Believe Me: The twisty and addictive thriller from bestselling author of The Girl Before

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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? This book not only reminded me in tone of his last book, but had a very similar vibe to it...basically, a SOMEwhat twisted family drama...with heavy emphasis on 'what if this happened to YOUR family'. There's nothing wrong with this in theory, and several other authors have written compelling stories that fit this mold, if you will. I guess what is mind-boggling to me with Delaney is that he was so GOOD at writing the other type of story that I'm not really why he made such a dramatic shift in subject matter and feel. Anyways enough about me let's talk about what the TS thought. They really enjoyed this fast-paced entertaining story that took them on a wild ride through a coulee passing by me and my other sister while we sat grumpily by. They really were having way more fun than we were. They really liked the way the story was written in the form of a script and that really added to the story here with our main character Claire who was an actress. They thought Claire was an interesting character and enjoyed many things about her that I can’t say because you need to find out by reading it.

I recommend this one to readers who are looking for a fast-paced interesting and unique story that you will need to suspend one’s disbelief to really enjoy this story. 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. This is an excellent read and will be a bookclub treasure as there are a lot of breathless discussions to have. I vacillated in my feelings about this book. At times, I found it totally unbelievable. But I found myself appreciating Claire’s observations, especially relating everything to acting. The writing isn’t overly dramatic. But a few good turns of phrase to paint a complete picture. “Only Kathryn is as full of restless energy as ever, a terrier eager for the kill.” Let me start this off by saying: NOTHIN' BUT NET Delaney, this redefined an unputdownable SLAM-FREAKING-DUNK of a book. This grabs the readers attention right out of the gate and doesn't let you go until literally, the last sentence. I am a marionette and Delaney was pulling my strings from the first sentence to the last.The book also features poetry by Charles Baudelaire, a French poet known for his controversial volume of poems, Les Fleurs du mal (The Flowers of Evil). The serial killer is thought to be re-enacting the perverted scenes from the poems. I didn’t enjoy the poems and skimmed most of them. The last third or so of the book took a slightly weird and unexpected turn. Suddenly the book has a bit more action in it but it seemed a bit out of place considering it felt more like a family drama before. With the exception of “The Girl Before” (the Goodreads Choice Award nominee for Mystery and Thriller in 2017 which was NOT a winner for me) J.P. Delaney has delivered mostly 4 and 5 star books. She gets involved in a very convoluted manner with a professor who is totally into an erotic dead poet's works and it is this professor that Claire needs to ferret out. Along the way there are some pretty intriguing plot twists and everything about both Claire and the professor becomes murky and quite dark. Opps, forgot to mention that the professor's wife was murdered.....

A compelling read . . . redefines the concept of an unreliable narrator . . . [a] rich, nuanced, highly literary take on the Gone Girl theme.” — Booklist (starred review) A deliciously dark thriller set amongst the bright lights of New York from the bestselling author of The Girl Before . A Sunday Times Book of the Month. The temperature starts to rise in more ways than one when one of her clients is found murdered in one of the hotel rooms on the same night Claire met up with her hubby. This is where the twisted show of cat and mouse really begins. When I say twisted, I am talking.... tangled, distorted and disturbing! Singer Susie Jukes gets a social media message from a 15-year-old girl who believes she may be her mother and the P.S. breaks her heart as the teenager says she is desperately unhappy. Could this be Sky, now called Anna, who’s Susie gave up for adoption? They meet, Susie hears Anna’s story but there’s always two sides and as we know some teenagers… fill in as you see fit!And it’s cleverly and creatively written with Delaney interjecting scenes as if on stage during certain conversations and situations. In reality it’s a way of telling readers exactly what happens… until we’re offered a couple of different versions of the murder itself! 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. Ok. J.P. Delaney will be another author who isn't for me. I didn't like his other book, The Girl Before, either, and this one is no exception. Throughout the book, we follow this main character who I immensely disliked; she was so dramatic and over the top. Even though that may have been intended and purposeful, it was just not good. The main character is an aspiring actress who is supposed to 'act' / infiltrate this role to catch a 'killer'. A really interesting concept. And the book also provides several scenes as if you were reading from a movie script, another really cool concept. And that was probably the only good thing it had going for it. With his last, Playing Nice, I almost wouldn't classify the book as a psychological thriller at all, but rather a bit of social commentary on the medical system, legal system etc. (I go into this more in my Playing Nice review: here.) I figured this was more of a one-off, where he had an intriguing idea and was more interested in exploring an interesting 'what-if' scenario rather than writing a twisty and exciting thriller.