The Girl Before was one of my favorite reads last year. I loved the creepy minimalist Marie-Kondo-gone-wrong apartment. I thought about it every time I ate sushi for months afterward. I constantly recommended it to friends. I couldn't believe my good luck when I got an early copy of Believe Me.

Unfortunately, this one didn't hold up. The first quarter of the book was interesting, as I got invested in Claire's questionable career and the set-up for the mystery to come. I love an unreliable narrator and read with both interest and skepticism as I tried to understand the characters' motives. I didn't particularly like the stage quotes that appear throughout the story, but I tried to accept them and to understand how Claire's real life and acting life intersected to the point that the edges of each became blurred.

As the book continued, though, it began to feel convoluted. A twist! Another twist! A bizarre and unbelievable ending! I found myself putting this one down for days at a time and then picking it back up to discover yet another turn of events was to come. I found it hard to suspend disbelief in order to enjoy the story.

Though this wasn't a good fit for me, I did enjoy The Girl Before so much that I'd absolutely pick up another book by this author. I just wouldn't necessarily make Believe Me on that I passed on to friends.

Thank you Netgalley for providing this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I received a free copy of Believe Me from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

J.P. Delaney's newest novel, "Believe Me" is a thriller about a young woman's attempt to catch a killer. Claire is an out of work actress who has recently moved to New York after a scandalous relationship chased her out of England. She has no green card so finding work to pay rent and attend her acting classes is next to impossible. She gets an "acting" job for a private investigator, usually hired by the wife to seduce married men and catch them cheating. When one of the women who hires her is murdered; her husband is the prime suspect. Claire goes undercover with the police to try and elicit a confession from the husband. Claire fully believes that any good actress must fully commit to her role and commit she does. This is when the truly twisted game of cat and mouse begins.

This is an intriguing thriller and I really enjoyed the premise, all though the subject matter centers around works from the French poet Charles Baudelaire and can get a little graphic. In a lot of Claire's thoughts or impressions of a situation the structure of the novel takes on a script form, which I enjoyed. This mystery will have you guessing who is the real killer and who is just acting until the very end.

Orphaned Claire was thrilled to make it into a prestigious New York drama school. Without a green card, though, her employment options are limited. In desperation, she signs on with a law firm to flirt with married men, providing their wives with video ammunition for their divorce cases. With the Foglers, though, everything goes wrong: Patrick won't take the bait and Stella ends up gruesomely murdered. The police suspect Patrick, so they ask Claire to entrap him. As the con goes on and the lies pile up, is Claire still playing a role, or is she in too deep? Twists abound in this tale of love, lies, and violent death.

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?



My Thoughts: I loved the twisty elements of Believe Me that always kept me a little off-balance. Claire’s first person narrative made me care about her and about her perspective. I felt myself rooting for her all along, especially when she found herself in many precarious situations, when those who were supposed to be on her side didn’t believe her version of events.

Claire’s immigration status intrigued me, as it especially resonates in this day and age. One’s life can be upended at a moment’s notice, so treading carefully is what one must do, and persons in authority can use that fear as leverage.

Trust games are part of the interactions for these characters, and we are thrown into the quandary of not knowing who to believe or what to believe.

Who killed Stella? Was it Patrick, or Claire, or someone else? And how does the dark website Necropolis play into the drama? When Patrick writes a play based on the Baudelaire book he loves, Claire is cast and sees the opportunity to finally get her green card. But is the play just an opportunity or another trap that will thrust her into more danger?

As we switch back and forth, asking ourselves what is truly real and what is Claire performing “in character,” we are still stunned by how everything plays out. An incredibly brilliant 5 star read.

***My e-ARC came from the publisher via NetGalley.

I wavered between 2 and 3 stars for this book, but ultimately rounded up because the ending kept me on my toes. It was difficult for me to get into this book, it took weeks for me to read, and I just felt the need to push through. The use of the underlying poetry and psych explanations were extremely detailed and in my opinion, took away from better parts of the story. I love thrillers but this was one was just too unbelievable for my liking. There was so much explaining in the first part of the book that by the time the action came I felt a bit exhausted. I enjoyed “The Girl Before”which was why I was excited for this one, but unfortunately my expectations were not met. Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for the chance to read and review this book! (less)

J.P. Delaney’s newest contribution to the book world is Believe Me, the story of aspiring actress Claire as she navigates through a twisted world of lies, confusion, and paranoia. Shortly after Claire has separate meetings with a man and his wife, the wife is found murdered, and Claire is enlisted by the police to find out if the husband is guilty… but does Claire know the full story?

Told from Claire’s point of view, the story is sometimes written like a play script as Claire imagines herself playing her role in this investigation in different ways. I like the use of this tool by the author; it is very effective in creating Claire’s character, and it continually reminds me as the reader that I may not know who the real Claire is. Can the reader differentiate between Claire and the character she creates in different circumstances?

Like this author’s first book The Girl Before, Believe Me has strongly-written characters and a story that really draws in the reader. I was, however, uncomfortable with a few scenes and descriptions, just like with the previous book. While I felt like the middle of the book dragged a bit, the majority of the story kept me anxious for more. Although the story and interactions of the characters with one another really didn’t seem wholly believable, Believe Me was an enjoyable read.

Thank you to publisher Random House Publishing Group – Ballantine Books, author J.P. Delaney, and NetGalley for an advanced copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

Hmmm I found this book came on fast and interesting. It got kinda slow in the middle though. You wonder who is the crazy psychopath in this story. Claire or the husband. Claire is an illegal immigrant in the states without her green card trying to become an actress. She gets into some shady work to make money and a woman gets killed. Claire must work with the police to find the killer and put him away

I love love love his type of book, where you just don’t know who the main character really is, yet you can’t help but follow them on their twisty journey. It’s the perfect summer page turner.

I'm at a bit of a loss. I really liked this book, but I also finished it thinking "WTF?!" It is an insane page-turner. Everything is totally over the top and yet mostly believable. There is twist after twist after twist, and just after you think things couldn't get crazier, they do. And again. I'm torn between 4 stars (because it was just so un-put-down-able) and 3 stars (because it was ridiculous and a bit icky at parts, as a lot of the murder aspect revolves around Les Fleurs du Mal). I just can't decide how I felt overall. As with The Girl Before, Delaney walks a fine line between riveting suspense and a flirtation with violence and eroticism (largely hinted at and not quite too descriptive). I can't say much because of the ease of giving away the plot, but I have to say that of all the post-Gone Girl books, this one will (or at least should) capture the attention of the legions of Flynn fans, particularly in light of the narration.

Wow, just when I thought I knew what was going to happen there was a twist. I continued to read and continued to be intrigued with every curve and twist. The author is amazing and the twists were not overwhelming as they have been in other thrillers I have read. You will come to question your own truths as you read this great book. Can't wait to read this author's next book.

Sometimes, when you wear a mask too long, you find it sticks to the skin."

Believe Me by J.P. Delaney is a twisty thriller that will keep you guessing until the end—not unlike the narrator Claire, a British actress who came to America to escape a sordid affair with a married co-star. Unable to get a job to pay for her acting classes without a green card, she does under-the-table work for a law firm that catches cheating spouses. When one of the clients is brutally murdered, she agrees to work for the police to catch the suspected killer.

Claire dives headfirst into her role, working with a forensic psychologist and NYPD detective to construct her character: Someone curious about BDSM and fascinated by the morbid poetry of Charles Baudelaire. Soon she approaches Patrick—the mysterious widower suspected of murdering not only his wife but several other women, mimicking key passages from Baudelaire's poetry—and they forge a relationship built on an interesting dichotomy of trust and lies. It isn't long until she realizes she has fallen in love with him...and that the only way they can be together is if he is innocent and she comes clean.

But when she is double crossed—not only by the police but the lover she now believes is innocent—and committed to a pysch ward, the line between fantasy and reality is blurred. Claire, like the reader, spends much of the book wondering how she can tell the difference between reality and fantasy—and, more importantly, whom she can trust. Her paranoia takes over, and the people around her—people she thought she knew, people she thought she could trust—turn into suspects. Just when she thinks the nightmare is over—the real killer is caught, and she can truly trust Patrick after all—Delaney throws in another twist: They were right about him all along.

I enjoyed the parallels between what Claire was learning in her acting class and what was going on in reality that were woven throughout the book, and the use of an unreliable reliable narrator was intriguing. The twists sprinkled throughout the book kept me on my toes—and I thought the fact that, in the end, Patrick was exactly who they thought him to be was in itself a twist. Typically, I don't care for present-tense writing, but Delaney is a skilled writer, so I barely even noticed after the first couple of chapters. I'd be interesting in reading the original book Delaney mentions in the acknowledgments to see how the story evolved. All in all, an enjoyable read!

Special thanks to NetGalley and Ballantine Books for an ARC of this book.

Intriguing story with twisted plot that keeps you guessing until the end. Great character development.

I have to say I was excited to read this one but I found it to be lacking. While the mystery of who was telling the truth and who was deceitful had me guessing I was not impressed with the storyline or the lack of believability. Thanks to Net Galley for an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.

I was excited to read this book after having read The Girl Before and it didn't disappoint. If you love psychological thrillers, and I do, be sure to grab your copy!
Thank you #NetGalley for the early copy for an honest review.

It took awhile to get into to this book. About a third of the way in, the story became interesting. I did not care for the script-like writing throughout the book. There were twists to keep readers interested but I found it hard to get through. Too many graphic scenes and the subject matter was hard to take.

Let me preface this review that I really loved the first book by Delaney, The Girl Before. I was excited to pick up the second but that faded quickly. Here's the short preview: British actress in NYC has immigration issues so chooses to work for police to try and entrap a serial killer into confessing. It is a completely implausible plot line - what police department in America, much less NYC, would ever use a psychologically damaged civilian to run a legitimate legal operation? Good grief, I've watched enough Law and Order to know better! Sorry, but this was just a laughable 'thriller.' I like my mysteries clever, twisty, and thought-provoking. Thanks to Net Galley for an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.

With a title of "Believe Me", you can assume that your narrator may not be very trustworthy.
This novel was full of some twists and turns, but at 45% I would say that one main aspect of the story was predictable.
This was a very quick, engaging read that was difficult to put down. I wanted to figure out what happened/what would happen next.

This one just wasn't for me.

The story is told from Claire's POV. She's a struggling actress who is in the US without a green card. She takes acting classes and works under the table as a decoy to catch cheating husbands. She meets her match when she's hired to catch Patrick and things quickly take a turn for the worse.

This is another novel with an unreliable MC. It's especially frustrating when a HUGE piece of information is purposely withheld, to make the ending that much more of a shocker. It just fell flat for me. We're in Claire's head for 'Believe Me'. She even goes as far as to treat every encounter as if she's performing in a play. We know all her thoughts, yet one GIANT fact is kept hidden? Sorry, but it was a huge stretch. Parts of the story just stretched on and on with plot holes until we get to the ending that was just not good. I almost dnf'd this one.

If you love suspense, this is the book for you. Believe Me is filled with so many twists and turns. It’s the perfect thriller until the very end. This is my first book to read by JP Delaney and I loved it. I will be reading many more books by this author.

This was a great thriller! Claire is a British actor living in NYC. To make ends meet she works for a law firm luring unsuspecting husbands into making her a sexual proposition, once she gets them on tape she walks away and gets the evidence into the attorneys or wives' hands.

All is well until one day one of the wives shows up dead and Claire is enlisted by the authorities to get a confession out of the suspected husband. This novel was a very quick read, fast paced, and intriguing. 

The story takes place in NYC and is narrated from Claire's point of view. I found the characters complex, dark, and interesting. In some parts, the novel is written like a play which was very unique and original, fitting perfectly with Claire's role as an actor.

Overall, I enjoyed the novel and recommend it to readers of thrillers, mysteries, and contemporary fiction. 

I received and ARC from the publisher via Netgalley