Believe Me

A Novel

By: J. P. Delaney

Narrated by: Sally Scott, Matt Reeves, Lorelei King, John Chancer, Eric Meyers

Length: 9 hrs and 31 mins

Publisher's summary

In this twisty psychological thriller from the New York Times best-selling author of The Girl Before, an actress plays both sides of a murder investigation.

"A compelling read...redefines the concept of an unreliable narrator...[a] rich, nuanced, highly literary take on the Gone Girl theme." (Booklist)

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?

Read by Sally Scott, with Matt Reeves, Lorelei King, John Chancer, and Eric Meyers.

©2018 J. P. Delaney (P)2018 Random House Audio

Critic reviews

"A compelling read...redefines the concept of an unreliable narrator...[a] rich, nuanced, highly literary take on the Gone Girl theme." (Booklist, starred review)

"Fast-paced.... A solid pick from bestselling author [JP] Delaney for readers who enjoyed the paranoia factor in A.J. Finn’s The Woman in the Window or the unreliable narrator of Paula Hawkins’ The Girl on the Train. The domestic thriller trend is showing no signs of slowing. Buy accordingly." (Library Journal)

"An intense, stylish psychological thriller." (Good Housekeeping)

Wow, Wow, Wow!

I loved this book. This is a true psychological thriller. You think you know but then it turns and you’re taken in a different direction. I loved the narrator and the scenes with a movie-like quality. I haven’t heard that before in the books I’ve listened to. If you like a mystery this books for you. I couldn’t stop listening. I finished it in less than 2 days.

Definitely entertaining

And this is how it's done folks. Great literature, no, but great entertainment. This author was not lazy, we are kept engaged with one twist after another. The ending (no spoilers) is a bit of a fake crescendo, but that's OK.

Not terrible, but not great I thought.

In the beginning and for a lot of the book I was totally into this story. It was quite drawn out and I got so disgusted with the main character I was hoping it would end with her murder or something along those lines since she was supposedly fine with all that type of thing and I found her disgusting. One of those endings where the character gets what she deserves type thing. The twist in the end was good, but seemed abrupt to me and not satisfying like it should have been.

LOVED IT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I WANT MORE! :)

JP Delaney never disappoints. AWESOME Psychological Thriller that keeps you guessing to the very end. I LOVE THIS AUTHOR!! I def recommend this book for all psychological thriller fans. This is a good one for sure! Keeps your attention and extremely interesting and jaw dropping. LOVED IT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! CAN'T GET ENOUGH OF JP Delaney. WOWZA
FULL 5 STARTS ALL THE WAY************

Confusing

I liked the first ⅔ of the book....but confusing ending. Seems like some others had the same feeling. Overall, it was enjoyable.

Very Good, Yet Hard to Recommend

I’ve recommended The Girl Before Me a lot, yet I’d be more hesitant to recommend Believe Me. The plot is incredibly smart, lots of twists and turns. I thought I had it figured out, thought I was going to be proven right, ah, another turn. I hate spoilers, so I won’t give anything away. I might have liked this book better if I’d read it instead of listening to it. Many reviews liked the first part best, I didn’t. It felt incredibly like a screenplay. That might have been intentional, but on Audible, not good. To add to that feel, the sound effects were distracting (nice try though) which made it feel even more like a play, and part of the reason I didn’t care for the first half (sound effects flooded the first half). I LOVE the theater, but not so much when I want a book to transport me. I didn’t find the characters flat in the second half either. I found them twisty (not a typo). The narrator(s) were great, but interrupted by the sound effects. I was excited to see The Girl Before Me was going to become a movie. I don’t know if that fell through, or was put on the back burner. Is that why this book is ready to pick up and with precious little work required before a director says, “action?” Again, I think it’s clever, but I don’t want to read a screenplay. I want a novel and I think this book is a hybrid.

Wonderful narrator/directing

The story can seem a bit muddled at times, with characters that never reveal their own motivations for being a part of the book. But the artistry in which it was performed was great!!

Loved it!!

Took lots of twists and turns -really didn’t know how it was going to end

Excellent

Great performance, really well written with lots of twists and turns. Loved the style of recording.

What Just Happened!?!

I'm still not sure what is real, wow what a ride.
some of it is pretty gruesome.