3.5 stars!

I was a fan of The Girl Before, so I looked forward to reading the latest book by JP Delaney! Claire is a British actress living in NYC who has a slightly odd job working for a lawyer to help catch cheating husbands with the help of a hidden camera in her purse. One night, she is hired to hit on a woman's husband, and hours later, the woman is found brutally murdered in her hotel room, and Claire becomes a prime suspect. Did she kill Stella? As an actress and student of the Stanislavski method, she turns out to be the perfect person to help the detectives catch the real killer. At first I found the book a bit hard to read and get into because of the play script- but once it got going, I couldn't put it down!

This book was truly one of the best books I've read this year. JP Delaney does a phenomenal job of weaving an intricate plot, complete with a very complex cast of characters. For once, just when you think you have everything figured out, you find out you don't. I could not put it down!

This book started out exciting, but unfortunately about halfway through it just fell flat for me. It's a quick read and I think a lot of people will enjoy it. Just not my cup of tea.
I received a copy of this book from Netgalley. Thank you, Netgalley.
All opinions are my own.

I know all new psychological thrillers are touted as the next Gone Girl, but this one truly deserves that title. The author managed to maintain the suspense until the very end, unlike many books I’ve read recently. I have to admit that the book starts off very slow though. Claire’s histrionics and over-the-top reactions to everything in her life did irritate me at the beginning, but that was before the first twist. And what a good one was that! I absolutely loved the book. Highly recommended if you love dark, twisty psychological thrillers!

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for the ARC.

This book evoked many emotions - fear, curiosity, and more than some frustration. I loved Claire from the beginning and was very sympathetic to her situation. I found the writing to be easy to follow and loved the scenes that Claire does in her head. I was frustrated because I wanted to be more in the know as the reader but understand the reasons why not.

Certainly a book you can read in two sittings!

Thanks to Net Galley for the opportunity to read this early!

I was really excited to read this, as I thought the premise was intriguing. It did have some crazy twists and I thought it started out strong. But really didn't care for the main character and there were just too many"yeah right" factors that I lost interest. All the quotes from the French poet got a little stale as well. But I would like to thank netgalley and the publisher for this arc in exchange of my honest opinion.

Interesting, page-turner, psychological fiction from, the author of The Girl Before. Lots of twists and turns, so many that the reader is never quite sure who to believe! Claire is an aspiring actress who moonlights catching philandering husbands. When the wife of one of her suspects ends up dead, Claire finds herself in the middle of a murder investigation.

What makes a great actress?

There are other schools of acting theory, but Stanislavski's System, which was developed a century ago, remains one of the most important. Claire Wright, Age: 25 (can play 20–30), Height: 5’7”, Nationality: British, Eye color: Brown, Hair color: Flexible, is deeply into the System as she trains in New York City.

Claire's here on a legal student visa, but that visa restricts her ability to work. She has no outside source of income and finally takes a job as a decoy, a woman who works for wives looking for incriminating evidence against their wandering husbands. Claire doesn't like deceiving people and the job is not quite legal on her visa, but she needs the money and thinks she is safe in the care of her handler, an ex-cop turned private detective.

One night, though, one of the wives is murdered and the MO is that of a serial killer that the police have been tracking. Claire was the last person to see the victim and the police trap her in a merry-go-round of deception. Is Claire the suspect or is the husband the suspect or is someone else the suspect? Are these people really even police?

It's a fascinating story that gets into the mind of a young actor. The structure is like a play, with a story arc and even some dialogue, the kind of inner dialogue that Stanislavsky's actors are taught to use.

I recommend it highly.

Good, but not great. Perhaps I have had enough of predictable unreliable narrators. There is an oxymoron for you.

I was really looking forward to reading this book after reading The Girl Before by this author. I was sorely disappointed. A struggling actress Claire, takes a job with a divorce lawyer firm and sets out as a decoy to try and trap unsuspecting husbands who stray. She places herself in a bar and eventually the man she is tailing comes up to her. All seems to be going as planned until a wife of an unfaithful husbabd turns
up dead. Then Claire becomes embroiled in5 the murder while trying to solve it herself.
The story drags and then to make it even worse, poems are translated which doesy nothing for the plot. I couldn't wait to finish reading this. Hopefully the author will write again on the lines of The Girl Before as that was an outstanding book.

Having enjoyed JP Delaney's The Girl Before, I was eagerly awaiting reading Believe Me. The book hooked me pretty quick and I breezed through the first half but then once the book got to the third part, it took a strange turn for me and I just did not care for it at all! It took me about 2 days to read the first two parts and then I kept putting off reading part three because I just could not get into it anymore. Still, it ended up being a pretty good book and very interesting. I think some readers will enjoy part three and the little twists and turns that you don't see coming. For me, it was just a little too predictable!

A fast-paced thriller that I couldn’t put down. Interesting plot with lots of twists and turns. I enjoyed reading parts of the book as a play and felt that added to the theatrics of it all. The unreliable narrator made you uneasy and unsure of what was to come and made me finish the book in less than a day!

FANTASTIC. This thriller kept me guessing. The last section was more all over the place...but the ending wrapped things up beautifully. I LOVED the writing style of a movie script. The audiobook was also done beautifully. Highly recommend.

(1 1/2). I am getting a little tired of these psycho, twisty turny, strange relationship stories. Where the author does their best to conceal what is real and what is make believe. Conspiracies run rampant. Claire and Patrick make an interesting and strange pair, guided by of all things, Baudelaire; and we are taken deep into their world. I only wish the trip could have been a little more worthwhile.

3.4 - dark and twisty and fun - but didn't quite live up to the hype; I now understand that this was a better-edited version of a previously published novel, and I'm glad that the author took the time to do a re-write

A must read! I could not put this book down. If you like psychological thrillers this is a book for you. You think you know what it going on with the characters but you really don't The author takes you on a ride of twist and turns. . You don't know who to believe, who is lying and what really happened until the very end.

Very well done. This is the first book I have read of JP Delaney and I am looking forward to her other books.

Thank you NetGalley!

This one was a good, fast read that held interest. You were never quite sure who was "the good guy" and "bad guy" and it got way more confusing before it got clear. But things wrapped up smoothly at the end and all loose ends were tied up.

This story was a really interesting change from the typical books I read. The main character was so all over the place, it felt like there were twists inside of the twists.

I have read books by this author, and like the other, this did not disappoint.

A quick read that kept me hooked!

I received an ARC from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

In this twisty psychological thriller from the New York Timesbestselling author of The Girl Before, an actress plays both sides of a murder investigation.

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?

* * * * *

I have always been partial to psychological thrillers as they can cause me to question long held beliefs however I have always been able to decipher what is real and what isn't from the character's perspective. Not so with BELIEVE ME. Just as soon as I start to figure out just what is happening in Claire's life when the ground is swept away and I have to start questioning reality.

I actually found the beginning of this book to be a bit slow but it quickly picked up and I almost wished that things would slow down a bit so that I could figure out if anything that is happening is real or if I (or Claire) just dreamed it all. I was literally glued to my iPad as the tale continued as if I was going to miss something important as the ride continued.

I don't want to give away the story but I do want to highly recommend BELIEVE ME to anyone that enjoys a good thriller. This book will have you questioning everything that you read and think that you know. It does contain violence which can be graphic and some sex that isn't. Be sure to let me know what you think of this book. Did it baffle and intrigue you as much as it did me?

***I received this book for free from NetGalley in exchange for a fair and honest review. All opinions are my own and not influenced by the publisher or author.

Thank you to net galley, the publisher, and Author for this copy of Believe me.

A extremely twisty tail of Claire a struggling actress living in New York City. She lands a job acting as a decoy to catch cheating souses, when she gets caught up in a murder investigation.

It was so dark and twisty! I found myself asking is this really happening? I enjoyed the first half more the second (were I felt things started to get a little confusing for me). I will say this book was unpredictable, and that what I love about a good thriller. I thought none of characters felt relatable, but I felt like that was by design to not know who's good or bad or involved.