I was given an advanced copy of this title in exchange for an honest review. This book was so very well written. It captivated me the entire time!

When I read the description for this book I was intrigued with the premise. Claire is a British actress who is unable to get work in England for reasons made apparent pretty early in the book. She is also unable to work legally in the US because she doesn't have a green card. So, to make ends meet, she works for a PI company as a "honey trapper" where she attempts to make cheating men hit on her while she secretly records their interactions to give to their suspecting partners. When one of the women she was hired by is found dead, in a very gruesome manner, she becomes a suspect, but not the prime suspect. As you might have guessed that honor belongs to the husband, who just so happened to resist Claire's trap and walk away from her that same night. The police decide to use Claire and her acting talents to continue the trap, but this time for murder not adultery.

The story progresses quickly, mainly focusing on the case as it is unfolding, but is interspersed with Claire in an acting class, which is the reason she is in the US to begin with, and her own "thoughts". Her thoughts are presented to the readers as if she were writing her own screenplay and while I understand why the author chose to present them in this way, so that you could see that Claire becomes very deep into character while she is acting, I don't think I liked it so much. Something it does well is present the reader with doubt about the truthfulness of the narrator, but I think she was fairly unreliable without it.

My biggest problem with the book was that there was a lot going on, I mean A LOT. Without going into too many details, I think that the initial plot of the book was essentially lost with everything else going on. The ending, when the murder is finally solved, came after so much other "story" that it was, in my opinion, kind of a throwaway. There was of course a twist at the end of the book and I think that was more intriguing, not much but more, than the actual solving of the murder and since I was intrigued by the initial murder plot, I was disappointed.

Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC of this book.

I really liked this book from the very beginning. With all the twists and turns it keeps you reading and trying to guess what’s going to happen next . Overall I would definitely recommend this book and this author to others . A good author that can keep me reading into the night is a keeper in my book.

I loved this book! I read "The Girl Before" and enjoyed it, but "Believe Me" kept me on the edge of my seat. I would love to see a sequel to it. The story had many twists and turns and kept you guessing as to who the real bad guy was the entire time. I did not figure it before it was revealed in the book, which is rare for me. I would highly recommend this to anyone that likes a good thriller!

I like JP Delaney's writing and creativity. The first book I read by him, I was so engrossed and needed to know how it was going to end. Love that feeling when I'm reading. This book was just as good.

good book full of suspense and plot turn would recommend to other reader great new author would read more form the author

Claire Wright, escaped from Britain to New York City, but her secret no one knows. At the moment she is pursuing a career in acting. Claire has been working with a retired cop, Henry. Henry has now become a private investigator for a law firm, who catches adulterers. Claire uses her acting skills to catch these adulterers on tape, after they solicit sexual favors from her. The monies she makes working with Henry goes towards her acting lessons, and living expenses. The next job that Claire has accepted is to persuade a college professor to make a move on her. The wife, Stella Fogler, wants Claire to see if her husband, Patrick Fogler, will submit to her charms. However, Professor Fogler, doesn’t react in the way that she thought he would. He basically rebuffs her. She sees a book he has even reading, Les Fleurs du Mal by Charles Baudelaire. She expresses interest and reads part of a poem to him. He’s impressed and leaves the book with her. She reports back to the wife, but the wife believes that they have scared him off, and that he knows what they were attempting to do. Little did they all know, that they next day, Stella Fogler would be found dead by hotel staff. When Claire was approached by the FBI to help flush out a murderer, she wasn’t too thrilled. Especially since they knew that she was in the United States illegally. She had no choice but to help them, or she would be sent back to London. The FBI had the Professor in their sights, and start to groom Claire to get the Professor admit on tape that he killed his wife. What a true psychological thriller this was. Just when the reader thinks that they have it all figured out, the plot turns in another direction. Will Claire be able to find out who the murderer is? Is it the Professor? What’s the motive for the murder? What are the dark secrets that have been hidden? The plot was genius and the character development was superb! I truly enjoyed this book. It kept me totally enthralled until the very end.

JP Delaney had me hooked from the first paragraph of Believe Me, which was like watching a game of cat & mouse in my head as I read. Just when you think you know who’s playing which role another twist will have second guessing right up until the very end.

Thank you for providing me with an arc via NetGalley

For a woman who’s mastered the art of manipulation, how difficult could it be to tempt a killer into a trap?
The premise is interesting enough and the min character is super likeable and doesn’t hold back. There won’t be any screaming at the pages as you wish she’d do something different. The beginning got me hooked the middle got me confused and the ending I thought to be wrapped up a bit too quickly but it gets dark, twisty and an overall enjoyable experience. Some parts are written like a script and this may turn some people off. It gets dark but everything flows so nicely it’s an enjoyable read. I also love when a write gives insight to their process at the end. Glad this was reworked and tried again

I really loved the first book I read by the author, The Girl Before and I had high hopes when I read the synopsis for Believe Me. I do have to say, I am was slightly disappointed by this book for a variety of reasons. I certainly enjoy the author's writing and character development. The synopsis sounded very intriguing, almost like a cat and mouse type game and Claire's character and circumstances seemed new and interesting. I had a hard tie connecting with Claire's character which then made me not very invested in the book itself. There are certainly lots of twists and turns and the story is very well written. I also wasn't a huge fan of the parts of the book that were written like a script, which of course goes along with Claire basically being an actress. I have a hard time reading anything that reads like a play or script. Overall I just was a bit underwhelmed by this book, but because I loved The Girl Before, I did go into this book with very high expectations.

The author does note that this book was written before The Girl Before, so to me that means that the author's writing and story telling evolved before writing The Girl Before. I do think a lot of people will really enjoy this book and I may possibly be the unpopular opinion on this book. I do look forward to reading more from the author in the future.

Thank you to the publisher, Penguin Random House, for sending me an ARC of this book.

This book kept me on my toes. The constant questioning of which story to believe was quite the adventure, I could never tell who was acting and who wasn't! The premise is so interesting and the style of the novel was not something I usually go for. I almost did not continue once I started reading the acting sequences, but knowing how much I loved this author, I carried on. I'm glad I did because once I got into the rhythm of the writing, I could not put the book down.

This author is great at weaving a story line that you just can't guess where it's going. Some of the subject matter was a little rough for me but the characters were interesting enough that I just kept going.

No sophomore slump here! Delaneys second book is a psychological whirlwind that will keep you guessing until the very end. Compulsively readable and difficult to put down. Claire is a struggling actress who is hired by the police to get a murder confession from a possible psychopath. Lots of twists and turns you will not see coming. Fantastic book.

Wow! When I began this book, I was thinking 3 stars, but by the time I finished it, it so captured my attention that it ended up being 5 stars for me! I did average my final rating to 4 stars, but really I did like it so much by the end that a 5-star rating could fit well for me, because of how well everything evolved and wrapped up.

This book will NOT be for everyone. Warning: The subject matter is very dark and twisted, dealing with sexual deviance and murder. These things aren't always dwelt on or described in major depth, but they are a large part of the plot of this book, so there are descriptions of gruesome photographs and murders and the sexual fantasies/actions, as well as the intense psychological game that is being played with your mind throughout the book, along with strong language at times.

Everything is told from Claire's point of view, in first person narrative, as well as at times being in the form of a script. I struggled to understand the flow of that at first, but by the end of the book it fit with what was going on and it made sense. At first I thought it was just because Claire was so involved with trying to become an actress, but as the ending unfolded, it fit with so much more, in retrospect.

There are times where you're not sure who Claire is or if you believe her or Patrick or anyone else Claire interacts with. The twists came out of nowhere for me, and I didn't anticipate anything that happened in this book; it just kept surprising me. Trust is a big issue with the characters' interactions, and I wondered often if I could trust Claire. So much that is a mystery about Claire (mainly her youth in England spent in foster care) isn't revealed until late in the book, but as the bits and pieces come to light, more of the big picture is revealed, about Claire's past and her present and her relationship with Patrick, while still overall being unresolved and a mystery until the very end.

This line from the book accurately describes so many different layers of this story: "Sometimes when you wear a mask too long, you find it sticks to the skin."

The poems (mainly from <i>Les Fleur du Mal</i> or "The Flowers of Evil") and life of Charles Baudelaire are intricately woven throughout this book, playing a huge role in the plot, the characters' actions, the characters themselves, and the darkness of the story. The excerpts from Baudelaire's poems are beautiful in their prose yet eerie in what they portray (Baudelaire's deepest, darkest desires in his relationship with the two women he loves, one a woman of society and one a mixed-race prostitute). The author uses Baudelaire's words and background and translates them into modern times, sometimes so intertwined with the characters, that I also wondered at the reality Claire was experiencing in relationship to the poems. I'm not sure if what the author portrays as Baudelaire's deep, dark desires is accurate or his literary license, but he intertwines it with such depth into the story that's it's believable.

At one point, there is mention of a statue in Musee D'Orsay in Paris that relates to Apollonie, Baudelaire's Venus Blanche, which I actually got to see years ago but had no idea what it was about, so that was a personal connection I was interested to discover (when I can relate to a book in the setting, the architecture, the art, or whatever, it helps pull me in even more).

The intensity of this book was unlike any other I've read for a long time. I was drawn into Claire's world, wondering what was real and what was imagined and what the heck was really going on! I read it in 3 days. The chapters are short, and I probably could have read it in 1 day, it had me so drawn into it.

I'm just going to be blunt - this book was a mess.

I was hesitant going into it, as I had previously read J.P. Delaney's first book The Girl Before and hadn't enjoyed it very much. After finishing Believe Me I now know for certain that I won't be picking up any future publications by Delaney.

I'm not even certain how to review this book because having finished it, I can't tell you honestly what it is about. Ostensibly, I guess, it's about an actress that goes undercover in a police sting to try to find out who murdered a woman. But...that was maybe 5% of the book actually? It's also about a 17th century French poet and his super off-putting book of poems, it's about a play, it's about two people who are unbelievable, laughably terrible characters falling in love (or DO they?!?!), it's about a psychiatric hospital, it's about the Dark Web, it's about acting and acting classes, it's about sexual fetishes, it's about EVERYTHING AND NOTHING all at once.

Once again this "psychological thriller" felt the need for BIG PLOT TWISTS and they came so frequently here that it was absolutely ridiculous. Look, the chapters are short (which makes for very easy reading) but every other chapter there was a big reveal! Someone did a thing you didn't think they did! Someone else turns out to be lying! Ugh, who cares. When you throw that many twists into a book it just is lazy writing. You're saying a lot without actually saying anything. The characters are never fully realized because I don't think the author even knows who they are. Plot and development are sacrificed for novelty and it wore really thin before I even got to Part Two of this book (and there are THREE parts).

I also found it to be extremely grating how the author would randomly break into writing in a 'screenplay' style. Halfway through a chapter suddenly there would be stage directions and dialogue plugged in that was made to look like it came straight out of a script. And I GET IT the main character is an actress, but it was a novelty for the sake of being a novelty and it didn't actually add anything beneficial to the way the story was told.

I struggled to finish this and I can't in good conscience recommend it to anyone.

I received this ARC as a courtesy from NetGalley & the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

Delaney has a way of captivating his readers from beginning to end. This book was no exception. The twists and turn had me guessing throughout the book. The characters were riveting and fully developed. However, the ending made me realized I've seen a similar story with a similar ending. Looking back the twists and turns as well as the ending remind of the movie Shutter Island.

Review: BELIEVE ME by JP Delaney 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟Five stars! An awesome twisty,turning thriller that makes you wonder what is real and what is acting. Can the truth and make believe meld together to become reality?

An entertaining read from start to finish. I had a hard time putting it down to do things. It had two different endings and both were crazy. The main character's acting was so convincing I had no idea she wasn't a sociopath. This was my second J.P. Delaney book and I was expecting to be disappointed but this was anything but that. Gripping from start to finish! I will highly recommend this to my thriller friends.

JP Delaney's "Believe Me" had me endlessly second-guessing who was the criminal. Claire is a young British actress who moves to New York to escape a scandal and finds herself unable to work legally. She takes cash jobs with a law firm trapping cheating spouses until one of the clients ends up murdered. Patrick is the husband of a client who didn't fall for Claire's trap but is now suspected of killing his wife. The police enlist Claire's help by hiring her to form a relationship with Patrick in an effort to get him to implicate himself.

Claire's character is one that really makes the reader question the truth. Throughout the story, I suspected both Patrick and Claire more than once, along with a few other characters. And the author is really good at feeding into the idea of Claire's paranoia and need for approval. Some of the formatting was distracting after a while. The author set up some chapters like scenes in a play. At first, I liked it since the story is supposed to be from Claire's point of view and she prides herself on her ability to immerse herself in a role, but it was inconsistent and became a distraction after a while. Also, the story was not ALWAYS from Claire's perspective. "Turning my back to the camera, I walk away. Downstairs, Frank exhaled slowly." If it's really Claire's POV, she would not be able to comment on what Frank did downstairs.

I won't give away the ending, but I gave 4 stars instead of 5 because I found it a little bit implausible. All in all, though, I recommend picking this up when it's available in July 2018. Thanks to Netgalley for the free review copy.

JP Delaney has another interesting title. I enjoyed the concept of a struggling, but talented actor agreeing to participate in a sting to catch a suspected (and in plain sight) serial murderer. However, what I liked in particular was the folie a deux angle: agreeing to act for money and slight intrigue, but gradually losing oneself in the character being played.