“Believe Me” by JP Delaney is a mystery/thriller about a young acting student named Claire who is caught up in a police sting to catch a murderer.
The novel started out with great pacing and characters, but quickly devolved into an absolutely preposterous story with asinine twists and turns.
Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for the ARC.




Thanks to Netgalley and the Publisher for the advanced copy.

Intense, Riveting, Gripping, Fast moving book

Claire is a struggling actor who grew up in the foster care system and agrees to work with divorce attorneys to seduce straying husbands and catch their infidelity. The stakes get higher when there is a murder and Claire is asked to try to seduce the killer and get him to confess.

This book was dark and sexy and edge of your seat thrilling. There were times when I was wondering if Claire was acting or not and I could not predict the ending. A portion of the book is written like a script, so it was a fast read. I loved it and I highly recommend it.

A dark and twisted read that will take you along an unsettling ride.The main character Claire wants you to believe her. But don't make the mistake of forgetting that she is an actress, someone who is capable of inserting herself in any role she plays to the point that she believes her own lies. Even though the middle sagged a little bit for me, the ending was a slam dunk well worth the wait.

I found the beginning of this engaging, but I put it down after reading about 30% because it was too dark.

It’s been a while since a book has made me second guess myself as much as JP Delaney’s book, “Believe Me.”
Believe Me is that twisty thriller that will have you constantly changing your mind about “who did it.” Nothing is as it seems in this cat and mouse murder mystery.
This is one of the few books that you will read in spite of the main characters unlikeability, just to see what happens.
Main character, Claire, is a struggling British actress, hoping for that big role on stage and her green card as well.
Unable to find acting gigs, Claire finds herself working for a divorce firm acting out the role of seductress to entrap soon to be ex-husbands.
When one of the firm’s female clients is murdered, the police believe the likely suspect is the husband and enlist Claire’s help to catch him or do they? Are the police really out to nab him or Claire? Are the police who they say they are?
So many questions you will ask during your journey while reading Believe Me.
There is no straight road to the truth in this book but instead takes the reader ona zigzag hairpin ride until the end.
#netgalley #BelieveMe #JPDelaney

I really enjoyed this story. Super twisty and unique, and it was a quick read. My only complaint would be that I couldn’t find any connection to the narrator/main character, though the ability to do so in a thriller is rare anyway.

This book is a mindfuck. Even when I thought I figured out what was happening, I still doubted myself which is unusual. And the way Boudelaire was woven in reminded me of the way Poe was woven in to The Following and that connection is way too coincidental for my liking. I didn’t love the unreliable narrator trick or the way the dialog was staged like a play but it all made sense in the context. Excellent plane or vacation read.

Wow, I was hooked. This book drew me right in. It was all over the place, but in a good way. When I thought it was going in a certain direction it would change course again. It kept me on my toes and my mind wondering!! An absolute must read if you like a twisty, physiological thriller with a little bit of the eerie included!!

A fun sexy thriller where you will be constantly wondering where the acting ends and the real people begin! I very much enjoyed the second novel from JP Delaney and will certainly be looking for more in the future! An interesting premise for sure, an actress hired to "act" the part of a woman interested in married men, generally hired by their wives, hoping to catch them in the act, but when one of these jobs goes wrong, all bets are off.

Well written, great characters and enough surprises to keep you guessing until the very end. I enjoyed Delaney's The Girl Before and couldn't wait to sink my teeth into this one. I wasn't disappointed. Highly recommended.

I enjoyed this book more than the author's last one "The Girl Before" (which, according to my Goodreads review, I apparently had a number of issues with.) However I wasn't in love with it. (Although, at the beginning, I thought I MIGHT be.)

The book starts off strong, with a compelling lead character--an actress who has all sorts of issues and a complex back story. She finds herself connected to a murder and is brought in by the police to go undercover and essentially play a part in order to get close to the prime suspect. So far so good. Claire struck me as a bit borderline and her inability to maintain boundaries (which she continually abandons for the sake of her art) made for a juicy premise.

Then things went off the rails a bit, for me personally. There is a bit of a twist (which I was digging), some random BDSM stuff (which I wasn't digging), the production of a play (which I was ok with since I have an acting background, but also felt was a a big plot device that slowed down the narrative), then more murder intrigue (which started to annoy me and strain credibility) and then a big twist ending (which I wasn't feeling at all.)

I think my issue was that Claire was more than just an unreliable narrator, she was an annoying one for whom it is hard to find affection. Although I liked how the reader is constantly wrestling with the question, "Does she really feel this way or is she acting here?" more often than not the answer didn't really matter since she was making such poor, odd choices regardless.

So then you start wondering, "Is this person just totally insane? If so, then maybe is SHE the murderer?" While the book flirts with that question, we remain so firmly rooted in Claire's head that we know that's not going to an option. Instead we're just left watching her make a series of bad choices and/or the blind pursuit of method acting at the expense of her own sanity and safety--which no sane person would ever do. That makes it hard to really root for her or her story.

Thanks to the author and NetGalley for granting me the opportunity to read this book in exchange for an honest review.

A thought provoking, nightmare inducing, titillating psychological thriller. When down on her luck British actress Claire takes a job with the NYPD to help catch a serial killer she will question everything she knows to be true...including her sanity. Both curious and repulsive, JP Delaney's new work will have readers begging for more.

I just read “Believe Me” by J P Delaney from #NetGalley. This is a great book and you won’t want to put it down. Claire, an orphan and struggling actress, is here from the UK with no green card. That doesn’t stop her from acting as a pick up artist to entrap unsuspecting men. Videotaping them, she gives the evidence to their wives and collects her pay. But does it stop there? One wife ends up dead after Claire failed to pick up her husband. There’s no doubt that a spark lit when Patrick and Claire met, but will it lead to flame? Which one killed her? Or was it a stranger? This book reminds us that our perception is indeed our reality.

WOW!! I couldn't put this book down! It's incredible what a good actress is capable of, and Claire, the main character of Believe Me, put all her training to use in this wicked tale!

I loved this story because there was never a dull moment, and I was quite surprised throughout the book. The story starts strong, and builds in intensity to the shocking conclusion. There were a few moments that I thought the subject matter might be beyond my comfort level, but Delaney handles those provocative issues with care.

The chapters are short in Believe Me, and there are a limited number of characters, so I didn't have to go back and reread. This would make a great vacation read, but it also added a lot of spark to my midweek reading! I highly recommend!

Read all my reviews at: https://brainfartsandbooks.wordpress.com

Ok JP Delaney. You got me. I mean you really, really got me. I don't think I would have ever guessed that ending. My mind was completely frazzled (in a good way) by the end of the book. Claire is a completely unstable character throughout the book. That's for sure. One minute she is helping to catch cheating husbands and the next she is working for the police. Until she isn't. Until all the people who could possibly give her an alibi disappear. And now she is in trouble. Sure, Claire is beautiful and manipulative. But is she crazy? What or who is telling the truth? She reaches out to the only person she has contact information for to help her. However, he could be a killer. Is she falling for him? Claire's mind bounces around from place to place in this slightly claustrophobic story. And because all the facts aren't laid out in front of the reader, it's really hard to tell what's real and what's not. Kudos to JP Delaney for completely messing with my brain and making me want to read this book all over again. Well done.

Thank you to Netgalley, JP Delaney, and Random House Publishing Group - Ballantine Books for my ARC in exchange for an honest review.

WOW! Just when I thought I knew what was happening, I was so wrong! What a thrill ride! Until the very end too. Great read.

I am usually so good at figuring out who the killer or villain is long before the reveal, but I was not expecting the ending of this book. I won't say the beginning is slow, but I did expect it to be a little more fast paced. It does, however, pick up halfway, and it definitely threw me for a loop (or two). Very well written and kept me up well beyond my bedtime. I absolutely am looking forward to recommending this one!

Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC for my Kindle.
A psychological thriller with twists and turns that not only kept me guessing, but also, kept me thinking what was "real" and what was "acting." It's a little dark, but in all, a good book.

Good book. Lots of twists and turns that kept you guessing, and changing your mind about “whodunnit” right up until the end. Hard to put this one down.

4 dark, sultry stars to Believe Me!

Claire is British and living in the United States as a struggling actor. Not only does she need money, she needs a green card, too.

Her ship comes in when she is hired to become a decoy for a law firm of divorce lawyers. Her aim, to catch husbands cheating on tape...with her.

All seems to go as planned until the wife of one of the target’s is murdered. Claire is now asked by the police to ensnare the husband in a confession for the murder.

Believe Me is both enthralling and icky for different reasons! It reminded me of reality shows where women have gone undercover to trap men in theses types of scenarios. Throughout, I never knew who to trust, including Claire.

If you enjoy darker, twisted thrillers, Believe Me should be on your radar!

Thank you to J.P. Delaney, Random House/Ballantine, and Netgalley for the ARC. Believe Me will be published on July 24, 2018!

My reviews can also be found on my blog: www.jennifertarheelreader.com