INT (describing the location of a shot in a film or script) A Bar in New York City

And....Action....

Claire , an out of work British actress with no green card, has been hired by Henry, a divorce lawyer, and she is now wearing a hidden camera, hoping to entrap another cheating husband for his suspicious wife.

She is not proud of what she does but she is proud of how well she does it....and she does have rent to pay...

But then, just hours after she and Henry have presented their evidence to Stella, a wife who seemed more than a little afraid of her husband Patrick, Stella is found dead...brutally murdered in her hotel room.

And, Cut!

The murder scene resembles a poem found in the controversial poetry book Fleurs Du Mal ( Flowers of Evil) by the French poet Charles Baudelaire (1821-1867) .

It’s the book Patrick was reading when he met Claire.

The police want Claire to lure a confession out of Patrick, using the skills she learned while working for the law firm.

But can Claire be relied on?

This is the second book that this author has released under the pseudonym JP Delaney ( The Girl Before, being the first)

I I personally found this story (and the use of writing several scenes as if they were part of a screenplay), to be the more creative of the two books and the more satisfying (though I did want to skim through some of the poetry parts)

4.5 Stars

As you get ready to read this book, be prepared for a wild ride! As a struggling actress, Claire really needs work. She is British and without a green card. As a result, work is very difficult to find, and she is barely without a lifeline. Claire has gone beyond acting in bit parts, although she is still enrolled in a prestigious acting school. At first she does the odd job for Henry, an in-house investigator at a law firm. However, she is almost without a place to live. But then, the timing couldn't be better as she is morphed into a role that will require more from her than any acting class could ever teach her. Her decoy work for Henry has now evolved to decoy work for the police.

Working for Henry, her job was to try and entrap cheating married men. One job fails, but it suddenly leads her to the police, or actually, leads the police to her. One of her women that hired Claire has been found murdered. The police suspect the husband, Patrick Fogler, of the murder. Claire is enlisted to try and entrap him, to lure him to a confession. A game of cat and mouse ensues, because - who is the decoy and who is the prey? Do the police actually think that Claire killed the woman?

What a different story. Parts of it are written as a script. How ingenious. This style of writing went a long way in keeping me guessing, literally right until the very end, especially because we were always in Claire's mind. This amazing book kept me bouncing my suspicion back and forth between Claire and Patrick. As far as I was concerned, either of them could have done it. Patrick had a few predilections that could easily make him guilty. Claire fit the profile perfectly too, as she carried a lot of secrets and rather peculiar behavior.

I could barely tear my eyes away from this book. Full of breakneck twists and turns, it was a dark, truly exciting page-turner, captivating from page one, all the way to an incredibly riveting conclusion. I literally held my breath as I read the final few pages. No way would I have ever in a million years suspected the conclusion. Part of me held a little bit of glee when I shut my Kindle off, and then next time I turned it back on this very book was being advertised. Good thing, because readers will want to grab this immediately and read it as soon as possible. JP Delaney is most certainly an author to watch.

Thank you to Ballantine Books and to NetGalley for this ARC to review in exchange for my honest opinion.

5 STARS

What. Did. I. Just. Read. My mind is totally blown right now. I devoured this book in a matter of hours and I just could not get enough of it! This was my first J.P. Delaney (yes i know, I need to read the Girl Before) but wow this did not let me down!

The opening scene of this book is a big BOOM. Claire is an aspiring actor, an also an immigrant from London without a Green card, that is just trying to make rent. In order to make rent she may have to do some questionable things.

"And Where are you from Claire? I'm trying to place that accent.
I'm from...wherever you want me to be from.
I never met a girl there before.
What's the most you've ever paid a woman, Rick?
Five hundred but that was --
Double it.
What's your Room Number?
I'll knock on the door in five minutes. Don't make eye contact with the concierge."

I know what you're thinking, Claire's method's come off a certain way but I'll tell you that what you're thinking is not AT ALL what happens. You'll have to read to find out more.

Through Claire's "profession" and best way to make money, she gets herself into some trouble. She literally puts her life on the line in order to get the job done. One day, Claire is asked to work on a recent murder case and try to have the husband of the wife confess that he was the one who killed her. Claire does this in exchange for money and a green card. They make a completely new identity for Claire and she quite literally has been given the role of a lifetime...

Reading through this book I had no idea where it was going to go. The author did a phenomenal job at tricking me into thinking that at different points different people had killed the wife. I also doubted at times if Claire could have been dreaming or if she was hallucinating some of the things she described. There were also points that I questioned, Is she just this great at acting?

Something I loved about this story was that it intertwined Claire's real life and her love of acting. There were chapters were she was either in class or acting in a play and I could see the connections between the two. It was almost like the author wanted to foreshadow some of the upcoming events but I thought this was done in a really creative way.

The book is fast paced, like I said, I read it in under 24 hours. This is definitely a thriller and one of the best that I've picked up in a really long time. It was new and different from the stuff I've been reading and I just devoured it. 10 out of 10 would recommend picking this up for all your thriller lovers!

First of all, I was so excited to get this book. I really loved "The Girl Before" and I could not wait to get started on this one. (Also excited about the movie for the first book!)

I just read the NY Times article that talks about the author of these books. I seriously, like the majority of people, thought that these books were being written by a woman. Wrong!!! Definitely had me fooled though.

This book was driving me crazy at times trying to figure out just who was the craziest character. I love the blurb "Who is the decoy and who is the prey" That definitely sums up this book.

I was especially glad to see that not everyone, like myself, really liked that "Elf" movie. Ha!!!

Thanks to Random House/Ballantine and Net Galley for providing me with a free e-galley in exchange for an honest, unbiased review.

A very interesting idea turned into a thrilling novel. I read the author’s note where Delaney said this idea is an older idea born again into a new novel. I’m so glad it was redone. I loved the premise of this book. I never knew who to trust or who to believe, and that kept me very interested. I love an unreliable narrator and this book delivered that from start to finish. I feel like I still don’t know the real Claire, but that is because of the wonderful writing.

Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for my advanced copy. All thoughts are my own.

Dark and twisty, compelling and fraught with information that will have you second guessing everyone throughout the whole story. Well developed and full of details, I was intrigued from the beginning of this story.

This is a good read, but one that I would encourage you to take your time with as there are moving characters and points that add up as important details. I did not want to put this story down, but I did have to stop at time to make sure I was following the plot line as the view does change at times. This change of direction in how the story is progressing is captivating and something I thought was developed perfectly. I loved the concept of telling it as a play and that I kept changing my view of who I thought was the villain or crazy!

Thank you NetGalley and Ballentine for providing the opportunity to read this book and share my opinions!

Reading Believe Me was like hiking up a steep mountain road, difficult at times, filled with twists and turns but it keeps you motivated to reach the top...which is quite a surprise! The writing style was a little off at times and some of the characters were not very likable, however the plot was not like many of the cookie cutter books that have come out lately. Thanks to NetGalley and Random House for an ARC of this book!

This book starts out as an interesting plot about a British actress in new York unable to work in the United States for lack of a green card. So she takes a job with a private investigator testing if men are cheating on their wives. I found this part of the book very interesting with very clever dialog. But then the story morphed in to some bazaar story involving the interpretation of Baudelaires erotic poems. There is a way far out weird love story and mental problems thrown in to really muddy the story. And then the over the top, unbelievable ending. It ended with me saying " you gotta be kidding me". Nope, I wouldn't recommend this one.

Believe Me is a complex, intricate thriller about Claire, an acting student, who gets involved with murder suspect, Patrick, with encouragement from the police as a sting. Patrick is suspected of killing his wife Stella, who had originally hired Claire to pick up her husband as a way of getting “dirt” on him. But along the way, Claire falls in love with Patrick, and he with her. Or does she? When she wakes in a mental hospital, she questions what was real, as no one believes her. She reaches out again to the only person who may believe her, Patrick. In the end, this novel shocks with answering the question of how far you would go to earn trust from the one that you love?

This book was quite the read. I enjoyed it immensely. Twists and turns in the story kept me reading, along with the flowing dialogue and plot. For once, there was never a point when I thought I’d figured this book out. It kept me guessing at every page turn! And the ending was beyond any expectations! Easily the best book I’ve read this year, by far!

Believe me by J.P. Delaney is the follow-up to The Girl Before and will take readers on a wild and twisted ride! This psychological thriller will have you questioning everything when an British actress desperately wanting to work in America, but does not have a green card, ends up working for a law firm to entrap cheating spouses.

While taking acting classes, Claire is trying to find a way to make money and takes a job with a law firm where she entraps men cheating on their wives for a law firm. There are rules she has to follow, but when a client ends up dead and her husband believed to be the culprit, she finds herself in a bigger mess. Now in the middle of a murder investigation, she finds herself helping the police trying to catch the husband, who they believe is responsible for other murders.

We find ourselves questioning what is ethical and real in this twisted story with surprises at every turn. I found myself devouring parts of this story and wanting to go back and finish when I had to stop!

Happy reading!

While not as enjoyable as the girl before, this was equally a creepy and well written book. I only gave it four stars because it didn’t pull me in from the start. I had to try getting into it a few times. But once I did, it was great!

I sat down yesterday afternoon to start reading Believe Me by J.P. Delaney and then suddenly and without warning, it was dark and I was at 83%. It is RARE that a book pulls me in too such an extreme degree. I finished the remaining 17% on my break at work today and then spent several minutes going over it all again in my head making sure I had it all straight. There was a LOT of twists, surprises, unreliable narration and second-guessing going on.

I feel like the first three-quarters of the book were really well done and had just the right amount of drama and suspense. I was all in and honestly had no idea who was trustworthy and who wasn’t. I was poised on the edge of my seat, ready for a great ending.

Unfortunately, in the final chapters of the book, everything got so complicated and convoluted that it was hard to keep up. I’m still not entirely sure how to sum up what happened but here goes…

Claire is a struggling British actress living in NYC. When she is desperate for money, she works as bait for a law firm; catching philandering husbands on behalf of their (soon to be ex) wives. When one of the wives ends up dead, Claire is hired to work undercover to try and draw out the killer. Okay, let’s say I buy into this (already extremely unlikely) premise, what follows is every single twist the author could possibly have jammed in there.

Delaney makes it extremely difficult to predict where the story will end up. It is even hard to get a grip on the main character as we wonder if we can trust anything she says at all. And although I was consistently mistrustful of the husband (Patrick), there were moments when I wondered if I was being too harsh. I just never knew who I could trust.

It’s true that toward the end, the reader has to suspend their sense of disbelief, but overall I found it to be an entertaining thriller that was quick, fun, and kept me guessing to the very end.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the advanced copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

What a roller coaster ride!! I think my brain or my heart may need a day or two of non- fiction to recover after this psychological thriller. Very well written, if I could give it more than 5 stars I would!!!

Believe Me, written by JP Delaney, is about a British actress working without a green card in America. She agrees to go undercover to help the police. Used to being whoever she needs to be for the role that she is playing, Claire decides to go deep into her character. Coming from a rough background, her recent experience includes seducing married men into propositioning her so that their wives have evidence on camera when they go to divorce court.

The book kept me guessing until the end because I could never decide if either Claire or Patrick was guilty or if there was someone else involved. Both Patrick and Claire are broken or damaged in some way, and there are plenty of clues that lead me to suspect each of them. If you like involved reads where you really get into the minds of dark characters... this is the book for you to add to your list immediately!

Triggers: Bondage, violence, abuse, BDSM, Necrophilia

A special thank you to Netgalley and Random House Publishing Group- Ballantine for an advanced readers copy for me to review. As always, my opinions are my own.

J.P. Delaney is back with another psychological suspense thriller full of so many twists and turns, that you'll be questioning what you think you know the entire time. This book has it all: crime, betrayal, lust, mystery, and suspense that just keeps racheting up, notch by notch until you think you'll explode! You'd best clear your schedule before starting this one.

Claire Wright is a British girl in her twenties, living in New York, attending a highly sought after acting class towards her dream of being an actress. Because she has no green card, she has to work for cash only, off the books, and has a hard time meeting her bills. She does contract work for a law firm that handles divorces - hired by women who want evidence that their spouse is cheating; with her.

One night, she's on a job, and has a good conversation with her "mark", Patrick Fowler. He is an academic who is an expert on (and teaches a course about) Charles Baudelaire, specifically his book of dark poetry Les Fleurs du Mal. Claire makes it obvious she's available, but Patrick says he's married, isn't interested, thanks her for the conversation and leaves. After she reports back to Stella, Patrick's wife, and is paid, she leaves. Later that night, Stella is brutally murdered.

Claire loses her job with the law firm after the murder. The police, holding her immigrations status over her head, coerce her into going undercover for them, to get close to Patrick, whom their forensic psychologist thinks might be a serial killer, in the hopes he will say something incriminating.

Let the games begin!! The book spins into bondage-domination-sadism-masochism, and the web-sites that cater to them. It also has Claire and Patrick finding themselves actually attracted to each other, but unsure who they can trust. It's no wonder with all the mind games going on around and between them!

This is a fast-paced read that will keep you guessing how it will end until the very last page. A super read!

Many thanks to NetGalley and Random House - Ballantine for allowing me to read an e-copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

When I saw that the author of Believe Me had written a new book, I was very excited to read it. Fortunately, this book also did not disappoint. Claire is a struggling actress from the UK who will do whatever it takes to stay in the US, even if it means she has to take questionable jobs. In this case, the job is acting as a decoy for a private investigator to see if men will cheat on their wives with her. While she doesn't love handling those kind of cases, she does what she has to do to get by. While acting as a decoy, she gets caught up in a murder investigation and has to decide which side she is on- the side of law enforcement, or on the side of the possible murderer.

This book was full of twists and turns and at times, reads like a script for a play. I found the script sections to be a change of pace and fun to read. The twists will definitely keep readers guessing. I would recommend this book for anyone who enjoys a police procedural with a twist.

*Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for my advance reader's copy!*

First line: On the day of departure, guests are requested to vacate their rooms by noon.

Summary: When British acting student, Claire, is struggling for money to pay rent she starts work at a decoy for a law firm in order to entrap straying husbands. However, on her last job the wife ended up dead the next day. In order to find out who the killer is they ask Claire to try to get a confession out of the husband. As she immerses herself into her character, the lines between the act and reality begin to blur.

Highlights: In the second novel by J.P. Delaney we get a twisty psychological thriller. I was certain I had the story figured out. I was wrong. There were so many decoys and little tidbits that make the reader believe one thing when it can mean something completely different. The story was FAST! I could not believe how quickly I read this and how hard it was to put down. I loved being inside Claire’s head even though it got a little troublesome at times. The way she viewed everything as a production was a fun styling choice for the author.

Lowlights: I do not believe there were many lowlights other than the fact that it is not something new or astounding. It is a great read but it is not groundbreaking. Enjoy it but do not look for the next Gone Girl.

FYI: Try Delaney’s first book, The Girl Before.

What a wild ride that was! So many twists and turns I had whiplash. This was a Traveling Sisters read and it made for a fun discussion with a lot of speculation as we read.


Claire is an aspiring actress hired by the police to work as a civilian undercover in a sting to catch a suspected serial killer. Or is she? Is she an actress playing a part in her own movie where only she writes the script? Is she unhinged or is this all really happening? Is she the ultimate unreliable narrator or is she just playing a part? Is she the hunted or the hunter? I was never sure. The story kept me off balance and questioning everything.

The book also features poetry by Charles Baudelaire, a French poet known for his controversial volume of poems, Les Fleurs du mal (The Flowers of Evil). The serial killer is thought to be re-enacting the perverted scenes from the poems. I didn’t enjoy the poems and skimmed most of them.

There are a few plot holes with many twists and turns, and a surprising conclusion. If you can suspend disbelief and just go where the story takes you, it will be a fantastic read. For me, less is more. I would have preferred a few less twists and turns and it needed to be a little higher on the believability scale.

*many thanks to Netgalley for a copy of the book in exchange for an honest review.

OMG what an awesome awesome book. The action leaps off the page to grab you by the neck and it doesn't let go until the last page. One of the best books of this year in my opinion so rush and pick this up now and prepare to be engrossed in this fabulous story from the first page until the last. So looking forward to reading more from this amazing author. Happy reading!

Who's really acting? What happens when you start to obsess over something you love? Can you come back from "the grey"? These are essentially the questions Claire Wright has to ask herself when taking on the largest acting gig of her life. Can she help the FBI watch what they feel is a sociopathic killer after she is the last to see his wife alive? Since she's the last to see her alive did she do it or help the killer? Who's telling the truth and what happens when an obsession goes too fast?
Since reading JP Delaney's The Girl Before I've been waiting patiently for the next great thriller...and this does not disappoint.

My mind get going back and forth in this book. It was so confused on what was happening which is a good thing in this book. You start to think you know what is going on then something else happens and you are totally lost again. This really was a good psychological thriller as you really didn't know what was true, what was not and everything in between. This book is set up a little differently as the main character is an actor and she puts a lot of it in a script form but it's still fun to read.



*I received a free copy of this book via NetGalley and am voluntarily leaving a review.*