“I was consumed by this book. It’s her best ever, a work of genius.”
—Lisa Jewell, #1 bestselling author
“Alice Feeney is one of my favorite thriller writers and this is her best book yet. Highly addictive and beautifully written. Read Beautiful Ugly right now and thank me later.”
—Harlan Coben, #1 bestselling author
“Feeney is known for pulling jaw-dropping surprises on her readers. . . The book branches into unexpected directions on multiple fronts. . . just go with it.”
—New York Times Book Review
“Alice Feeney is back with another magnetic and jaw-dropping thriller. With a dreamlike quality and atmosphere that is off the charts, Beautiful Ugly takes readers into a world that is charming on the surface, but with danger, hatred and revenge lurking just beneath. Both witty and terrifying; I couldn't put it down!”
—Mary Kubica, bestselling author
“Wicked, wild, sinister and shocking. Alice Feeney rips up the rule book yet again. Beautiful Ugly is unpredictable and unforgettable.”
—Chris Whitaker, bestselling author
“A riveting, hypnotic thriller that begs to be read in one sitting. Beautiful Ugly is Alice Feeney at her twisty, unpredictable best!”
—Amy Tintera, bestselling author
“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)
“The book’s slow unfolding of dread, mystery, and then truth is both creative and well-paced. . . Deeply satisfying.”
—Kirkus
“Feeney pens another superb domestic psychological thriller with plenty of twists, as her readers have come to expect.”
—Library Journal
“Alice Feeney’s thrillers are always such a fun time, filled with well-earned twists and surprises. And Beautiful Ugly might just be her best one yet.”
—BookRiot
“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
12/13/2024
Eager to give his wife, Abby, the exciting news that he's just made the New York Times bestseller list, Grady Green calls her while she's driving. She tells him she sees a woman lying in the road; he urges her to stay in the car, but she does not heed his warning. The police later find Abby's car with the door open and her phone on the seat, but no one is inside. As the days and weeks pile up, Grady is no longer able to write, such is his grief and worry over his missing wife. Then Grady's literary agent, a longtime friend of the couple, suggests he visit her cabin on a Scottish island. It's remote, beautiful, and a good place to recover and write again. The island is idyllic, the cabin quaint, but Grady keeps seeing Abby's ghost. The longer he stays, the more foreboding it becomes. VERDICT Feeney (Rock Paper Scissors) pens another superb domestic psychological thriller with plenty of twists, as her readers have come to expect. Demand will be high.—Cynthia Price
2024-10-10
Following the mysterious disappearance of his wife, a struggling London novelist journeys to a remote Scottish island to try to get his mojo back—but all, of course, is not what it seems.
Grady Green hits the pinnacle of his publishing career on the same night that his life goes off the rails—first his book lands on theNew York Times bestseller list, and then his wife, Abby, goes missing on her way home. A year later, Grady is a mere shadow of his former self: out of money and out of ideas. So, when his agent, Abby’s godmother, suggests that he spend some time on the Isle of Amberly, in a log cabin left to her by one of her writers, it seems as good a plan as any. With free housing for himself and his dog and a beautiful, distraction-free environment, maybe he can finally complete the next novel. But from the very beginning, Grady’s experiences with Amberly seem weird, if not downright ominous: As a visitor, he’s not allowed to bring his car onto the island; the local businesses are only open for a few hours at a time; and there are no birds. At all. Not to mention the skeletal hand he finds buried under the floorboards of the cabin, the creepy harmonica music in the woods, and the occasional sighting of a woman in a red coat who’s a dead ringer for Abby. As Grady falls deeper and deeper into insomnia and alcoholism, he begins to realize his being on the island is no accident—and that should make him very afraid. Through occasional chapters from before Abby’s disappearance, told from her point of view, we learn that Grady is not necessarily a reliable narrator, and the 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.
“Nasty little fellows…always get their comeuppance,” a movie character once said. Deeply satisfying.
