Believe Me by J.P. Delaney
Expected publication: July 24th 2018 by Ballantine Books
352 Pages | Goodreads
Description: ❝In this twisty psychological thriller from the New York Times bestselling author of The Girl Before, an actress plays both sides of a murder investigation.
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?❞
MY RATING: ★★★★☆ (4/5)
This was a great thriller! Claire is a British actor living in NYC. To make ends meet she works for a law firm luring unsuspecting husbands into making her a sexual proposition, once she gets them on tape she walks away and gets the evidence into the attorneys or wives’ hands.
All is well until one day one of the wives shows up dead and Claire is enlisted by the authorities to get a confession out of the suspected husband. This novel was a very quick read, fast paced, and intriguing.
The story takes place in NYC and is narrated from Claire’s point of view. I found the characters complex, dark, and interesting. In some parts, the novel is written like a play which was very unique and original, fitting perfectly with Claire’s role as an actor.
Overall, I enjoyed the novel and recommend it to readers of thrillers, mysteries, and contemporary fiction.
I received and ARC from the publisher via Netgalley
