Book Review: Beautiful Ugly by Alice Feeney

 

Rating: 3.5⭐ 

(Audio Narration: 4.5⭐)

“Sometimes I think we are all the unreliable narrators of our own lives.”

One year after the mysterious disappearance of his wife Abby, author Grady Green is facing financial troubles and struggling with his writing career. Despite his last book being a NYT best seller. Consumed by grief for his missing wife, he is unable to write and his publishers aren’t happy. His agent, who was also his wife’s godmother, throws him a lifeline, offering him the use of a cabin on a Scottish island, previously owned by a successful writer, which she inherited upon his demise. But the remote island of Emberly, population of twenty-five, holds many secrets. From seeing a woman who bears an uncanny resemblance to his missing wife, to the eerie occurrences at his cabin and the strange behavior of the locals – Grady soon realizes that not all might not be at it appears on this isolated island and he is trapped. Is there any truth to what he is experiencing or is his mind playing tricks on him? Will he be able to figure out the truth behind his wife’s disappearance and escape before it's too late?

“Marriage is made of a million beautiful and ugly moments stitched together into a shared tapestry of memories, all of which are viewed and remembered slightly differently, like two people staring at the same painting from opposite ends of a room.”

With its vivid atmospheric setting, intriguing plot and interesting cast of characters Beautiful Ugly by Alice Feeney is an engaging psychological thriller. I enjoyed following the narrative, which is shared from dual perspectives, as it progressed and thought the author did a good job of building tension and at no point did the narrative lose its momentum. there is a lot to unravel and the author does a great job weaving the different threads of the plot into a well-paced, fluid narrative. You will be required to suspend disbelief (as is to be expected from novels in this genre), but the twists and turns and eerie occurrences will leave you unsettled (more than a few spine-chilling moments!) and keep you guessing. Though there were a few elements in the plot that didn't quite appeal to me and a few aspects of the mystery were not too difficult to predict, I was surprised by more than a few of the revelations along the way. I wasn’t particularly taken with the ending, but overall, I did find the story engaging. Though Beautiful Ugly won’t rank among my favorite Alice Feeney novels, I certainly enjoyed it more than her last two offerings.

I listened to the audiobook which I thoroughly enjoyed with the brilliant narration by Richard Armitage and Tuppence Middleton (9 hours and 19 mins at 1x speed) complete with sound effects that made for an atmospheric and immersive audio experience. The audiobook certainly enhanced my overall experience with this novel.

Many thanks to Macmillan Audio for the ALC via NetGalley. All opinions expressed in this review are my own.