2.5 stars. I'm really not sure how I feel about this book. It definitely was suspenseful and kept me guessing - I wanted to find out who killed Stella Fogler. But so much of it was so unbelievable and over the top. Neither Claire or Patrick was particularly likable - you weren't really rooting for either one of them to be the good guy. I had really liked The Girl Before but this wasn't of the same caliber.

There’s not a lot I can say about this fast-paced thriller, except Delaney will take everything you assume and turn it on its head so many times. There is a special talent to misdirection, clever plot twists, and big reveals. I am tricked almost every time by Delaney. Even the things I thought I knew for certain, there was all this doubt thrown on top of it. Believe Me completely captivated me. I binge read it a day, which says a lot, but also I basically was late to an event because I had to finish it.

Claire is an actress that supplements her income by doing freelance work for a lawyer, who is investigating husbands who cheat on their wives. When one of Claire's clients is found dead, the police hire Claire to become involved with the husband, who likes to quote from Baudelaire's poetry. Claire enters a very dark world while trying to know the husband better. Claire works with a psychologist who is profiling psychopaths, but Claire starts to wonder if she is the one who is a subject. There are a lot of twists in this novel!
Tense and surprising, this is a really great psychological thriller. I was quite surprised by the ending!
Thanks to NetGalley and Ballantine Books for providing me with an advance reader copy in exchange for an honest review.
#BelieveMe #JPDelaney #NetGalley

Believe Me is a dark and twisted thriller that managed to snag my interest from the very beginning and never let go. It's a game of cat and mouse where you're not always sure of who is the cat...and who is the mouse.
The format took some getting used to but considering the main character - Claire - is an aspiring actress, it works.

What I enjoyed most is that Claire is an unreliable narrator. This is something I love when reading psychological thrillers because it keeps you guessing. Given what we know of Claire's past, you're constantly questioning her sanity or wondering if she's even capable of separating reality from the 'roles' she plays.

Personally, I feel as if this would have benefited from being a bit longer. So much happens toward the end that it felt a little rushed and after the pacing of the middle, maybe drawing things out just a tad would have made the ending even better. The ending by the way, was phenomenal!

This was probably one of the first thrillers I've read in a while that actually had some surprising twists. That is, twists I didn't see coming from a mile away.

I loved this book. Couldn't put in down. I was going back and forth between Patrick and Claire to figure out who was the killer. I was surprised at the end. This is my second book that I have read by JP Delaney and I will be looking forward to the next release.

After having read and loved The Girl Before, I was excited to read this book and unfortunately ,I was not impressed at all. This book felt like it took forever to get through. The story isn't all that bad it's just really slow and drawn out. By the time I got to the end I no longer cared who had done what. I thank Netgalley for the opportunity to read and review this book.

A tricky mystery with terrific pacing, engrossing characters, and enough twists and turns to keep the reader going until the last page. Two fascinating characters drive the narrative - Claire, an English actress who works as a honey trap for a divorce lawyer whose clients want proof of their husband's infidelity and finds herself accused of murdering one of them, whose husband who doesn't, at first, yield to Claire's practiced charms. A bizarre love story adds to the intrigue in this novel, apparently written under a pen name by a very well known writer.

A struggling actress has to play the role of life - to save her life. But what If it's all in her head? Where does the character end and reality start? Claire Wright's moonlighting ensnares her in a real life murder. But has her attempt to help find the killer taken over her life so completely that she can no longer tell what is real and what is not? Claire slowly starts to lose her mind and herself in the role of a lifetime. This emotional thriller will keep you guessing until the very end.

Clever and enjoyable, I preferred this title to the author's previous bestseller, The Girl Before. The American setting and the cat-and-mouse tension made for a good tale.

Thanks to NetGalley and Ballentine Books for an ARC of this book!

More than ever I wish half stars were allowed, because this is a prime example of 3 being definitely too low, but not quite achieving a 4.

This book is very well-written. It had me turning pages non-stop, never wanting to put it down. When I wasn't able to read, I was thinking about what was going on. I feel like the overall storyline was really great - an actress hired to try and smoke out a suspect in a murder case, to get him to completely trust her and reveal whether or not he is guilty. But the kicker is that the actress gets completely invested in her "role," and then it's unclear what's real and what's not throughout.

Every character was a perfect mixture of likable yet untrustworthy, even the narrator Claire. Sometimes you'd know for sure that she was telling the reader everything, and other times you weren't so sure. It was also always unclear if she was completely sane or a bit delusional. Patrick was at times very charming and sweet, but then you'd wonder if he was hiding something or if it was all in Claire's mind. There were quite a few twists and most I didn't see coming.

The main problem I had though, while the overall concept of the plot was really excellent, it didn't feel executed properly. For such a short book SO much story was covered - the beginning where Claire is working for the divorce firm smoking out cheating husbands, then it transitions to the murder investigation and working with the cops, then a main characters is in a mental institute and that felt like it lasted forever, then all trace of the previous creepy murder plot seem to vanish and the characters are innocently putting on a play, and then back to the murder investigation. The beginning was awesome, really well-written and creepy and dark and had me not wanting to put it down to see where it went. The ending was great too, once creepy dark things started to happen again. But the middle was just BORING. It was like the author wanted the book to be a little longer but didn't know where to go with the story. It just completely dragged, and dragged my rating down with it.

Like I said, the ending was good and surprising and well-executed, if not a tad bit rushed after the long dull middle. The book was well-written and made me want to keep reading. I enjoyed the characters and the overall concept. There were just some boring parts I wish could have been made better. All in all though I would definitely read this author's books again.

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.