Sleek, stylish and sophisticated, and that’s just the cover!
Trust me. Love me. Just don’t believe me…
Claire Wright likes to play other people.
A British drama student, in New York without a green card, Claire takes the only job she can get: working for a firm of divorce lawyers, posing as an easy pick-up in hotel bars to entrap straying husbands.
When one of her targets becomes the subject of a murder investigation, the police ask Claire to use her acting skills to help lure their suspect into a confession. But right from the start, she has doubts about the part she’s being asked to play. Is Patrick Fogler really a killer . . . Or the only decent husband she’s ever met? And is there more to this set-up than she’s being told?
And that’s when Claire realises she’s playing the deadliest role of her life . . .
Believe Me is a dark tale, seductive and twisted in its telling. I flew through this novel in about 4 hours, it was such an addictive read.
The brilliance of this novel was the art of its deception, Claire is an actress and she really is playing the deadliest role of her life; and it’s so hard to read her character, where does the actress end and Claire begin, are they separate or one entity. Due to these blurred lines you never really get to know Claire, and that’s why this novel works so well – it’s got this mysterious aura you can’t quite grasp and so you struggle to predict the direction of the plot. This novel would also appeal to fans of the unreliable narrator, I love the extremes Delaney goes to, this novel destroys the boundaries of believability, but I didn’t care because I was thoroughly entertained!
I enjoyed the mix of narration styles used in this novel, telling small parts in script form was very fitting as Claire is an actress. I must admit, the small amounts of poetry that featured was completely lost on me, because I didn’t understand it at all. But I got the sexy, yet sinister, tones it added to the overall feel of the novel.
If you enjoyed Delaney’s previous novel, The Girl Before, you’ll enjoy this one too – that same shocking deceitfulness is present in this novel too. There’s something so fresh about the way Delaney writes, he toys with darker, sinister emotions/actions, but it’s done through clean, smooth prose, and this contrast works really well, which it why you’ll see this novel describes as sleek and sophisticated. Believe Me is full of suspense, very well-written, sleek in delivery, dark in nature, a psychological thriller I highly recommend.
This book is available to buy from: Amazon UK / Book Depository
I was recently sent a copy of this book from the publisher as well, and your review makes me all the more excited to read it! I actually got The Girl Before from the library because while I think I borrowed it when it was released last year I never actually read it.
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I hope you enjoy Believe Me, and it’s worth re-borrowing The Girl Before, I actually enjoyed it slightly more than this one.
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I have actually, today in fact! Which do you think I should read first?
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The Girl Before 😊
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The Girl Before chilled me so I might have to look this one up too, that seems so contradictory somehow!
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Lol, I did slightly prefer The Girl Before to this one, but this one is still brilliant and so worth the read.
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This is such a wonderful and beautifully written review Janel! 🖤
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Awh, thank you, Danielle ❤️
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Fabulous review! I love this book as well and the poetry flew right over my head also, I had no idea he was an actual poet, LOL😂😍
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I’m glad I wasn’t the only one that didn’t quite get the poetry 😂
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Fab review I can’t wait to start my NetGalley copy!
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Thank you 🙂
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Fantastic review, Janel! What a great book for a readathon! You are absolutely right about the author taking on darker themes in a fresh, original way. I can’t wait for his next one!
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Thanks Jennifer. I looked it up, his next book, The Perfect Wife, is scheduled for release early next year!
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Oh, that’s awesome, Janel! Not too far off!
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Fabulous review..it makes me want to reread it!! I’m so glad you enjoyed it!! I was thinking about you reading it all weekend and hoping you would!! 🙂
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It was brilliant, I’m excited for his next book, The Perfect Wife coming early next year!
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Fab review! I love the sound of this one.
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Thank you, I highly recommend it!
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I’m reading this one now and now i see what you meant with the script format.
I found it quite distracting in the beginning. Now i’m at 20% and i’m getting used to it 😀
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Are you reading an ecopy or physical. Sometimes I find formatting of ebooks takes more time to settle into.
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Ebook
Some of the formatting i think must not be final. Like mix of upper/lower case stuff. It’s just weird. Also no line break between some sentences where they switch speakers.
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