This is a truly frightening story. The characters are believable and as the story unfolds it becomes very clear that nothing is clear or what is real or fiction. Lots of suspense and a truly terrifying ending. I could not put this book down.

Another great Delaney thriller! Superb job on character development

Completely bored with this book. I couldn't even finish it. Very flat and a lot of tell-tell. The way the author wanted to innovate putting the conversations in a different format just annoyed me.

I found the MC without substance (can't even remember her name!).

Was this book trying to be a <i>La Femme Nikita</i> of cheating men (minus the blood)?

Thank you Netgalley for providing with a free copy of this title.

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

"Never fall for anyone who prefers to speak someone else's words."

JP Delaney's Believe Me is a tantalizing character-driven thriller that explores the length at which an actress would take her craft. British born orphan Claire Wright has managed to flee England in pursuit of an acting career in New York City. A few months after living in New York and taking acting classes, Claire is beyond broke; she's behind on her rent and is about to be booted out of her apartment.

Her luck changes when she finds clandestine employment as an undercover agent of sorts. Claire's job is that of a temptress. She is hired by women to lure their husbands into committing adultery, to prove they are willing to cheat on their partners. This job allows Claire to put her acting skills to the test and helps her pay the mounting bills piling up in her shared apartment.

One fateful encounter, however, changes everything for Claire.

Claire meets the oh-so-charming Professor Patrick Folger when his wife requests for Claire to get him to cheat on her. Professor Folger is not like other men Claire has easily seduced. He doesn't take her bait despite one of the best performances she puts on for him. The day after Claire's failed attempt at making Folger's hers, Folger's wife is found dead in her room, killed brutally by what police believe to be a serial killer obsessed with finding beauty in death.

Folger's academic research on poet Charles Baudelaire's darker works makes him a prime suspect. Claire is then forced by the police to continue her cat and mouse game with Folger. But as Claire pursues Folger, she finds herself drawn into his deceptively dark sexual fetishes, some that border on the obscene. Folger, however, is the first man intelligent enough to intrigue Claire, leading her to wonder who is seducing (and perhaps blackmailing) whom? Claire finds that the character she was told to inhabit to attract Folger is taking over her sense of sense, claiming her mind and body with each passing minute she spends with Folger.

Is Claire falling into Folger's trap? Is Folger truly capable of committing such heinous crimes? 

This book is sexy and absolutely lush. There are so many quotable passages and memorable scenes in Believe Me. It's clever, seductive, and everything a psychological thriller should be. I loved all the twists and turns of this book, and would love to re-read it to see the hints and clues as to where the book was taking me now that I know how it ended!

On a side note, I thought the back story to this book was very interesting. JP Delaney, which is a pen name of the author Tony Strong, rewrote Believe Me after the original version, called The Decoy, was published in 2002. I was interested in reading Believe Me because I absolutely adored JP Delaney's The Girl Before that was published last year. Both books kept me on the edge of my seat!

Thank you to the author, JP Delaney, the publisher, Penguin Random House, and NetGalley for an advanced reader copy of Believe Me.

Believe me when I say this book was crazy I seriously didn’t know what was real and what wasn't. Overall I thought I was a great story and a very quick read for me.

While I enjoyed the story and the twist and turns,I didn't like the "movie script" part. The characters were easy to follow and Claire seemed likable. Peter was an interesting character and I never did have him figured out ,which was intersting. Overall,the book was okay. Obviously because I read the entire book. I would read another book by this author.

Phew! What a rush! Back and forth, back and forth. Who is the good guy? Who is the bad? Even when I thought I had everything figured out, it continually had me guessing. I think JP Delaney's The Girl Before is a more original story, but this one I could not put down. I guess I would have to say I like them equally? It's a tough call.

I was provided a netgalley copy of Believe Me thanks to Random House Publishing, in return for an honest review.

Believe Me is a psychological thriller by a man that writes under the pseudonym JP Delaney. The premise is that a young immigrant actress in NYC finds herself in the midst of a murder investigation, quite by accident. She thinks she is working as an informant for the police force in return for a chance at a green card but as the investigation continues, Claire, the young actress begins to reconsider what her part in the investigation, actually is.

I enjoyed some aspects of this book, but the majority of the book was too much for me. I do not feel any description I read online prepared me for the dark and gruesome sexual nature that this book took. BDSM was a large theme of this book and what the narrative was based around. I wish I would have had a warning or an indicator about that. I would not suggest this book for anyone that is a sensitive reader or someone who is easily triggered.

I found the ending to be unbelievable and hard to conceptualize. Unfortunately, I would not recommend this read for a fellow reader.

This book is amazing. I absolutely LOVED "The Girl Before". This book is darker and creepier, and kept me on the edge of my seat. I couldn't put it down! The character development is wonderful. I could picture each of the characters so well from the descriptions, and truly didn't know what was going to happen.

Psychological thrillers are fun to read and the best ones will keep you guessing right up to the very end. "Believe Me" does just that.

Our heroine is a 25 year old actress from England. She is in New York as a student studying drama. Previously, when she was 17 and still in England, she had a brief affair with an actor that went bad. As a result she was pretty much blacklisted there and had to succeed in New York. She also worked, under the table, for a team of divorce lawyers getting taped evidence of cheaters. One night she goes to a hotel to meet an unhappy wife who warns her to be careful of her husband and to be leery of him. She goes to the bar and eventually meets the man who is good looking, intelligent and charming. He also will not do anything more than speak with her in the bar. When he leaves she returns to the room to get paid and tells the wife what happened. During the course of the night, the wife is brutally murdered and the real story begins. The police are convinced either she or the husband is the culprit and she agrees to work undercover, acting, to learn the truth. The poetry of Baudelaire is also interspersed into the story. It deals with BDSM, murders, psychosis, various kinds of abuse and the application of this all. It is very well written and will grab the reader from the onset and not let go. Thanks to Net Galley and Ballantine for an ARC for an honest review.

I really got into the first part of this book, thinking "oh yeah, this could be a 5 star read." Unfortunately, it got bogged down in high falutin' never-ending discussions and quotes from Baudelaire which admittedly were over my head. And the final reveal was crazy. Do you mean to tell me that even her inner thoughts were part of her performance??? Not buying it!

Thanks to Net-Galley for the advance copy. (Apparently, it's a re-release coming out under the author's pseudonym of J.P. Delaney)

Well, this book did keep me guessing, although I’m not sure I liked the storyline. With all the references to Baudelaire & poetry, I lost interest at times. Also, the book is written in parts like a script, which I found confusing at times. Good mystery that kept me guessing, I think the storyline was just not my cup of tea.

Well well well, this was quite the interesting read! I was completely engrossed in this book and flew through the pages, I found myself at 60% before I even looked up from my Kindle. By the way, at about 59% -60%, a nice twist is thrown in that I did NOT see coming! Mouth hanging open! I was so excited at that point to continue. Great job to the author! How does that saying go.... Fool me once, shame on you, fool me twice, shame on me! (tongue in cheek).

Claire is an actress low on money, needing to pay rent and also needing a green card. Hired by wives to prove their husband's are cheaters, Claire tries to entice them to cheat while recording for proof. One of the wives though is murdered and found in a hotel room, the same hotel Claire met with the husband. The cops approach Claire and want to use her as a decoy to try to get a confession out of the husband, the main suspect. She is desperate and agrees. Claire was a very intriguing character. This book did start to drift into erotic territory at times, and just as I was starting to think oh no, it drifted back to normalcy. haha...

The ending.... oh that ending, I am left a bit confused I will admit and need some clarification. I kind of hate when a book does that to me... This may be considered a spoiler, so beware, stop reading.. I am not sure that I enjoy the books with narrators that lie to us during the course of the whole book and then drop a bomb shell on us at the end. hmmm.. not sure how I feel about that.... end spoiler.... Which leaves this book a 4 star for me opposed to 5. This was a very interesting plot line and I would like to read more of this author's work. A big thank you to Ballantine Books and NetGalley for allowing me an advanced copy of this book! Greatly appreciated!

A-freaking-mazing!! Oh my god, JP Delaney is the bees knees!
Ill admit, I thought this book was going to be a total waste of time in the beginning. After my roaring adoration for The Girl Before, I was ready to be let down. But at the 20% mark I fell full throttle. OH MY GOD.

So good. I’ve never wanted to crack a characters head open as deeply as I did with Claire! I wanted to know, more than anything, what was going on in there!

JP did a phenomenal job of leading us down multiple pathways, without it being over done or unbelievable. I’m so sad that y’all have to wait until July to get your hands on it! If Believe Me is up for preorder, do it! So amazing!

I did not find this story believable enough to give it a rating of higher than 3-stars. Added to that I found the writing to be rather choppy. Not a book I could recommend to others.

Claire is a British actress in America, in order to stay in the country she needs a job, and fast. It’s not the sort of job that’s going to win her a Oscar, but Claire can’t be choosy. She’s hired by a law firm to trap straying husbands by enticing them to cheat on their wives, it’s sleazy, but it’s a job. The the wife of a man Claire is trying to catch out, is murdered and her husband is the main suspect. The cops want Claire to seduce a confession out of the man, and while she’s nervous, she believes she can do it. But can she? And have the police even got the right suspect? Edge of you set excitement with a twist you won’t see coming

An excellent example of a psychological thriller novel with tons of twists and turns. Every time I thought I figured it out something would change. Claire is a British actress want-to-be living in NY city trying to make ends meet by working for a law firm while taking acting classes. She is approached by a cop and a psychological profiler who want to use her as bait in an undercover operation. But is that what is really happening, or is Claire suffering from paranoid disorder? What is real and what is an act that she is practicing? Fascinating story that I read in one day!

4.5 stars
A well written, tight, twisty, turny, psychological thriller that kept me turning the pages as fast as I could. Subject matter was dark, so not a book for everyone. Who do you believe? Or do you believe at all? Definitely recommend this one.

I started this book yesterday and I couldn’t put it down. You fall in love with Patrick and the ending was just amazing. Always kept me guessing. Thank you netgalley for letting me read this book!

A highly unusual Book that sucks you in slowly. A bit slow at the beginning but I got drawn in once I got past the first chapter. Mesmerizing.