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3.6 AVERAGE
3.6 AVERAGE
This. Book.
First of all, it’s two books tied together with a piece of sewing thread. It took forever to get through. It was fun to listen to, I’ll give it that. It’s done very well. But oh my lord.
Spoilers!!
It’s Patrick after all. She’s playing him the whole time. It’s completely unbelievable and the second part and end are just too much.
Also, there is no medication for histrionic personality disorder.
Each book in it was not bad but together it was a hot mess.
First of all, it’s two books tied together with a piece of sewing thread. It took forever to get through. It was fun to listen to, I’ll give it that. It’s done very well. But oh my lord.
Spoilers!!
It’s Patrick after all. She’s playing him the whole time. It’s completely unbelievable and the second part and end are just too much.
Also, there is no medication for histrionic personality disorder.
Each book in it was not bad but together it was a hot mess.
This review can also be found here!
DNF at 31%
Thanks to Netgalley for the advanced copy in exchange for an honest review!
Another DNF for the month! And another one that was an ARC. It’s not like I meant to do this, tbh. I just ended up here, not enjoying it, and wanting a way out.
The book is, apparently, about a woman — and I can’t remember her name, plus I’m too lazy to look it up — who wants to be an actress but can’t. So she works for a private investigator to get men to show interest in cheating on their wives who have these suspicions already. She videos the men, then they buy the videos to use as evidence.
She gets a case that isn’t so easy to crack, then the wife turns up murdered. And, as usual, the husband gets suspicion turned on him.
Obviously, it’s not good if I can’t remember the main character’s name. She was memorable… kind of. It felt like she was written by a man. While men can write great female characters, I don’t think that Delaney captured her. She felt like a cardboard cut-out, along with all the other side female characters.
Perhaps it would have gotten better if I had stuck with it, but that comes to my second, and main, point:
I couldn’t suspend my disbelief.
Really. I couldn’t get my head around the story and what they were getting this random woman to do. The divorce stuff, I could believe. I could see that since I know it happens with catfishing. Men make choices that they don’t think will effect them, then it comes back it was all a rouse.
But, after that, it got ridiculous. I remember thinking, “Wow. I don’t think I can suspend my disbelief to this point, but I’ll give it a little longer.” A little bit later, I knew I was right. I simply couldn’t believe the story Delaney was trying to spin.
I don’t want to say exactly what since it’s, kind of, spoilers. (Although the description of the book covers 30% of the book.)
This thriller would be great for someone who can suspend their disbelief, but I just couldn’t. Not my type of book.
DNF at 31%
Thanks to Netgalley for the advanced copy in exchange for an honest review!
TW: death and cheating
Another DNF for the month! And another one that was an ARC. It’s not like I meant to do this, tbh. I just ended up here, not enjoying it, and wanting a way out.
The book is, apparently, about a woman — and I can’t remember her name, plus I’m too lazy to look it up — who wants to be an actress but can’t. So she works for a private investigator to get men to show interest in cheating on their wives who have these suspicions already. She videos the men, then they buy the videos to use as evidence.
She gets a case that isn’t so easy to crack, then the wife turns up murdered. And, as usual, the husband gets suspicion turned on him.
Obviously, it’s not good if I can’t remember the main character’s name. She was memorable… kind of. It felt like she was written by a man. While men can write great female characters, I don’t think that Delaney captured her. She felt like a cardboard cut-out, along with all the other side female characters.
Perhaps it would have gotten better if I had stuck with it, but that comes to my second, and main, point:
I couldn’t suspend my disbelief.
Really. I couldn’t get my head around the story and what they were getting this random woman to do. The divorce stuff, I could believe. I could see that since I know it happens with catfishing. Men make choices that they don’t think will effect them, then it comes back it was all a rouse.
But, after that, it got ridiculous. I remember thinking, “Wow. I don’t think I can suspend my disbelief to this point, but I’ll give it a little longer.” A little bit later, I knew I was right. I simply couldn’t believe the story Delaney was trying to spin.
I don’t want to say exactly what since it’s, kind of, spoilers. (Although the description of the book covers 30% of the book.)
This thriller would be great for someone who can suspend their disbelief, but I just couldn’t. Not my type of book.
I was so excited to receive this Galley. I loved the last JP Delaney book and was thrilled for another opportunity to get lost in one of their tales. Delaney weaves story that leaves you guessing all the way through. I found myself so many times assuming I knew where the story was headed only to be shocked by yet another twist. Believe Me is one of those books that leaves you unsure of whether or not you have a reliable narrator, which personally I love. I'm looking forward to a 2nd read through because I KNOW I will catch things I didn't the first time.
Lots of twists, and left me saying “What?!?” Until the end.
Costco. Costco always sucks you in and lets you leave with things you didn’t really need. For me that was another book, Believe Me.
We meet our protagonist Claire, a struggling actor who has made her way to America from Great Britian. She is here in not the greatest of legal terms, so her work is fairly limited. To make ends meet she ends up taking a job with a firm of divorce lawyers and she goes out and acts as an interested woman to see if the husbands will cheat. Let’s make it clear, she never acts beyond meeting them in a public place.
Everything is going ok for Claire until the woman of her last decoy attempt is murdered in her hotel room. Claire immediately becomes a suspect. After several grueling hours she is set free and ends up working with the police to try and frame her husband. She goes through psychological testing and training to catch who Dr. Latham, a forensic psychologist, calls a serial killer. We go through the months of Claire of getting close to a possible killer, trying to draw out a confession, if at all.
I felt this book was written from the get go with the ending in mind. It felt rushed and the ending was quick in climatic action and then just ended. The book kept my interest but the writing in the middle of the book fell flat to me. Granted, I did not see the ending coming, it did surprise me, however, it felt very far fetched and just happened. Again, it felt like the twist ending was planned before the beginning and middle of the book.
The book is also written in a screenplay-type format too. It was a little weird at first but I guess since Claire is an actress, it fits the bill.
I am giving Believe Me a 3-star rating. This was also a re-release, it was originally published in 2002 with the title The Decoy by Tony Strong. If someone lends you this book go ahead and read it, you’ll be entertained. If you have something else on your to be read list, read that first. Have you read this book? What are your thoughts? I felt this book had a lot of hype around it that I just didn’t see. At least I managed to be surprised with the ending!
We meet our protagonist Claire, a struggling actor who has made her way to America from Great Britian. She is here in not the greatest of legal terms, so her work is fairly limited. To make ends meet she ends up taking a job with a firm of divorce lawyers and she goes out and acts as an interested woman to see if the husbands will cheat. Let’s make it clear, she never acts beyond meeting them in a public place.
Everything is going ok for Claire until the woman of her last decoy attempt is murdered in her hotel room. Claire immediately becomes a suspect. After several grueling hours she is set free and ends up working with the police to try and frame her husband. She goes through psychological testing and training to catch who Dr. Latham, a forensic psychologist, calls a serial killer. We go through the months of Claire of getting close to a possible killer, trying to draw out a confession, if at all.
I felt this book was written from the get go with the ending in mind. It felt rushed and the ending was quick in climatic action and then just ended. The book kept my interest but the writing in the middle of the book fell flat to me. Granted, I did not see the ending coming, it did surprise me, however, it felt very far fetched and just happened. Again, it felt like the twist ending was planned before the beginning and middle of the book.
The book is also written in a screenplay-type format too. It was a little weird at first but I guess since Claire is an actress, it fits the bill.
I am giving Believe Me a 3-star rating. This was also a re-release, it was originally published in 2002 with the title The Decoy by Tony Strong. If someone lends you this book go ahead and read it, you’ll be entertained. If you have something else on your to be read list, read that first. Have you read this book? What are your thoughts? I felt this book had a lot of hype around it that I just didn’t see. At least I managed to be surprised with the ending!
This rating is probs a big harsh cause I did really enjoy it, but like it was just not as good as her debut and I found that I had no clear picture of any character throughout the book. It all seemed a bit shallow and like I was waiting for something more that never came. It’s so enjoyable and I did binge it but overall not amazing.
Last year’s breakout author was, undoubtedly, JP Delaney, an anonymous pseudonym, with hit bestseller, The Girl Before. I personally couldn’t get into it, although I may go back and revisit it now that I’ve read Believe Me. However, I’m a firm believer in giving authors a second chance (and even third or fourth chances – sometimes, I never learn) and I really liked the premise of Believe Me, even more so when I realised a lot of it was script scenes, pretty much meaning this would be a fairly quick read regardless of whether I liked it or not. I’m pleased to say, this was actually a brilliant read.
I think what I liked about Believe Me is that I actually never knew where the plot was going – Claire is a very, very good actress and I couldn’t tell what was faked and what was real and so for a lot of the novel I wasn’t sure in the slightest of what was going on; even more so when the whole Patrick situation begins. Claire isn’t necessarily unreliable – if anything, I wanted to believe everything she was saying and I really liked her narration, but I just felt unsettled the entire time I was reading. I wasn’t sure, in the slightest, who had killed Patrick’s wife. Was it Claire? Patrick? A third party? It was so hard to pick either one because both had their times where I thought it was them and both had their times where I was sure they were both innocent.
I do wonder how believable the novel is as a whole – I mean, when you get to the end it’s a bit like WTF just happened, is that real kinda thing? But I cannot deny it was entertaining, I was thoroughly into this book throughout, the whole thing was crackers but a really entertaining crackers. It’s actually a re-write of an older novel of Delaney’s (published as Tony Strong) but you can see that the plot is so clever and unique. I gobbled it up.
I really loved Believe Me. The premise was unique and intriguing and the narrative and structure of the novel kept me hooked throughout. I really liked Claire, even if I didn’t trust her 100% and the ending was just spectacular. I thoroughly recommend this book and I can’t wait to go back and give The Girl Before another go because if it’s even slightly like Believe Me, it’s going to be amazing.
I think what I liked about Believe Me is that I actually never knew where the plot was going – Claire is a very, very good actress and I couldn’t tell what was faked and what was real and so for a lot of the novel I wasn’t sure in the slightest of what was going on; even more so when the whole Patrick situation begins. Claire isn’t necessarily unreliable – if anything, I wanted to believe everything she was saying and I really liked her narration, but I just felt unsettled the entire time I was reading. I wasn’t sure, in the slightest, who had killed Patrick’s wife. Was it Claire? Patrick? A third party? It was so hard to pick either one because both had their times where I thought it was them and both had their times where I was sure they were both innocent.
I do wonder how believable the novel is as a whole – I mean, when you get to the end it’s a bit like WTF just happened, is that real kinda thing? But I cannot deny it was entertaining, I was thoroughly into this book throughout, the whole thing was crackers but a really entertaining crackers. It’s actually a re-write of an older novel of Delaney’s (published as Tony Strong) but you can see that the plot is so clever and unique. I gobbled it up.
I really loved Believe Me. The premise was unique and intriguing and the narrative and structure of the novel kept me hooked throughout. I really liked Claire, even if I didn’t trust her 100% and the ending was just spectacular. I thoroughly recommend this book and I can’t wait to go back and give The Girl Before another go because if it’s even slightly like Believe Me, it’s going to be amazing.
This book started out so good...and then kinda got boring. It picked up again towards the end but about 40-70% i was pushing myself to read it.
I just think it’s funny how male authors write these women in thrillers. Like... women aren’t this dumb or this evil and y’all need to start writing them in ways that are interesting because without that I’m gonna keep hating your “thrillers”