Believe Me: THE SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER

This book starts out as an interesting plot about a British actress in new York unable to work in the United States for lack of a green card. So she takes a job with a private investigator testing if men are cheating on their wives. I found this part of the book very interesting with very clever dialog. But then the story morphed in to some bazaar story involving the interpretation of Baudelaires erotic poems. There is a way far out weird love story and mental problems thrown in to really muddy the story. And then the over the top, unbelievable ending. It ended with me saying " you gotta be kidding me". Nope, I wouldn't recommend this one.

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.

The story focuses on Claire, a struggling actress who came to America from England to pursue an acting career. Except a million people come to America, New York City especially, to pursue an acting career and they don't come with black marks on their record like Claire does. So she finds a job with a divorce lawyer and basically makes money by tricking men into thinking she wants to sleep with them while she records their conversations.

Through her work, Claire meets Stella and then Stella meets dead. Claire gets arrested for the murder. And what comes next is such a twisty, turny, upside story that you have to read it to believe it. When the book ended, I sat there staring and thinking WTF did I just read? I almost feel like I need to go back to read it again just to see if there were clues I totally missed along the way. Seriously, did not figure it out until the author told me what happened.

One bit about the story that annoyed me were the chapter openings that read like a script, including stage directions but you get used to it. None of the characters are trustworthy and I'm not even sure they are likeable but it's definitely a story you need to read to believe.

Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an ARC.

I would like to thank the publisher, Random House Publishing Ballantine, and Netgalley for providing me with an ARC in exchange for my honest review.

I have to say that this book really hooked me in from the first page. Unfortunately somewhere about 75% into it my interest waned a bit and I continued the book a couple of days later. And yes, the book got me hooked again but in a different way. I guess the use of the unreliable narrator got me confused and then intrigued and then had me return and reread the last 3 chapters again. I have also read “The Girl Before” and I have to say that I like this story a whole lot better. Ireally like the writing style of JP Delaney, however, I think her plot need a little bit more development as the storyline becomes a bit too unbelievable and then my interest diminishes.
I really like how the author has used the writings of Baudelair into the story line and with that teaches the reader something new and adds to our general knowledge.
I highly recommend this book as author Delaney is a very talented writer.

I liked this book, a lot -- despite the unsympathetic, self-absorbed characters; the endemic personality disorders, and the taboo sexual practices that other reviewers have cataloged.

Believe Me is well-written, skillfully plotted and masterfully paced. Claire is a young British actress stranded in New York without a green card. This limits her options and draws her into one complicated, compromising situation after another. To pay for acting school, she moonlights as a seductress, luring and videotaping men in scenarios that their wives will later use in divorce court.

A murder of one of those wives sets up the first entanglement, when Claire is recruited by the police. Is it to entrap the husband? Or to reveal Claire as the murderer?

Among the dozen or so characters we come to know, the reader "likes"only Claire's best friend and a police detective. The rest -- lawyers, psychiatrists, agents, actors (including Claire) and friends seem unreliable and even sinister.

This story had more of an air of inevitability than The Girl Before, this author's previous book (which I also quite liked). I hope the book does well -- I recommend it!

Thanks to the publisher, Random House, via NetGalley for an e-ARC in exchange for my honest opinion.

After reading The Girl Before by J. P. Delaney, I felt sure I'd enjoy Believe Me. I did not enjoy it very much. It was hard for me to follow at times and the constant references to Charles Baudelaire's book of poetry, Les Fleus du mal, slowed the pace of the book. Sometimes I felt this novel was drowning in twisty details. Since I wasn't expecting the erotic sex scenes and references, it would have been nice to be forewarned about them. For me, such a turn-off.

The protagonist, Claire, was messed up mentally, was promiscuous, would do anything to earn money, and used her acting abilities to make you wonder if she was for real or was she acting. Her backstory was interesting but didn't help to make me like her and I didn't care for any of the other characters either.

The ending was absurd. It added nothing to the story and made the rest of the book hard to believe.

First thriller I've read where Baudelaire figured prominently! Claire is a Brit struggling in New York. She's an actress who can't find work other than as a woman who dupes unsuspecting husbands for a law firm. Odd but interesting side gig. And then Stella happens- and Patrick. Did Patrick kill his wife? The police enlist Claire in a deception campaign because they believe he is actually a serial killer. And then there's a twist. And another twist. And another one. If there's a fault with this incredibly fast paced novel, it's that Delaney is weak on US law, law enforcement, and actually on NYC. Go with it. Ignore some of the plot holes and just turn the pages. Claire is not the most likable character in the world but I found her sympathetic; I liked that her story doesn't come out fully till the end. Thanks to the publisher for the ARC. This is an entertaining and highly readable thriller that will introduce you to beautiful poetry, albeit poetry used for evil.

Oooh! Such a great, twisty story. I loved how the story makes you question everyone. Who is the killer? Is Claire sane, or is there more going on with her? Can we trust Patrick? Henry? Frank? So many questions. What is the truth and who can be trusted?

This story has an addictive plot based around erotic poems of death. They’re depraved and add an element to the story that captivates you. The relationship between Claire and Patrick keeps you guessing and it was fascinating to watch the games they played with each other. What was real? Where is the truth? I loved the feeling of uncertainty the story fills you with. Do I want Claire to perform a certain act or not? I had so many mixed feelings, I mean, this is a thriller, it could end in any manner, whether the acts are ethical or not. The story did end up going how I thought it would. It’s written beautifully and in great detail. I loved that the twists keep you guessing to the very end.

I love a good psychological thriller, and while this does have some elements of this, overall Believe Me fell a little short for me.

This book is fast moving, centering around Claire, an actress who is in the United States illegally. In order to get work she takes a rather unorthodox acting job. Hired by women who want to test their husband's fidelity, Claire presents herself to these men attempting to lure them into a relationship.

When she is hired by Stella, Stella warns Claire about her husband. But, Patrick doesn't fall for Claire's ruse, and appears to be a real gentleman. And then Stella turns up murdered in her hotel room.

This is where things got very confusing. I was unable to determine whether Claire was acting or not. The story is based on French poet Charles Baudelaire's books, and while this is really clever, I had no knowledge of his writing and doubt many readers will. Unfortunately, this novel is just one of many average thrillers out there and I have already forgotten how things ended. Readers looking for something fast and suspenseful still may want to check this out. The problem is that there are so many truly great books out there that fit that bill that are more than just average.

Wow!

A riddle wrapped in a mystery inside an enigma......

This book has more layers than an onion.....every time you think you have it figured out....another layer comes off.

This is an amazingly, well thought out deeply psychological story within a story. I could not put it down. It is the story of an inspiring actress who is studying acting in New York City. She has a scholarship to the acting school, but she does not have money on which to live. Oh, and she is from England and has no green card. So she results to off-book gigs that just a bit shady....And then there is a gruesome murder....and who did it? The police are looking for the truth. And thus the story begins......

This will be made into a movie, and actors and actresses will kill to get these roles.

Read this book. You will not be able to put it down. Six stars for this book!

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 the publisher for the ARC. All opinions are my own.

Claire is a struggling actress in New York City. She needs money and has a hard time getting decent acting jobs, so she works undercover with a law firm to catch cheating husbands. It's not glamorous, but it pays the bills. When her latest client ends up dead, the husband is suspect number one. The police hire Claire to help catch him. They are certain she will be able to get him to confess, but nobody expects the twists involved with Claire on the case.

A fast-paced psychological thriller. This novel keeps the reader guessing as to what is really happening, but it also gets a little confusing. I really enjoyed the first half of the book, though things got a little too twisty for me as the story progressed. Good for fans of twisty thrillers.

I received an eARC of this book from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

My head is spinning..spinning..spinning..There were so many curveballs that I couldn't keep them straight.( I state that in the best possible sense.) Be prepared to empty out your calendar and dig in because this is an all encompassing novel. However, be forewarned as it is dark and if this is not your cup of tea you will not be happy with the results.
Claire, an unemployed actress, is behind in her rent and needs to find a way to make extra money. At first she entraps and records dealings with men who are cheating on their wives for an investigator. Then she is offered a new way of making money by beguiling a man that the police feel is involved in shady rituals and murders. Who is the real victim and who is the real murderer? Delaney takes us on a exciting rollercoaster rider up to the very last minute until all we can say is ,"WHEW!"

Believe Me had more twists and turns than a roller coaster ride and was equally as thrilling and (a tad) scary. I was drawn to J.P. Delaney’s latest release primarily because I thought her previous book, The Girl Before, was a page turner based on an original concept.

I was not disappointed by this title which took on more of the psychological, and somewhat dark, side. It wasn’t without a few bumps- a couple of slow spots and an important scene that wasn’t nearly as intense as it should have been. This did not change my overall opinion but I did remove one star.

Claire is a Brit, without a green card, living in New York City. She is a struggling actress attending classes at a prestigious acting school here in the States after a bit of an unfortunate relationship with her leading man back home. To make ends meet, she works off book in the role of a decoy for a divorce lawyer. One such job lands her in the middle of a brutal murder and subsequent investigation. Woven throughout the story are connections to Charles Baudelaire, a nineteenth century French poet. Baudelaire’s work was considered scandalous to the point of being censored due to his themes of sex and death.

Believe Me will have you wondering exactly who and what to believe. Did she or didn’t she? Did he or didn’t he? Or, perhaps, the murderer was someone else?? You’ll have to read it all the way to the very end to find out.

FYI - I received a copy of this book through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

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

I raced through this compelling read and highly recommend it if you enjoy thrillers that play with your head. From being a part-time bit player for a law firm, amateur actress Claire Wright is suddenly thrown into the most serious role of her life – hunting a serial killer. Or is she? Who on earth to believe! JP Delaney’s story teased me all the way through – and I loved it. I enjoyed the insights into acting classes and Baudelaire’s poetry. And the book was cleverly structured as, Hamlet-like, it turned almost into a play within a play. There were layers upon intriguing layers and I was totally caught up – so much so that I finished it in an afternoon. I was never quite sure what was true, who was simply acting or who to trust as the characters were believable and engaging. Simply wonderful.

This was a great psychological thriller and hooked me from the start. Set in New York, Claire Wright is a british citizen without a green card, so she works for a law firm investigator for cash. Her job is to catch married men who cheat by role playing and getting them to solicit her. She is attending a prestigious acting school where she is a top role playing student, so this is the perfect way to pay the rent for her. While on a job, things go awry and the woman who hired Claire is murdered. Now Claire has to take on the role of her life....one that could cost her her life. There are lots of twists and clever turns, and I was clueless as to who the killer was, as well as who could actually be trusted, including Claire. Believe Me...you will be glued to every page!

I was taken with this book from the very beginning. I loved the characters and the story being told from more than one perspective. I was sailing along reading and thought I had a handle on everyone and everything and then, there I was, back at square one, thinking that I sure didn't see that coming.
This didn't happen to me once in this book....it continued to happen. And it was marvelous.

This book will hold you, twist you, turn you and set you talking to yourself. We all know that's why you should read it. Those of us who love this genre search for books that leave us feeling just like this.

This one does that in a wonderfully written way.

This book was provided to me by NetGalley and the publisher. Thank you.

Believe me- that’s what actress Claire wants everyone to do. And she’s good at it, setting up honey traps for her investigator boss. One mark is different though. His nervous panicky wife is looking for information to protect herself but when Claire meets the husband she gets the brushoff. Later that night the wife is robbed and murdered in a manner consistant with the writings of her husband’s favorite author. Claire is asked by the police to help catch their prime suspect, the husband, and so the chase is on. But are they really afer the husband or is it Claire who is in their sites? Are they hoping she will reveal herself as the real killer? Just who is playing whom? This well written hard to put down book will keep you guessing. JP Delaney made a believer out of me.

Believe Me wasn't believable at all. I know this is fiction, but at some point the story has to be somewhat believable, but the story just grew out of control by the end.

I enjoyed the first half I really did. It wasn't completely realistic, but I could still go with what the author was throwing out there. By the end though I was just at a lost for words. It felt like the author just wanted it all to end and couldn't figure out the best way so they decided to go in a totally different direction with the story to tie up loose ends. It all just fell apart for me.

I liked the writing and the story did have a sinister feel to it which was great, I just think the overall story needed less plot holes and some tightening up.

I sat down yesterday afternoon to start reading Believe Me by J.P. Delaney and then suddenly and without warning, it was dark and I was at 83%. It is RARE that a book pulls me in too such an extreme degree. I finished the remaining 17% on my break at work today and then spent several minutes going over it all again in my head making sure I had it all straight. There was a LOT of twists, surprises, unreliable narration and second-guessing going on.

I feel like the first three-quarters of the book were really well done and had just the right amount of drama and suspense. I was all in and honestly had no idea who was trustworthy and who wasn’t. I was poised on the edge of my seat, ready for a great ending.

Unfortunately, in the final chapters of the book, everything got so complicated and convoluted that it was hard to keep up. I’m still not entirely sure how to sum up what happened but here goes…

Claire is a struggling British actress living in NYC. When she is desperate for money, she works as bait for a law firm; catching philandering husbands on behalf of their (soon to be ex) wives. When one of the wives ends up dead, Claire is hired to work undercover to try and draw out the killer. Okay, let’s say I buy into this (already extremely unlikely) premise, what follows is every single twist the author could possibly have jammed in there.

Delaney makes it extremely difficult to predict where the story will end up. It is even hard to get a grip on the main character as we wonder if we can trust anything she says at all. And although I was consistently mistrustful of the husband (Patrick), there were moments when I wondered if I was being too harsh. I just never knew who I could trust.

It’s true that toward the end, the reader has to suspend their sense of disbelief, but overall I found it to be an entertaining thriller that was quick, fun, and kept me guessing to the very end.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the advanced copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

Wow!

A riddle wrapped in a mystery inside an enigma......

This book has more layers than an onion.....every time you think you have it figured out....another layer comes off.

This is an amazingly, well thought out deeply psychological story within a story. I could not put it down. It is the story of an inspiring actress who is studying acting in New York City. She has a scholarship to the acting school, but she does not have money on which to live. Oh, and she is from England and has no green card. So she results to off-book gigs that just a bit shady....And then there is a gruesome murder....and who did it? The police are looking for the truth. And thus the story begins......

This will be made into a movie, and actors and actresses will kill to get these roles.

Read this book. You will not be able to put it down. Six stars for this book!

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 the publisher for the ARC. All opinions are my own.

Claire is a struggling actress in New York City. She needs money and has a hard time getting decent acting jobs, so she works undercover with a law firm to catch cheating husbands. It's not glamorous, but it pays the bills. When her latest client ends up dead, the husband is suspect number one. The police hire Claire to help catch him. They are certain she will be able to get him to confess, but nobody expects the twists involved with Claire on the case.

A fast-paced psychological thriller. This novel keeps the reader guessing as to what is really happening, but it also gets a little confusing. I really enjoyed the first half of the book, though things got a little too twisty for me as the story progressed. Good for fans of twisty thrillers.

I received an eARC of this book from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

My head is spinning..spinning..spinning..There were so many curveballs that I couldn't keep them straight.( I state that in the best possible sense.) Be prepared to empty out your calendar and dig in because this is an all encompassing novel. However, be forewarned as it is dark and if this is not your cup of tea you will not be happy with the results.
Claire, an unemployed actress, is behind in her rent and needs to find a way to make extra money. At first she entraps and records dealings with men who are cheating on their wives for an investigator. Then she is offered a new way of making money by beguiling a man that the police feel is involved in shady rituals and murders. Who is the real victim and who is the real murderer? Delaney takes us on a exciting rollercoaster rider up to the very last minute until all we can say is ,"WHEW!"

BELIEVE ME

From the author of THE GIRL BEFORE --

Our narrator is Claire, an out of work British actress living in the US. She's had a tough life and hopes for things to get better, which they are not. She takes on a job - a sting of sorts - trapping unfaithful husbands into hitting on her. This barely pays her rent.

Suddenly due to circumstances, the police are involved and Claire's stay in the US may get cut short -- unless -- unless - she puts her acting skills to work and tries to help find a murderer.

Sound good? Sound interesting? It was -- to a point. While the writing and the premise of the plot are super good and interesting, for me, this book just never gelled. Most of the time the plot was exciting, fun, and twisty and full of turns. Other times, the story just dragged and I found myself not liking Claire very much. She seemed so wishy-washy to me. Still, the writing is great.

However, this book just didn't do it for me. Perhaps it will for YOU.

Believe Me had more twists and turns than a roller coaster ride and was equally as thrilling and (a tad) scary. I was drawn to J.P. Delaney’s latest release primarily because I thought her previous book, The Girl Before, was a page turner based on an original concept.

I was not disappointed by this title which took on more of the psychological, and somewhat dark, side. It wasn’t without a few bumps- a couple of slow spots and an important scene that wasn’t nearly as intense as it should have been. This did not change my overall opinion but I did remove one star.

Claire is a Brit, without a green card, living in New York City. She is a struggling actress attending classes at a prestigious acting school here in the States after a bit of an unfortunate relationship with her leading man back home. To make ends meet, she works off book in the role of a decoy for a divorce lawyer. One such job lands her in the middle of a brutal murder and subsequent investigation. Woven throughout the story are connections to Charles Baudelaire, a nineteenth century French poet. Baudelaire’s work was considered scandalous to the point of being censored due to his themes of sex and death.

Believe Me will have you wondering exactly who and what to believe. Did she or didn’t she? Did he or didn’t he? Or, perhaps, the murderer was someone else?? You’ll have to read it all the way to the very end to find out.

FYI - I received a copy of this book through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

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

I raced through this compelling read and highly recommend it if you enjoy thrillers that play with your head. From being a part-time bit player for a law firm, amateur actress Claire Wright is suddenly thrown into the most serious role of her life – hunting a serial killer. Or is she? Who on earth to believe! JP Delaney’s story teased me all the way through – and I loved it. I enjoyed the insights into acting classes and Baudelaire’s poetry. And the book was cleverly structured as, Hamlet-like, it turned almost into a play within a play. There were layers upon intriguing layers and I was totally caught up – so much so that I finished it in an afternoon. I was never quite sure what was true, who was simply acting or who to trust as the characters were believable and engaging. Simply wonderful.

This was a great psychological thriller and hooked me from the start. Set in New York, Claire Wright is a british citizen without a green card, so she works for a law firm investigator for cash. Her job is to catch married men who cheat by role playing and getting them to solicit her. She is attending a prestigious acting school where she is a top role playing student, so this is the perfect way to pay the rent for her. While on a job, things go awry and the woman who hired Claire is murdered. Now Claire has to take on the role of her life....one that could cost her her life. There are lots of twists and clever turns, and I was clueless as to who the killer was, as well as who could actually be trusted, including Claire. Believe Me...you will be glued to every page!

I was taken with this book from the very beginning. I loved the characters and the story being told from more than one perspective. I was sailing along reading and thought I had a handle on everyone and everything and then, there I was, back at square one, thinking that I sure didn't see that coming.
This didn't happen to me once in this book....it continued to happen. And it was marvelous.

This book will hold you, twist you, turn you and set you talking to yourself. We all know that's why you should read it. Those of us who love this genre search for books that leave us feeling just like this.

This one does that in a wonderfully written way.

This book was provided to me by NetGalley and the publisher. Thank you.

Believe me- that’s what actress Claire wants everyone to do. And she’s good at it, setting up honey traps for her investigator boss. One mark is different though. His nervous panicky wife is looking for information to protect herself but when Claire meets the husband she gets the brushoff. Later that night the wife is robbed and murdered in a manner consistant with the writings of her husband’s favorite author. Claire is asked by the police to help catch their prime suspect, the husband, and so the chase is on. But are they really afer the husband or is it Claire who is in their sites? Are they hoping she will reveal herself as the real killer? Just who is playing whom? This well written hard to put down book will keep you guessing. JP Delaney made a believer out of me.

Believe Me wasn't believable at all. I know this is fiction, but at some point the story has to be somewhat believable, but the story just grew out of control by the end.

I enjoyed the first half I really did. It wasn't completely realistic, but I could still go with what the author was throwing out there. By the end though I was just at a lost for words. It felt like the author just wanted it all to end and couldn't figure out the best way so they decided to go in a totally different direction with the story to tie up loose ends. It all just fell apart for me.

I liked the writing and the story did have a sinister feel to it which was great, I just think the overall story needed less plot holes and some tightening up.

I enjoyed Ms. Delaney's previous book, "The Girl Before", so I had high hopes for this book. However, this new book was a disappointment with a messy and convoluted plot and unsympathetic characters. I didn't warm up to Claire because I couldn't tell if she was a psychopath/sociopath herself, a compulsive liar, or a very, very unreliable narrator. Patrick was the same. Yet, despite disliking both of the main characters, I felt compelled to keep reading it to see who was lying to whom, and who really killed Stella. Frankly, the ending had me suspending my disbelief big time!

Thank you, NetGalley for the ARC! Hmmmm... still thinking about this one.... not sure if it is a 4 or a 5 star. It took awhile to get into and quite honestly, if I wouldn't have felt guilty for not reading it, I probably would have just put it into my 'read later' pile. Very glad I stuck with it, though. EXTREMELY twisty so you have to pay attention. I had a LOT of questions in the 2nd 3rd of this book (it's told in 3 parts) but things made more sense in the 3rd part. Very cool ending. Definitely recommend this one. The Girl Before is still my favorite, but this is a very worthy follow-up! Look forward to more!!

This psychological thriller set in the theatre community of New York City was a wild ride! At times I wasn’t sure who to believe, the narrator, Claire, an expat, orphan from London, or any of the other supporting characters like Patrick, her love interest, or the psychologist or the investigator from the law office, Frank, who got her involved with Patrick. It’s a twisting roller coaster ride through the minds of ordinary people and the concept of evil. I couldn’t put it down! Thank you #netgalley for the opportunity to read and review #believeme by JP Delaney.

Believe me, this book keep me glued to my Kindle. I was pleasantly confused for most of the book. The entire book was charged with anticipation. I never really knew what was going on...and I knew so little that I couldn't even guess. The characters were well fleshed out, but I think a little mentally unstable (or was that me???). The writing was clear and concise. Claire is a wanna-be actress and the book is written at times like it is a script. It took me a while to get used to that, but I'm not sure any other style would be as exciting. All in all, this was a wonderful book.

Claire is a struggling actor without a green card. She needs to work, but can't risk getting deported. Claire agrees to become a decoy for a firm of divorce lawyers. She's hired to legally entrap straying husbands and record the evidence.

When the wife of one of Claire’s targets is violently murdered, the cops are sure the husband is to blame. They they enlist Claire to lure him into a confession.

There are several twists & turns in this story. Who is the good guy? Who is the bad guy? Who can Claire trust? It's a very good read.

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.

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!

I loved this one! This book was weird, insane and totally crazy. It had a vintage Hollywood vibe and was difficult to read at first because some of it was written like a play, but eventually, once you are sucked in and totally engrossed, you can’t imagine it being written any other way, it flows like a 1940s detective film. I was very worried I would be disappointed by this because I loved The Girl Before, but this novel did not disappoint. I honestly found myself questioning the sanity of the narrator, and even questing my own judgment. Overall, absolutely would recommend.

There have been many excellent psychological stories out in the last year, Believe Me ranks with the best of them. Forced by circumstances to take a job most would call "sleazy" Claire tries to do her best. Then she's involved in a murder investigation where this reader often questioned her involvement and motives. If you are looking for a lazy Sunday read, this is not it. Make sure to read when you will have time to thoroughly enjoy this "movie of the week" type book. Loved it!

This book was very interesting. I loved The Girl Before and like it, this follow up book had twists and turns; kept me guessing. I never stay up all night reading a book, but I did with this one. Granted, it was a shorter and quick, easy read, so it was easier to do. I wanted to find out what happened. However, I only gave it four stars. The ending was not as exciting, but it was a good read, overall. Thank you, NetGalley and Random House for allowing me to read! Reviews on the store, Goodreads and BookBub!

This was an interesting book, and I recommend it for anyone interested in thrillers. The book opens with a prologue that sets the stage for Part One, which happens five days earlier. From there, the book is told in the first person pov from a woman with creative ethical standards. This reminds me of another book I read recently, and I enjoyed the way these things unfold. Human nature is so interesting to observe, and this author did a great job crafting a page turner.

I received this ebook from the publisher for a review through Netgalley. This book was different then what I was expecting and different from a lot of the other suspense novels that I have been reading recently. I was able to predict who I thought was the murderer, but I enjoyed all of the different twists and turns that you had to get through to get there. I enjoyed the short chapters and it made it seem like I was flying through the book. I'm not really in to poetry and one of the major emphasis of the book revolving around poetry did get old to me after a while, but it stuck out because it was different then what I have been seeing in other novels. I have read this authors other novel, The Girl Before, and I would recommend both to other suspense readers

Thank you #NetGalley for an advanced copy of #BelieveMe!

I have to say this review has had me thinking all day... I’m really not sure how to rate this book. Overall I found the storyline to be interesting and the ending really did surprise me! With that said, I feel like for me this book took a little too long revealing the long-awaiting twist/ending. I found my myself reading through each chapter as fast as I could simply to get through the book, not because I was so impatient and excited to found out what would happen next. The style of mystery/thrillers I enjoy are those that have a shocker every few chapters. Something to make me think “Wow! What is going to happen next!!” This book just didn’t do that for me.