#BookReview of #BeautifulUgly by Alice Feeney

‘Wives think their husbands will change, but they don’t.
Husbands think their wives won’t change, but they do.‘
– Beautiful Ugly

[ About Beautiful Ugly ]

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

Grady calls his wife as she’s driving home to share some exciting news. He hears Abby slam on the brakes, get out of the car, then nothing. When he eventually finds her car by a 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.

[ My Review ]

Beautiful Ugly by Alice Feeney publishes January 30th with Pan Macmillan and is described as ‘a gripping and deliciously dark thriller about marriage . . . and revenge.‘ An Alice Feeney novel is always an anticipated one so I was delighted to be sent an advance copy in exchange for an honest review.

The cover is immediately eye-catching, drawing the reader in with its message of ‘READ ME’ in that split area in the centre where it cuts the island in half. Tempting and disturbing combine, enticing the reader to pick up a copy and discover what unfolds.

Grady Green is an author who has lost his writing mojo and is now struggling to make ends meet. But his mojo is not all that he has lost. His wife, Abby, went missing late one evening, never to return, presumed dead, kidnapped or having left him. Grady is destroyed. Losing his home and all his possessions he is now a mere husk of his former self, left lonely and unable to write. The night Abby disappeared he had received wonderful news but it was quickly overshadowed by the investigation which proved fruitless. Abby was gone.

A year later, Grady receives an unexpected reprieve, with an offer of a hideaway cabin on a remote Scottish island. Originally the residence of a former writer, Grady is delighted to accept. This could be his chance, this could be the opportunity he has been waiting for to get back on his feet. But Grady faces the biggest shock of his life when he sees a woman on the island that looks very like Abby. How could this be possible? Is he hallucinating? Has the sleep deprivation of the previous year finally caught up?

In the opening pages there is a handy map of The Isle of Amberly which gives clarity to the layout as the chapters reveal themselves, but the first thing you will notice are the names of the locations and streets. They are rather strange but intriguing, a little like the story that unfolds. Beautiful Ugly is most definitely centred around a bizarre plot but, if you are prepared to completely suspend belief (after all this is fiction) then you are in for a twisty and offbeat reading experience.

The use of a remote island as a character in the plot adds a very oppressive and atmospheric edge to the tale. Alice Feeney creates a real sense of claustrophobia with descriptions that are extremely vivid and almost tangible. As Grady attempts to get to grips with his new home, he is caught between desire and greed, composure and fear, and assurance and doubt. What is right and what is wrong become confusing as he navigates the people of this strange island.

Beautiful Ugly is littered with unpredictable revelations wrapped around an ever-evolving plot with multiple layers leading to quite a jaw-dropping conclusion. Although bizarre in so many ways, Beautiful Ugly is an unusually constructed tale that does encourage the reader to withhold belief and to just keep on reading. Twisty, suspense-filled and pure entertainment I recommend Beautiful Ugly to anyone looking to escape into an alternative and unusual world courtesy of the Queen of Twists Alice Feeney!

*Thank you to Laura Sherlock for my copy of Beautiful Ugly in exchange for my honest review.

[ Bio ]

Alice Feeney is a New York Times million-copy bestselling author. Her books have been translated into over thirty languages, and have been optioned for major screen adaptations. Including her novel Rock Paper Scissors, which is being made into a TV series by the producer of The Crown. Alice was a BBC journalist for fifteen years, and now lives in Devon with her family. Good Bad Girl is her sixth novel.

X ~ @alicewriterland