becomes involved in a very complicated relationship with the husband of a murdered woman. What makes it especially unique is that Claire’s dialogue often comes in the form of a script, clearly demonstrating the way in which she perceives the world. I found this to be interesting and different from other psychological thrillers.

What I didn’t care for so much were all the constant and over-the-top references to Baudelaire. Obviously the author was making this an integral part of the plot and showcasing his extensive knowledge of the writer, but I found the quotes to be longwinded and disjointed and I eventually took to skimming through these passages. At times, especially toward the last 1/3 of the book, I found the plot to be a little confusing.

With all they said, I would encourage anyone who is a fan of psychological thrillers to read this and form his or her own opinions. It is most definitely original and thought-provoking. 3.5 stars.

Many thanks to Netgalley, Ballantine Books and J. P. Delaney for providing me with a complimentary e-copy ARC in exchange for an honest review.

This was such a fun and twist filled story. This is definitely one of those books I want to re read and “see” it from the perspective of knowing the twist. This book was nothing like what I thought it would be based off the synopsis. It was so much darker and I love the whole idea of the story. I read this book in less than two days because I just had to find out what was going to happen next.

The main character, Claire, was such a complex character who was constantly surprising me. She could be so upset, so smart, so vulgar, so sad and I really felt her emotions with her. She is an actress, and acting takes center stage in this story, so if that is something that you aren’t interested in, you might not like this story as much as I did. I don’t ever want to act but I found it fascinating to read about her acting classes and I felt like I got an inside look into an acting class/school. Delaney did such an excellent job of writing the character of Claire and felt so connected to her the whole story. There was even a couple of times where I held my breath because I was that into the story.

The ending was so surprising to me. I’m usually pretty good and guessing at least parts of an ending correctly and I never saw this one coming. Just like with the rest of the book, the ending had so many layers to it. I feel like Delaney did such a beautiful job with this story. It was so rich and complex and it was all balanced out so well. I felt all the emotions and I was so confused at who to trust and who to believe. Believe Me is, in my opinion, a flawless thriller.