I really loved this author's previous book, so I couldn't wait to read this one. It didn't disappoint either, I actually think it's better than his previous book! I loved the unique story line, the characters were believable, the pacing was good, there were so many twists and turns. It was great!

Wow!  What a wonderfully weird book!!  The characters are vivid as are descriptions  of the setting.  I was immediately hooked by this very unusual story.  Unbelievable amount of twists in the plot.  Just when I thought I knew where it was going, BAM!! - it went a different direction.  Who to believe?  Who to trust?  A spellbinding novel right up to the last stunning pages!

Three and a half stars for a book that kept me engaged and packed in some twists but ultimately didn’t leave me as exhilarated as some of the recent thrillers like Jar of Hearts, The Woman in the Window, and Behind Closed Doors. 

Actress Claire is your typical unreliable narrator, challenging both the reader and the other characters to “Believe Me” while seeming to be not-altogether trustworthy. 
Many of the scenes include dialogue that is written as if an excerpt from a script. It’s a surprisingly effective device, causing the reader to further question both Claire’s motivations and interpretations of those around her. Where the book stumbles is in throwing too many mystery/thriller tropes together and failing to transition smoothly between them.  It’s ultimately a mostly satisfying read that can be completed in an afternoon, but it’s not a story that will stick with me for a long time after finishing. 

**I received this book free from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

My review is provided in exchange for an uncorrected proof. 
This my second J.P. Delaney read and both have been excellent. Well developed characters and a twisted plot are gold and Believe Me provides both. About the time I thought I had things figured out, something would cause me to rethink everything. Well written and well worth my time.

Read in July 2018
Believe Me... I am not sure where to begin with this review. Claire , a girl from the UK coming to New York to become an actress and live the dream. Then you find out the dream has a dark and twisty background and believe me you don’t know what to believe! 
The story web is that of a mature spider, the spider that builds the most amazing intricate web you have every seen and then it’s like a director yells PLOT TWIST and your wondering literally what to believe. The ending left me with my mouth hanging open! Loved this!

Claire has had to make a living by working undercover with divorce lawyers to prove wive's suspicions that their husbands are cheating. But when one of her clients is suddenly murdered, Claire goes deeply undercover to get a confession out of the husband. As Claire gets more and more entangled in the husband's life, she finds herself more and more unsure about who she truly is and what she is truly involved in.

Here's the thing with this book, at least for me-it felt like Delaney was throwing way too much into the mix. The premise itself was already interesting, but there kept being twist after twist, where it got to the point where the twists stopped making sense and just seemed to be there just for there to be more twists. This took me out of the story and made me like the book less than I suspect I would have had Delaney just settled on a few solid surprises and left it there.

Can you say suspense to the umpteenth power?  My heart has been on a roller coaster ride! JP Delaney is brilliant!  I read this book within 24 hours.  This psychological thriller will have you in a suspense labyrinth and guessing up until the very end.  Well-developed characters, bursting with mystery and suspense as well as unpredictable outcomes.  This is instantly a favorite.  JP Delaney never disappoints.

I received an advanced review copy (ARC) of this book from the publisher through NetGalley for my honest review. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

At first I was not sure about the format of the book - working screenplay like types of lines into the book. But I got used to that and then got interested in the story line. It was definitely quite a book - I never was sure who to trust and who not to, who were the “good guys” and who were the “bad guys”. I was anxious to read how it ended! I would recommend it for sure!

Thank you to netgalley and the publisher for a copy of BELIEVE ME in exchange for an honest review.

Claire is trying to make it in the acting world. A Brit living in New York, she will do just about anything to live her dream. How far will she go to make sure her dreams become a reality? This book will take that question to the edge.

Interestingly twisty, this one was! I read this book next to the pool on vacation. My husband asked me what it was about and I told him the premise about 10% of the way in. Then I had to update him because it completely changed by the time I as 30% in. Then I had to update him again because it changed so much yet again. This was the craziest ever-changing plot ever, in a good way. I could not keep up with the unforeseen turns that kept popping up. 

This was my first Delaney book, and I really enjoyed the writing style. It was easy enough to read at the pool, but deep enough to get truly and completely involved in. I really enjoyed this one and would highly recommend it!

Believe Me is a wonderfully written, head trip, psychological thriller. Claire is an incredibly complex character. There's many layers to her. Patrick seemed less developed, but will shock readers. This title did start off slow, but the build to the end was amazing.

I’m not a big fan of this book as the premise was a bit of a stretch.  It was well written, with twists that keep you guessing.  Just when it seems totally not plausible, something changes and all of a sudden perhaps it could be. I did like the literary device used intermittently of the actress imaging (and the writer writing)  the action as a script.  Fans of psychological thrillers who don’t mind suspending belief will enjoy this more than I did.

Wow! This book sure is a wild ride!
Claire is an actress studying in America. She has her reputation "ruined" in England and escapes to the US to become a star. There is only one problem: she doesn't have working privileges in the US. Therefore, she finds herself working slightly shady jobs for cash under the table to pay her living expenses...

One such job leads her to a mysterious man--an academic--enthralled by dark, murderous poetry. That same night, she encounters his wife, and by the next day, her murder is all over the news.

Who is the killer? Is Claire involved? Did the husband do it? 

Claire is offered the chance of a lifetime--"star" in an undercover investigation to find out just who killed the wife and in the end, secure a green card. But the line betweens acting and being is blurred, and the best stars, as Claire learns, become their roles anyway....

Though this story is extremely unrealistic--using a civilian as a decoy in a murder investigation does NOT seem legal--it is engaging, thrilling, and took me just 2 days to finish. There are two huge twists in the story, and enough minor ones in between to keep you guessing as well. You will not be able to put this book down. 

This book is great for book clubs (lots to discuss).

I received an advanced readers digital copy of this book from NetGalley  in exchange for my honest review and unbiased opinion. Thanks NetGalley!

Thanks to Netgalley and Random House Publishing for a copy of this ARC in exchange for an honest review. #BelieveMe #NetGalley

Wow...what did I just read! This book kept me guessing and asking what is going on the whole way through. The twists just kept coming and totally threw me off, every time I thought I had it figured out...I was thrown a curve ball. 

A good thriller will keep you guessing and totally blow you away with the ending. One you definitely did not see coming. This book totally delivered! It had all of the aspects of a good twisty thriller and was hard to put down. 

I would definitely recommend this book to everyone!

This would be an amazing book for a book club. (Um, just make sure everyone is comfortable with some dirty parts.) I read it with a lovely group, and we had so much fun discussing theories and trying to figure out the characters. This is how twisted this book is: I figured things out relatively early, then the story changed so much that I convinced myself I was actually wrong. It was like every new chapter threw me for a loop. Some (okay, a lot) of suspension of disbelief is necessary here, but it's worth it. If you aren't a psychologist, get ready to play one. You'll be trying to figure out what the characters tick. I'm used to playing armchair detective, but armchair psychologist was a new one. 

Infamous in her home country, Claire would give anything for success as an actress in the United States. Pretty, talented, and British seems like a winning combination... but she doesn't have a green card, so she can't actually work. At least not on paper. She needs money to pay for rent, food, and acting lessons somehow... so she has started to work under the table for a law firm. Using her feminine wiles and ability to read just what a certain man is looking for, she tempts married men and sees if they'll bite. Not to worry, their wife is totally in on it... curious to see if their significant other will pass on temptation and paying good money for that knowledge.

Claire's unusual but relatively easy job completely changes when the wife of one of her marks is found murdered. The husband immediately falls under suspicion, but they haven't the proof to charge him... even though there are people who believe she was far from his first victim. Outwardly charming and incredibly intelligent and well read, Patrick clearly has a dark side... but does it go that deep? Sensing the immediate connection between Claire and Patrick, the authorities enlist her on a long con, trying to get a confession from the professor who may be a murderer. 

An incredibly juicy, outlandish, addicting story that I had a blast reading. I read this one with The Traveling Sisters, and I think every last one of us enjoyed it. It gets 4.5 stars from me, rounded up. 

I received a copy of this book from Net Galley and Ballantine Books, thank you! My review is honest and unbiased.

I really enjoyed this book. I have read The Girl Before. This story was very different. I couldn’t decide how I really felt about Claire. At times I was agreeing with her decisions and often I didn’t. It does keep the reader guessing. There were times when I wasn’t sure I would finish the book. Towards the end it picked up really fast and I was glad I stuck with it. The ending was incredible.

I was surprised by the S&M plot line of this book. From the book blurb, I thought the book was simply a mystery thriller. While the plot was definitely not a subject that I would pick up and read, based on the how well written the book was in general, I decided to finish it regardless of that portion of the plot.

The thriller and mystery are extremely well done. There were switches back and forth and one wondered about the whodunnit from beginning to end. The ending was not one that I was expecting. It was also an ending that I found complete though there were hints of something further for the main character to explore.

While I would not look for another book with the same subject, I would certainly enjoy reading more books by this author. I understand that the name JP Delaney is a pseudonym for a more well known author and I will be looking for books both under this name and under the author’s real name as well.

I was provided a digital advance reader copy of this book by the publisher via Netgalley.

Believe Me by J. P. Delaney has become my number one book for 2018. 
Claire, an actress without a green card, needs to find a way to pay the rent and her acting classes. A law firm learns of her "talents" and hires her to entrap married men. However, murder was not part of the arrangement. Partially in play format, this fast-paced and enthralling thriller, will keep you guessing from beginning to end. Released July 24. Rate it 5 out of 5 stars.

This is the first book by JP Delaney that I've read, but it won't be the last.  I devoured this book in 2 days as I didn't want to put it down.  The story of Claire, an actress who has resorted to using her talents in alternative employment as bait to try and catch cheating husbands for a divorce lawyer.  Enter Patrick, the husband that doesn't take the bait and, in Claire's opinion, seems like a great guy with a passion for Baudelaire's poetry.  When Patrick's wealthy wife is found murdered, the twists and turns begin.  Did Claire do it for the money? Did Patrick do it to act out one of the dark poems he loves? Or maybe for her money? Or is there some other person also in the game?  This story will take you through passion, mental illness, depravity and love, all the while leaving you questioning what is reality and what is not.  If you loved Gone Girl or The Girl on the Train, you definitely need to pick up this book.

4-4.25 STARS

Hoping to jumpstart her acting career in the states, British actress, Claire Wright, is struggling to make ends meet while attending a prestigious acting course in New York City.  Without a green card, Claire is hard pressed to make enough cash to cover her living expenses.  Hence, she agrees to act as a decoy for a firm of divorce lawyers who seek to entrap cheating spouses.  But when the wife of one of her targets turns up dead, Claire suddenly finds herself entangled in the ensuing police investigation, agreeing to help lure a confession out of the guilty party before the killer can strike again.  Yet nothing is exactly as it seems, prompting the reader to wonder if something more nefarious has been going on all along. 

A psychological thriller boasting a unique premise and a myriad of twists and turns, author JP Delaney’s latest novel, “Believe Me,” takes the reader on quite an incredible ride.  Unfortunately, by the journey’s end, I was left feeling a bit ambivalent about the story as a whole.  Overall, the storyline was intriguing and enjoyable—grabbing my attention right from the very start.  But guessing the killer’s identity early on, coupled with an unexpected detour that was too unrealistic for my personal liking, only served to detract from my complete enjoyment of this book.  That aside, “Believe Me” is still a very compelling story—one that I personally had a hard time putting down.

I really struggled to finish this book.  The writing quality was good and the main character Claire was written phenomenally!  However, the plot was just not for me.  There was a halfway plot twist that made me gasp and the ending gave me closure but I never felt much of a thrill reading.

While I didn't like this book I can understand what others enjoyed about it.  It is fast paced and jumps from each part of the book rather quickly.  The character of Claire is written very well.  She is unreliable in the eyes of the reader and mysterious in an interesting way that makes a lot of sense at the end of the book.  I would read more by this author for her character development alone even though I didn't love the plot of this book!

Thank you to Ballantine Books and NetGalley for the opportunity to read this book for free in exchange for my honest review.