JP Delaney | BELIEVE ME

Plot (via Goodreads):

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?

Review:

Last year, JP Delaney's debut novel THE GIRL BEFORE was one of my favorite reads. I found his writing style completely immersive and well beyond what I had expected out of a debut author. A year later and I was thrilled to receive a copy of BELIEVE ME. This one didn't hit a home run as much as THE GIRL BEFORE with me, but there were so many things I really enjoyed about it. 

The plot to BELIEVE ME is intricate, unique, and something you can definitely sink your teeth into as a reader. I loved how it was broken up into three parts and each part really challenging Delaney's writing and taking the story to a completely different level. It was like reading a trilogy back to back. The characters were easily readable and three-dimensional. I didn't find any parts that were exceptionally unreasonable or veered too far from the plot. Now, I can't say much more to avoid spoiling anything, but I am going to kind of do a mini-breakdown of each part to give you more insight as to what worked for me and what didn't. 

Part 1 - I loved the beginning to this novel. It was unexpected, a bit complicated, and made me really interested and invested in the story from the minute I began. With a beginning that is a little confusing and really unique, I couldn't help but keep reading and felt like this was the perfect beginning to a great psychological thriller. This part was definitely fantastically paced and the story quickly went into a different direction than what I was expecting and I found myself enthralled with this plot.

Part 2 - Things really sped up pacing wise, and I got to meet some fantastic characters that I really felt took the story to a special place that amped up the suspense and kept me really intrigued. This was by far my favorite part of the story. There was introduction to something that I didn't care for that would be a larger part of the story later on, but the mention of a possible serial killer, the position our protagonist was put into, and the darkness that kind of embodied this part of the story was just addicting and extremely entertaining. The final chapter in this one had me looking like the shocked emoji.

Part 3 - In all honesty, this is where the mention of a certain poet/play in Part 2 had kind of taken the reigns of this story and it really took a turn for me that I didn't care for. While it was still suspenseful and I still felt invested in the story, I had wished that Part 2 was prolonged and this section of the novel wasn't what it was...if that makes sense. I want to keep this review as evasive as possible for any future readers, so I am just going to say that this is one of those times in a novel that a plot twist can come into effect that really put a damper on my experience in reading.

All in all, this one was a good read. It was a psychological suspense novel with a really great ending. Unfortunately a large portion of this one was not enjoyable for me and left me unsatisfied with the route the author took with this story. While Delaney is still an exceptional writer and I enjoyed the story, this novel just didn't lead up to my expectations. I would still recommend this read as it's unique and entertaining.

Special thanks to Ballantine Books for this copy in exchange for my honest review.

Rating: 3.5/5