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scribblesandstories 's review for:
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.