Believe Me: The twisty and addictive thriller from bestselling author of The Girl Before

Product Information

She finds a job which will pay her cash. She works as a decoy, hired to entrap cheating spouses on tape. There are rules that need to be followed, the spouse withe the wandering eye needs to proposition her, and she needs to get it all on tape. Then one day, the wife of a suspected cheater is found murdered. The police believe her husband is to blame and have Claire help them get his confession. 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. 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.

They were some good twists, although a lot were pretty OTT. I enjoyed the first half more, as the second half was somewhat unbelievable. There was a family dog, and I’m happy to report he was not harmed during this novel, to spare you worrying. My Darling Daughter did touch on some serious issues regarding teenage angst, abuse of power, toxic masculinity, fertility issues, and mental illness, but the content wasn’t explicit, and was handled sensitively. This is a walk on the Wild Side. It's an unfocused trip banging into walls down a dark, dark corridor. No flashlight, and certainly, no light at the end of this tunnel. Just pure adrenaline pumping.

This novel is mostly set in the theater world and our main character, Claire, is a young actress trying to make a living in NYC and eager to do anything to pay her rent. I think Claire is one of my most favorite unreliable narrators in recent memory. She's not a drunk or a sociopath or is she? We never know because she is ALWAYS acting. How CLEVER is that? I do appreciate that the author IS trying to educate us on some very REAL issues that both adoptive parents and adoptive children face-but this fictional account which sheds light on many of them (maybe too many of them?) missed the mark for me. I vacillated in my feelings about this book. At times, I found it totally unbelievable. But I found myself appreciating Claire’s observations, especially relating everything to acting. The writing isn’t overly dramatic. But a few good turns of phrase to paint a complete picture. “Only Kathryn is as full of restless energy as ever, a terrier eager for the kill.” Believe me, I wasn’t believing anything here. (I took this idea from Debra) We are Traveling Sisters we can do that. lol

Well, I specialize in the music business. Up in Seattle. We like to think we’re a little more exciting than your average criminal attorney. How about you? I completed this as a Traveling Sisters group read and what a true and fun joy it was! Thank you ladies for such an enjoyable read and so many fun discussions! This would easily fit well into any book club out there!

For readers who enjoyed the paranoia factor in A. J. Finn’s The Woman in the Window or the unreliable narrator of Paula Hawkins’s The Girl on the Train.” — Library Journal