She Treads Softly: Believe Me Now

Monday, May 19, 2025

Believe Me Now

Believe Me Now by S. M. Govett
6/10/25, 320 pages
Crooked Lane Books

Believe Me Now by S. M. Govett is a recommended investigative thriller that unfolds between dual narrators. The title is Believe in the UK.

Natalie Campbell experienced a traumatic event ten years ago and still struggles with PTSD and blackouts. She has coping strategies and routines to help her and she also relies on her husband Ryan. Then her life is shaken up when she begins to receive the same kinds of threatening letters she was sent years ago. Following this her husband is accused of the same crime that ruined her life and the accuser, Alice Lytton, is found dead.

DI Helen Stratton understands past trauma. Stratton joined the force to make a difference for lost or missing women after her sixteen-year-old sister disappeared years ago and the police didn't take it seriously. Now she's been on the force for years and assigned a new partner, DC Bradley. The two are assigned to the murder case of Alice.

Following the two very different points-of-view in alternating chapters works very well in this investigative thriller. Natalie is a very sympathetic character but with her blackouts readers also won't know if she is entirely a trustworthy one. Stratton is a bit of a prickly woman, but an observant and competent detective that you will trust.

There are plenty of suspects and the suspense is high throughout the fast-paced novel. I knew exactly who did it very early in the novel and all the twists and additional information didn't change my opinion, but they did add depth to the plot. Thanks to Crooked Lane Books for providing me with an advance reader's copy via NetGalley. My review is voluntary and expresses my honest opinion.

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John Updike's six rules for reviewing:

1. Try to understand what the author wished to do, and do not blame him for not achieving what he did not attempt.

2. Give him enough direct quotation--at least one extended passage--of the book's prose so the review's reader can form his own impression, can get his own taste.

3. Confirm your description of the book with quotation from the book, if only phrase-long, rather than proceeding by fuzzy precis.

4. Go easy on plot summary, and do not give away the ending.

5. If the book is judged deficient, cite a successful example along the same lines, from the author's oeuvre or elsewhere. Try to understand the failure. Sure it's his and not yours?

To these concrete five might be added a vaguer sixth, having to do with maintaining a chemical purity in the reaction between product and appraiser.....Review the book, not the reputation.... Better to praise and share than blame and ban. The communion between reviewer and his public is based upon the presumption of certain possible joys in reading, and all our discriminations should curve toward that end.