Believe Me by J.P. Delaney
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
An altogether compulsive book that should be used as a descriptor for ‘psychological thriller’.
Absorbing and captivating, Believe Me is a fast-paced thriller that I read quickly, barely able to acknowledge time passing me by. Part of this is because the protagonist, Claire, is so well written and intriguing, and part of it is that the structure is very linear, with few flashbacks to break the pacing.
I agree with other reviewers that the use of staging quotes (particularly at the beginning) was a little distracting – at first I actually thought the book simply had some formatting errors – but once I understood what was going on I just ignored them. The plot itself was so fast, engaging and compelling, the characters so richly complex and authentic, it really didn’t matter too much.
The book is narrated by Claire, a broke British actress desperate for a green card, who works to honey-trap men, tempting them to see if they’ll cheat on their wives. During one of these incidents, she meets Stella, but the following day Stella is found brutally murdered and Claire becomes caught up in the ensuing police investigation.
Claire was a very likeable character, despite being notoriously unreliable and erratic. I constantly wondered where the acting ended and the real character began, as well as questioned if she was telling us the whole truth about incidents that had happened.
Not a lot of descriptors here, although they’re not needed because you’re just swept along with the pace of the story and the epic twists that make you go ‘holy cow!’ A fast, easy read with a lot of rich complexity that definitely had me gripped until the last page.
Thank you to Netgalley for letting me read Believe Me by JP Delaney in exchange for my honest review.
