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3.6 AVERAGE
3.6 AVERAGE
Believe Me has a unique structure--short, punchy chapters (which I love) with stage/screenplay type interludes as Claire imagines herself on screen or stage in various situations. Looking through other reviews, people are mixed on the use of the screenplay bits but I really liked them. It was different and refreshing. I also enjoyed the connections made to Les Fleurs du Mal by Charles Baudelaire. There was a distubringly sexy under
I love a good unreliable narrator, especially one that's not an alcoholic. Ya'll know I'm funny about using alcohol/drugs to make a character untrustworthy with telling their own story. Claire is perfect--is she sane? Is she crazy? Is she really in love with a possible killer? Or is she faking it?
Believe Me kept me guessing right up until the end--and I didn't get the ending that I was expecting, which is definitely a good thing. Be sure to take this one with you to the beach this summer!
I received an advanced copy of this book in return of an honest review.
So why not 5 stars?
Two reasons:
1. It was a little slow about two third of the way in
2. I found the ending pretty far fetched
I'd still recommend this to any fan of a thriller. I was gripped! If you like an ITV or BBC drama (think Doctor Foster and Broadchurch) you'll love this!
With a title of "Believe Me", you can assume that your narrator may not be very trustworthy.
This novel was full of some twists and turns, but at 45% I would say that one main aspect of the story was predictable.
This was a very quick, engaging read that was difficult to put down. I wanted to figure out what happened/what would happen next.
This book was surprisingly addicting, I read it in only a few sittings and couldn’t quite figure out what exactly was going on in the novel. I loved Claire’s character and the characters that she plays all through the novel and I never really knew if Claire was someone who I could trust. I didn’t know if her narration was a bit skewed or if it was the entire truth, which made reading this book fun. I also didn’t know if I could trust Patrick or if he was in on this murder or just trying to catch the murderer. I loved the short chapters and how the narration was written in certain chapters because it made reading it faster and more interesting.
I couldn’t believe some of the twists that came up in this book and in almost everyone part of this book there was a small twist that I didn’t see coming. I am a big fan of many twists and even better when you don’t see them coming. I really wasn’t sure what to expect going into this novel because I didn’t read too much about it before going in and that allowed me to really get into the book without having any ideas and that made it much more interesting. I adored the ending and I think it was the best way to end the book!
Does anyone else feel completely refreshed and renewed when they pick up a book and finish it in 24 hours or less? Good, I'm glad to know it's not just me. I had to wait forEEEEEEEVVVVER for this one to come in at the library because I'm starting to review fewer books as arcs to accommodate our busier schedule as a family, and this was one I really wanted to take on initially, but just couldn't fit into the schedule. Can we all give a round of applause for the wonderful libraries across the globe and the wonderful people who work at them? It was 100% worth the wait, and it seems the forces that be knew exactly when I would need to pick this one up. Quite frequently I find myself craving a good trashy novel (I mean that as the highest compliment, truly), and this wacky, wonderfully suspenseful story was deliciously wicked in all the right ways.
I feel I need to state right off the bat that I can understand why this book doesn't work for everyone. It is indeed very bizarre, unrealistic, and filled with despicable characters. It's truly hard to sympathize with ANYONE in the book, but that wasn't a feature I was taking into concern while reading Believe Me. When I say this book was wackadoodle, what I mean is that there aren't any words in the english language that can do justice to just how over the top this tale was. For me as a reader, and what I was searching for to fill my reading tank at the moment, it ticked all the right boxes.
I hate to really say anything about the plot, because it is complex and ever changing throughout, but also because you really want to go in blind to be surprised at all the right places. Beware reader, you may receive major whiplash from all the twists and turns, but it was precisely this aspect that kept the pages turning so quickly. Even though I trusted no one in this story (TRUST NO ONE I SAY!!!), I found myself unable to look away from the train wreck of a cast that put most soap opera storylines to shame. If you enjoy racy, compulsive, and fantastical thrillers, this one is for you. It's the perfect read when you're needing something to blow through in a very short time period.
Claire was such an interesting character. I could picture all the acting classes, exercises, her facial expressions vividly in my mind. And the flirting scenes through poetry? Loved it! The theatrical elements, loved it! Loved everything about the story, plot, setting, pacing.
After [b:The Girl Before|28016509|The Girl Before|J.P. Delaney|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1485972587l/28016509._SY75_.jpg|48027180], I was a bit worried I wouldn't like this as much (Author's second book syndrome, except in this case, this wasn't 'really' J.P. Delaney's second book, as he had been published many times under different pen names before). But I shouldn't have been worried.
I hereby declare that I have found a new favourite Author...
This was a twisty tale that had me mistrusting and second guessing everyone and everything I was told. Thrillers aren't a genre I go for often, so when I do I expect them to be different and keep me guessing. Believe Me certainly delivered on that, and kept me hooked until I found out the truth. I flew through it pretty quickly, and the few times I felt a lull in the plot, a twist quickly came along to pull me back in.
This book starts out feeling like a very predictable thriller. Aside from coming from the perspective of an actress, which I felt was new, we have a murdered wife, a suspect husband, and the burly detective who's attracted to the female investigator - in this case, our actress, Claire. But the surprises start coming when the undercover investigation begins, and I soon got wrapped up in the story. There's also some interesting formatting, as Claire often imagines her life as a film, leading to scenes written out like a script.
In psychological thrillers like this I usually rely on the character to feed revelations to me, but with our main character Claire being such an erratic and paranoid person I found it hard to trust what she said. Having an unreliable narrator made it quite interesting trying to follow the truth, and I was left feeling like the only way to get real answers would be to finish the book. I was right - the twists keep coming right up until the end. Despite this, I felt like after everything the book went back to the same predictable points I had initially spotted.
While I enjoyed the plot, I found myself annoyed by a few things - namely the characters. I thought they were all pretty one-dimensional; Claire was a neurotic, attention-seeking actress, her handler Kathryn was bitchy and work-obsessed, and then you had Henry and Frank, a typical ex-cop and typical detective. Claire was probably the most annoying of all - she says several eye roll-inducing things, the worst of all being "I'm not like other people. I'm just not."
Despite the issues I had, this book was fast-paced, interesting, and kept me guessing the whole way through. It's a quick easy read, and a good way to spend an afternoon.
ARC provided by Quercus Books via NetGalley.