Book Summary and Reviews of Beautiful Ugly by Alice Feeney

Beautiful Ugly by Alice Feeney

Beautiful Ugly

A Novel

by Alice Feeney

  • Critics' Consensus (6):
  • Readers' Rating (1):
  • Published:
  • Jan 2025, 320 pages
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About this book

Book Summary

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.

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Reviews

Media Reviews

"This may be Feeney's most delightfully chilling thriller yet... Feeney mixes gothic atmosphere on a remote Scottish island; not one, but two possibly unreliable narrators; a woman who may or may not be dead; and a plot that delivers suspense like an IV drip... A completely immersive puzzle." ―Booklist (starred review)

"Feeney pens another superb domestic psychological thriller with plenty of twists, as her readers have come to expect." ―Library Journal

"[T]he book's slow unfolding of dread, mystery, and then truth is both creative and well-paced. Every chapter heading is an oxymoron, like the title, reminding us of the contradictions at the heart of every story...Deeply satisfying." —Kirkus Reviews

"Be prepared to put your life on hold when you start this novel because there is a new twist on pretty much every page. Will you believe the husband or the wife's story? As with every marriage, the truth is pretty murky right up to the very end. This is immersive and addictive storytelling." ―Araminta Hall, bestselling author of One of the Good Guys

"When I started reading Beautiful Ugly I was not prepared to feel such joy in the writing, yet such terror in the story. A missing wife, a tortured couple and a lonely writer banished to a mysterious Scottish island, this exquisite novel is a relationship drama, a darkly twisting thriller and an examination of the fine line between isolation and loneliness. Alice Feeney has created a masterpiece, a riveting read, immaculately written." ―Janice Hallett, bestselling author

"I'm a huge fan of Alice Feeney and Beautiful Ugly is an atmospheric gem of a thriller, weaving an unpredictable and clever plot that will keep you guessing until the very end. Brilliant and chilling, with an inspired setting, characters that jump off the page, and twists to give you whiplash. I loved every word." ―Claire Douglas, bestselling author

This information about Beautiful Ugly was first featured in "The BookBrowse Review" - BookBrowse's membership magazine, and in our weekly "Publishing This Week" newsletter. Publication information is for the USA, and (unless stated otherwise) represents the first print edition. The reviews are necessarily limited to those that were available to us ahead of publication. If you are the publisher or author and feel that they do not properly reflect the range of media opinion now available, send us a message with the mainstream reviews that you would like to see added.

Any "Author Information" displayed below reflects the author's biography at the time this particular book was published.

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Author Information

Alice Feeney Author Biography

Photo courtesy of the author

Alice Feeney is the New York Times bestselling author of Sometimes I Lie, I Know Who You Are, His & Hers, and Rock Paper Scissors. Her novels have been translated into over twenty-five languages and have been optioned for major screen adaptations. Alice was a BBC journalist for fifteen years and now lives in the Devon countryside with her family.

Author Interview

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