A guessing game from the first page until the very end. Claire embarks on a relationship with Patrick as a part of a police sting operation that takes so many turns that the reader is hanging on. Believe Me, I could not put this down and I will be recommending this to every fan of psychological thrillers. It will leave you asking, what girl on the train?

Holy moly. This started just a bit slow for me, but by a quarter or so in, I was completely hooked. All of the way until the last page I was wondering what would happen next and "whodunnit." Twisty, dark and suspenseful.

This book made me think and left me feeling. Claire is amazing. You need to read this book. I voluntarily read an advanced reader copy and am thrilled to have been honored with it. #BelieveMe #NetGalley

After I finished The Girl Before I instantly checked to see what else this author had done. When I saw a new book coming out I was incredibly excited and I'm glad to say it did not disappoint.

Claire Wright is a struggling actress in New York who will do anything to make her dreams a reality, but unfortunately, reality is the problem. With crippling debt and green card issues, finding work and making any money seems impossible. So when she's offered the chance to make some quick cash, she jumps at the opportunity - but soon seems swept into a murder investigation and in for the role of her life.

This physiological thriller kept me entertained and turning the page obsessively. I could NOT put it down and had to see what insane thing was going to happen next. With a slew of untrustworthy characters and a perfect mystery - it left me guessing literally until the final chapter.

The writing style had me a little thrown at first (kind of a script format at times) but I got used to it fast and loved it. There was a lot of insight into the world of acting I had otherwise been blind and I found it incredibly interesting. The whole thing was well done and fast paced.

Once again I find myself eagerly looking forward to the next book.

This was a great book! I enjoyed this author's first book and this one was just as good! Would love more books by this author..

J.P. Delaney is back with another riveting psychological thriller that is sure to keep you on the edge of your seat. Believe Me follows Claire Wright, a young British woman living in America who aspires to be an actor. When we meet Claire, she is struggling financially. She doesn’t have a green card which makes it difficult to find legitimate employment. She ends up working on the sly for a team of divorce lawyers, where she uses her acting talents to entrap cheating husbands and obtain video evidence for their wives.

Everything changes in Claire’s life, however, when one of the wives she is trying to obtain evidence of cheating for turns up dead. Believing that the woman’s husband is the murderer and that his wife might not be his only target, law enforcement officers approach Claire about using her talents to try to lure the husband into a confession. With the promise of a green card and a lot of cash dangled in front of her, Claire agrees.

Claire is a brilliant actor, but will she be able to help law enforcement catch the killer or will she end up in over her head? All I can say is buckle up and prepare for a wild ride!

Believe Me is one of those novels that I feel like I can’t say much about because I don’t want to give anything away, so I’m just going to mention a couple of quick highlights that I really enjoyed.

It probably seems weird to start off talking about the structure of a novel, but I have to admit this was my favorite part about Believe Me. The main character Claire, who as I’ve mentioned is an aspiring actor, often goes through life imaging incidents in her life as if they are scenes from a script. Since we are watching the events of the story unfold from Claire’s perspective, Delaney actually weaves together a tale that is mostly straight narrative, but which occasionally has little bits of script incorporated in as well to mimic how Claire imagines certain scenes playing out, complete with stage directions and dialogue she has scripted out in her head. At first, I worried that the script bits might seem a little gimmicky, but in the end, they really worked well for me.

Aside from the unique structure, I also enjoyed that the plot was filled with suspenseful twists and turns that kept me guessing from start to finish. The twists were such that it oftentimes made it hard to distinguish between what was real and what was fake in terms of Claire’s role in the murder investigation as well as what exactly was going on with the husband. I tried to predict what direction the story was taking a few times along the way but was so wrong each time that I finally decided to just settle in and enjoy the wild ride Delaney was taking me on. The fact that his writing flows so smoothly makes it easy to do that and just trust that the ride is going to be worth it in the end.

The main issue I had with Believe Me was that I just never really felt a connection to Claire. Because she played so many different roles throughout the course of the novel, I never felt like I knew who the real Claire was. Whenever she said something about herself, I took it with a grain of salt because I was never convinced she was being honest. While that kind of personality was helpful in terms of maintaining the novel’s premise of not knowing what was real and what was fake, it left me feeling very detached from Claire. Even when she was potentially in danger, I found that I didn’t really care. I wanted to know what was going to happen, of course, but it wasn’t a case where I was worried for her well being at all. If I had been able to better connect with Claire, this would have easily been a 4 star read for me.

There’s so much more I would love to say about Believe Me, but because I don’t want to spoil the mystery, I’m just going to say that I’d highly recommend this book to anyone who enjoys riveting psychological thrillers and to fans of Delaney’s last book, The Girl Before. If you enjoyed that one, I think you would also enjoy Believe Me.

Read the 1st book from this author. Couldn’t wait for this one, and I was not disappointed with it.Great book. Kept me guessing to the very. Going to recommend this for my book club. Should be one great discussion.

Claire Wright is working her side job of entrapping cheating husbands for a law firm while going to acting school. Her job turns dangerous when one of the wives is found dead and she was the last person to see her. The victims husband, who Claire was trying to entrap, but failed, is also a suspect. They are both investigated by the police. When Claire is asked to go under cover to get a confession from Patrick, the victims husband, the cat and mouse game begins.

This story is full of twists and turns that keep the reader guessing. Just when you think you have it figured out, things change again. A very riveting read that doesn't disappoint.

Let's twist again like we did last summer. When is a twist merely a bend in the story? When a twist is twisted, does it become linear? Thrillers tend to thrive on twists (say that five times ... fast!), but it cannot be what they survive on. Believe Me is perfectly readable and enjoyable, but when the story hinges on one big reveal it can be a bit of a letdown. I liked Delaney's previous novel The Girl Before better than this one because the reader didn't feel like he/she was being led into a hall of mirrors and asked to choose the real image. Did this book keep me guessing? Well, yes, but when the payoff twist just seems like a half turn, you may feel like the fellow on the queue who gets to the front just as the ticket window closes. Believe me, that can suck.

What did I just read! I loved J.P. Delaney’s first book The Girl Before and was excited to receive an ARC of Believe Me from Netgalley. This book was so entertaining. If you like unreliable narrators, this one’s for you. Much like the characters, I didn’t know who to trust! 😂 It has a unique format - parts of the book read like a screenplay. I think it’d make an excellent movie!
⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
And that ending!! Believe Me came out on Tuesday. Add it to your list!
⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
Read below if you’d like the book description...
⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
“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?”
⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️💫

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.

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.

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.