Alice Feeney – Beautiful Ugly

The million-copy bestselling Queen of Twists Alice Feeney returns with a gripping and deliciously dark thriller about marriage. . .
. . . and revenge.

Author Grady Green is having the worst best day of his life.

Grady calls his wife to share some exciting news as she is driving home. He hears Abby slam on the brakes, get out of the car, then nothing. When he eventually finds her car by the cliff edge the headlights are on, the driver door is open, her phone is still there. . . but his wife has disappeared.

A year later, Grady is still overcome with grief and desperate to know what happened to Abby. He can’t sleep, and he can’t write, so he travels to a tiny Scottish island to try to get his life back on track. Then he sees the impossible – a woman who looks exactly like his missing wife.

Wives think their husbands will change but they don’t.
Husbands think their wives won’t change but they do.

Book Info: 320 Pages. Publication date: 14 Jan 2025.

My Thoughts:

I absolutely LOVE Alice Feeney’s books and have read every single one of them since she first published Sometimes I Lie in March 2017. Each and every one of her books including Rock Paper Scissors, I Know Who You Are, His and Hers, Good Bad Girl and my favourite Daisy Darker has left me reeling, confused, gob-smacked and thoroughly entertained. When I saw she has a new book out next year I was absolutely THRILLED and delighted to get an advanced copy to read and when the wonderful LISA JEWELL gave it her royal seal of approval I knew I had to put it to the top of my reading pile immediately.

If you have read any of Alice’s previous books then you know that you are in for a wild ride and that NOTHING is ever as it seems and NO-ONE is ever who they claim to be and Beautiful Ugly is no exception.

Grady Green is our main character. He’s a famous, best-selling author and devoted husband to Abby. Whilst waiting to hear if his latest book is a New York bestseller he is on the phone to Abby who is driving home to celebrate when she stops the car suddenly and then disappears.

Twelve months later Grady is still grieving the loss of his true love. He’s lost his home, is financially ruined and unable to write the book his publishers have been waiting for. When his agent offers him a life-line to spend a few months on a tiny Scottish island to try to write a book and get his life back on track he has no alternative but to take it.

However when he gets to this remote little island, his world is rocked when he thinks he sees Abby. Is he losing his mind? Are the residents of this small community strange? Is something weird going on? What secrets are they hiding and why?

This book is chilling, atmospheric, spooky, weird, messed up, clever, gripping, sinister, full of twists and kept me guessing throughout.

Cleverly plotted Beautiful Ugly tells the two sides of the story from both Grady and Abby and as we know from Alice’s previous books, there is always her side, his side and then the truth. Don’t believe what you read, question everything you think you know and enjoy this book which will completely mess with your head.

Rating: 5 out of 5.