Thrillers for me tend to be a bit formulaic but that is part of their appeal. I want to see who can make the formula feel fresh and new OR take it somewhere that makes me think WOW they mixed that up in a good way.

Believe Me definitely has some faults in a LOT crammed into the book where I feel it could have been a bit longer to help make more sense or a few things taken out but where I was expecting XYZ JP Delaney gave me QRS,.

Claire certainly makes you wonder...I had to scroll back a few times and go wait I thought...only to find what I thought was well not right.

Definitely a fun, want to keep reading to find out what happened Summer Thriller!

Thanks Netgalley for the ARC!

I honestly don't know how I feel about this book. The story sucked me right in and held my interest. It was well-written, but I can't help but be thrown by the ending. Why did it end like that? Why weren't we introduced to the killer of her co-star earlier in the book? Did the "killer" even do it, or was Stella's killer responsible for both? I'm unsettled by it, and it really is negatively affecting my rating. My 3.5 stars is deserved, but I wish the ending was less convoluted so that it could be higher.

Sadly, this was a disappointment. I did not feel any connection to the characters, and was confused by what was really going on in the story and what was going on in Claire's head. Maybe that was the point, but for me it made for a twisty story that didn't really capture my attention. I kept reading just to finish and move on.

I enjoyed the book, but there were parts that were too fast and other parts that were too fast. It was enjoyable and hooked me, but there was something with it that had me stalled on reading it on multiple occasions.

I liked the mind games that were put on me as a reader. I will recommend to my friends, but it's too complicated (emotions, sex fantasies, etc) to give my high school students.

I was completely immersed in the story line. The twists and turns were non stop all the way through the end of the book. I never knew what to believe or who to believe. Great read!

View my review on goodreads.com

I was given an advanced copy of this title in exchange for an honest review. This book was so very well written. It captivated me the entire time!

When I read the description for this book I was intrigued with the premise. Claire is a British actress who is unable to get work in England for reasons made apparent pretty early in the book. She is also unable to work legally in the US because she doesn't have a green card. So, to make ends meet, she works for a PI company as a "honey trapper" where she attempts to make cheating men hit on her while she secretly records their interactions to give to their suspecting partners. When one of the women she was hired by is found dead, in a very gruesome manner, she becomes a suspect, but not the prime suspect. As you might have guessed that honor belongs to the husband, who just so happened to resist Claire's trap and walk away from her that same night. The police decide to use Claire and her acting talents to continue the trap, but this time for murder not adultery.

The story progresses quickly, mainly focusing on the case as it is unfolding, but is interspersed with Claire in an acting class, which is the reason she is in the US to begin with, and her own "thoughts". Her thoughts are presented to the readers as if she were writing her own screenplay and while I understand why the author chose to present them in this way, so that you could see that Claire becomes very deep into character while she is acting, I don't think I liked it so much. Something it does well is present the reader with doubt about the truthfulness of the narrator, but I think she was fairly unreliable without it.

My biggest problem with the book was that there was a lot going on, I mean A LOT. Without going into too many details, I think that the initial plot of the book was essentially lost with everything else going on. The ending, when the murder is finally solved, came after so much other "story" that it was, in my opinion, kind of a throwaway. There was of course a twist at the end of the book and I think that was more intriguing, not much but more, than the actual solving of the murder and since I was intrigued by the initial murder plot, I was disappointed.

Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC of this book.

I really liked this book from the very beginning. With all the twists and turns it keeps you reading and trying to guess what’s going to happen next . Overall I would definitely recommend this book and this author to others . A good author that can keep me reading into the night is a keeper in my book.

I loved this book! I read "The Girl Before" and enjoyed it, but "Believe Me" kept me on the edge of my seat. I would love to see a sequel to it. The story had many twists and turns and kept you guessing as to who the real bad guy was the entire time. I did not figure it before it was revealed in the book, which is rare for me. I would highly recommend this to anyone that likes a good thriller!

I like JP Delaney's writing and creativity. The first book I read by him, I was so engrossed and needed to know how it was going to end. Love that feeling when I'm reading. This book was just as good.

good book full of suspense and plot turn would recommend to other reader great new author would read more form the author

Claire Wright, escaped from Britain to New York City, but her secret no one knows. At the moment she is pursuing a career in acting. Claire has been working with a retired cop, Henry. Henry has now become a private investigator for a law firm, who catches adulterers. Claire uses her acting skills to catch these adulterers on tape, after they solicit sexual favors from her. The monies she makes working with Henry goes towards her acting lessons, and living expenses. The next job that Claire has accepted is to persuade a college professor to make a move on her. The wife, Stella Fogler, wants Claire to see if her husband, Patrick Fogler, will submit to her charms. However, Professor Fogler, doesn’t react in the way that she thought he would. He basically rebuffs her. She sees a book he has even reading, Les Fleurs du Mal by Charles Baudelaire. She expresses interest and reads part of a poem to him. He’s impressed and leaves the book with her. She reports back to the wife, but the wife believes that they have scared him off, and that he knows what they were attempting to do. Little did they all know, that they next day, Stella Fogler would be found dead by hotel staff. When Claire was approached by the FBI to help flush out a murderer, she wasn’t too thrilled. Especially since they knew that she was in the United States illegally. She had no choice but to help them, or she would be sent back to London. The FBI had the Professor in their sights, and start to groom Claire to get the Professor admit on tape that he killed his wife. What a true psychological thriller this was. Just when the reader thinks that they have it all figured out, the plot turns in another direction. Will Claire be able to find out who the murderer is? Is it the Professor? What’s the motive for the murder? What are the dark secrets that have been hidden? The plot was genius and the character development was superb! I truly enjoyed this book. It kept me totally enthralled until the very end.

JP Delaney had me hooked from the first paragraph of Believe Me, which was like watching a game of cat & mouse in my head as I read. Just when you think you know who’s playing which role another twist will have second guessing right up until the very end.

Thank you for providing me with an arc via NetGalley

For a woman who’s mastered the art of manipulation, how difficult could it be to tempt a killer into a trap?
The premise is interesting enough and the min character is super likeable and doesn’t hold back. There won’t be any screaming at the pages as you wish she’d do something different. The beginning got me hooked the middle got me confused and the ending I thought to be wrapped up a bit too quickly but it gets dark, twisty and an overall enjoyable experience. Some parts are written like a script and this may turn some people off. It gets dark but everything flows so nicely it’s an enjoyable read. I also love when a write gives insight to their process at the end. Glad this was reworked and tried again

I really loved the first book I read by the author, The Girl Before and I had high hopes when I read the synopsis for Believe Me. I do have to say, I am was slightly disappointed by this book for a variety of reasons. I certainly enjoy the author's writing and character development. The synopsis sounded very intriguing, almost like a cat and mouse type game and Claire's character and circumstances seemed new and interesting. I had a hard tie connecting with Claire's character which then made me not very invested in the book itself. There are certainly lots of twists and turns and the story is very well written. I also wasn't a huge fan of the parts of the book that were written like a script, which of course goes along with Claire basically being an actress. I have a hard time reading anything that reads like a play or script. Overall I just was a bit underwhelmed by this book, but because I loved The Girl Before, I did go into this book with very high expectations.

The author does note that this book was written before The Girl Before, so to me that means that the author's writing and story telling evolved before writing The Girl Before. I do think a lot of people will really enjoy this book and I may possibly be the unpopular opinion on this book. I do look forward to reading more from the author in the future.

Thank you to the publisher, Penguin Random House, for sending me an ARC of this book.

This book kept me on my toes. The constant questioning of which story to believe was quite the adventure, I could never tell who was acting and who wasn't! The premise is so interesting and the style of the novel was not something I usually go for. I almost did not continue once I started reading the acting sequences, but knowing how much I loved this author, I carried on. I'm glad I did because once I got into the rhythm of the writing, I could not put the book down.

This author is great at weaving a story line that you just can't guess where it's going. Some of the subject matter was a little rough for me but the characters were interesting enough that I just kept going.

No sophomore slump here! Delaneys second book is a psychological whirlwind that will keep you guessing until the very end. Compulsively readable and difficult to put down. Claire is a struggling actress who is hired by the police to get a murder confession from a possible psychopath. Lots of twists and turns you will not see coming. Fantastic book.

Wow! When I began this book, I was thinking 3 stars, but by the time I finished it, it so captured my attention that it ended up being 5 stars for me! I did average my final rating to 4 stars, but really I did like it so much by the end that a 5-star rating could fit well for me, because of how well everything evolved and wrapped up.

This book will NOT be for everyone. Warning: The subject matter is very dark and twisted, dealing with sexual deviance and murder. These things aren't always dwelt on or described in major depth, but they are a large part of the plot of this book, so there are descriptions of gruesome photographs and murders and the sexual fantasies/actions, as well as the intense psychological game that is being played with your mind throughout the book, along with strong language at times.

Everything is told from Claire's point of view, in first person narrative, as well as at times being in the form of a script. I struggled to understand the flow of that at first, but by the end of the book it fit with what was going on and it made sense. At first I thought it was just because Claire was so involved with trying to become an actress, but as the ending unfolded, it fit with so much more, in retrospect.

There are times where you're not sure who Claire is or if you believe her or Patrick or anyone else Claire interacts with. The twists came out of nowhere for me, and I didn't anticipate anything that happened in this book; it just kept surprising me. Trust is a big issue with the characters' interactions, and I wondered often if I could trust Claire. So much that is a mystery about Claire (mainly her youth in England spent in foster care) isn't revealed until late in the book, but as the bits and pieces come to light, more of the big picture is revealed, about Claire's past and her present and her relationship with Patrick, while still overall being unresolved and a mystery until the very end.

This line from the book accurately describes so many different layers of this story: "Sometimes when you wear a mask too long, you find it sticks to the skin."

The poems (mainly from <i>Les Fleur du Mal</i> or "The Flowers of Evil") and life of Charles Baudelaire are intricately woven throughout this book, playing a huge role in the plot, the characters' actions, the characters themselves, and the darkness of the story. The excerpts from Baudelaire's poems are beautiful in their prose yet eerie in what they portray (Baudelaire's deepest, darkest desires in his relationship with the two women he loves, one a woman of society and one a mixed-race prostitute). The author uses Baudelaire's words and background and translates them into modern times, sometimes so intertwined with the characters, that I also wondered at the reality Claire was experiencing in relationship to the poems. I'm not sure if what the author portrays as Baudelaire's deep, dark desires is accurate or his literary license, but he intertwines it with such depth into the story that's it's believable.

At one point, there is mention of a statue in Musee D'Orsay in Paris that relates to Apollonie, Baudelaire's Venus Blanche, which I actually got to see years ago but had no idea what it was about, so that was a personal connection I was interested to discover (when I can relate to a book in the setting, the architecture, the art, or whatever, it helps pull me in even more).

The intensity of this book was unlike any other I've read for a long time. I was drawn into Claire's world, wondering what was real and what was imagined and what the heck was really going on! I read it in 3 days. The chapters are short, and I probably could have read it in 1 day, it had me so drawn into it.

Delaney has a way of captivating his readers from beginning to end. This book was no exception. The twists and turn had me guessing throughout the book. The characters were riveting and fully developed. However, the ending made me realized I've seen a similar story with a similar ending. Looking back the twists and turns as well as the ending remind of the movie Shutter Island.