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.

Review: BELIEVE ME by JP Delaney 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟Five stars! An awesome twisty,turning thriller that makes you wonder what is real and what is acting. Can the truth and make believe meld together to become reality?

An entertaining read from start to finish. I had a hard time putting it down to do things. It had two different endings and both were crazy. The main character's acting was so convincing I had no idea she wasn't a sociopath. This was my second J.P. Delaney book and I was expecting to be disappointed but this was anything but that. Gripping from start to finish! I will highly recommend this to my thriller friends.

JP Delaney's "Believe Me" had me endlessly second-guessing who was the criminal. Claire is a young British actress who moves to New York to escape a scandal and finds herself unable to work legally. She takes cash jobs with a law firm trapping cheating spouses until one of the clients ends up murdered. Patrick is the husband of a client who didn't fall for Claire's trap but is now suspected of killing his wife. The police enlist Claire's help by hiring her to form a relationship with Patrick in an effort to get him to implicate himself.

Claire's character is one that really makes the reader question the truth. Throughout the story, I suspected both Patrick and Claire more than once, along with a few other characters. And the author is really good at feeding into the idea of Claire's paranoia and need for approval. Some of the formatting was distracting after a while. The author set up some chapters like scenes in a play. At first, I liked it since the story is supposed to be from Claire's point of view and she prides herself on her ability to immerse herself in a role, but it was inconsistent and became a distraction after a while. Also, the story was not ALWAYS from Claire's perspective. "Turning my back to the camera, I walk away. Downstairs, Frank exhaled slowly." If it's really Claire's POV, she would not be able to comment on what Frank did downstairs.

I won't give away the ending, but I gave 4 stars instead of 5 because I found it a little bit implausible. All in all, though, I recommend picking this up when it's available in July 2018. Thanks to Netgalley for the free review copy.

JP Delaney has another interesting title. I enjoyed the concept of a struggling, but talented actor agreeing to participate in a sting to catch a suspected (and in plain sight) serial murderer. However, what I liked in particular was the folie a deux angle: agreeing to act for money and slight intrigue, but gradually losing oneself in the character being played.

The premise of this story was interesting but overall it just fell flat. The characters were not that intriguing. It was an easy read, and I did want to keep going in order to discover the truth. Was expecting more than I was given. Thank you NetGalley and Random House Publishing Group-Ballantine for my free advanced copy. All opinions are my own.

TWISTY! I read this psychological thriller in one day. It's a whodunit that had me questioning every character. She did it. No he did it. Back and forth like a tennis match. One moment you trust the characters and the next you don't. Some of the formatting takes some getting used to -- Claire is an actress and often she plays out scenes as they would read in a manuscript. But that also really works given that Claire is quite the method actress. Needless to say, it's a fast-paced page turner.

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

That quote sums up this story so perfectly. What a whiplashing ride! I read this book in one sitting...not in one day but literally in one sitting. I kept telling myself "just one more chapter" until I finally just gave in knowing my mind wouldn't be able to move on until I knew the truth. Figuring out the truth is a slippery slope in this story.

Told in first person through the eyes of Claire, a struggling British actress trying to reinvent herself in New York City, much of the book is written as if it is a script with Claire in the leading role. Although it is a novel idea in theory, I found it quite distracting at times.Through a series of circumstances, Claire is hired by law enforcement to try to seduce a confession from a murder suspect... or is she? I sat up and gasped more than once while reading this book having been completely taken off guard. I thoroughly enjoyed this read. ⭐⭐⭐⭐ from me.

I was provided an ARC of this book from Random House and NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Believe Me is about a woman desperate to be an actress that becomes a civilian working undercover as part of a police operation. While the plot was good, I found the storyline to. e confusing and at times hard to follow. I did very much enjoy the ending and was surprised by the twists.

It has been a few years since upon finishing a book I have been left wondering what the hell just happened. <b><I>Believe Me</I></b> by JP Delaney has made me do just that. It is a mind-bending, WTF type of a moment that has left me both thrilled and shaken to the core.

<blockquote><i>In describing a poem by Baudelaire about a menagerie of evils, a riddle is posed as thus: Who is the monster even worse than these? The answer is <b><u>YOU</u></b>, the reader, who can enjoy the horrors in his poems without having to bloody your own hands.</I></blockquote>

This book was an interesting and captivating exploration of what is real. It is a twisty and compelling read, and a prime example of the unreliable narrator. Throughout the book the reader is left trying to decifer their own trust of the characters, and what is truth. Without the solid rock to tether to, the reader is taken on a wild journey. In my case, I found me feelings for Claire to flip-flop more than a politician. The trust readers give to the authors is quite amazing, and it is a fantastic experience when the author can abuse that trust, suspend "normal" rules, and deliver us an experience that leaves us in awe. That to me is the essence of what happens in this book. I look forward to rereading it over time to try and get a similar experience, although it is never the same as the first time.

There is a definite genius to the writing of this novel. I enjoyed the characters, even though I was conflicted on several of them throughout the book. I am without words right now, in a very good way. I definitely would recommend this book to anyone who wants to embark on the journey and be thrown around like a roller coaster and be left wondering "what the hell just happened?".

My deepest gratitude to NetGalley and the team at PenguinRandomHouse for presenting me the opportunity to advance read this in exchange for my opinions.

This book had so many twists and turns that at times it was hard to keep up. I had a very hard time understanding the main character which I think was the point of the book. I really enjoyed how short the chapters were and I was not expecting the ending. Overall I think it is a book worth reading, especially if you like thrillers. I do wish they tied a few more things up but other than that it was well written,

views > Believe Me
Believe Me by J.P. Delaney
Believe Me
by J.P. Delaney (Goodreads Author),
Tony Strong (Pseudonym)

M 50x66
Lou Jacobs's review
Jun 14, 2018 · edit

really liked it

Query: Is this a story of a serial killer OR the development of a twisted personality in an orphan young girl who was raised in multiple foster homes? The two main protagonists are Professor Patrick Folger and Brit actress Claire Wright. And center stage is the infamous collection of Baudelaire's poems: "Les Fleur du Mal" - The Flowers of Evil ... dealing with decadence, eroticism and sadism and translated by Patrick.
Struggling actress Claire finds herself without a green card and desperate to pay her expenses and rent in expensive New York City. A job presents itself working for a law firm in which she can use her natural skills. On behalf of the suspicious wife , she engages the husband in a social setting to test his fidelity ... being flirtatious but not actually propositioning and filming the encounter. Unfortunately, most of the suspected husbands proposition her. In an extremely unusual job she is asked to meet the wife in a hotel room before the "sting" ... she appears agitated and fearful.
Claire skillfully encounters Patrick at a bar ... and much to her chagrin he does not seem interested. But, the next day Patrick's wife is found brutally murdered in the same hotel room.
Who killed her ... Patrick or Claire. The police investigate ... and what ensues is a twisty psychological thriller with nebulous and equivocal motivations with escalating tension. Nothing seems to be what is apparent .... the reader races to an unexpected denouement that is artfully plotted.
Thanks to Netgalley and Ballantine books for providing an Uncorrected Proof of this enjoyable book in exchange for an honest review.