I usually love Alice Feeney's work, but Beautiful Ugly was just missing something for me, it started off in a dramatic way with the novelist Grady Green calling his wife whilst shes driving home and then she goes missing, fast forward a year and Grady's life has disintergrated, he can not write and he has lost his home, the story then starts morphing into a wicker man type vibe and this is where it started to loose me, there are some good surprises and see if you can find the hidden message with in the book.

What a brilliant thriller from the excellent Alice Feeney. Beautifully written, deftly plotted, with colourful characters and amazing twists, this novel is enthralling from the start. On the same day that author Grady gets on to the bestseller list, his wife disappears and his life spirals downwards. When he moves to a remote island, events get very strange indeed...

Woah Nelly…This thriller was a masterclass in building suspense. Each chapter deepened the mystery, leading to a finale that left me stunned what a book this was I cannot recommend it enough.

Wow what a book, I did not see that twist coming!

Incredibly hard to put down. Although there are 2 POVs in the book, it mainly focuses one POV and I loved Grady as the main character.

I even went back to read the first words of the first 14 chapters.... yes even this detail was included!

Can't say too much without spoilers, except you have to read this!

I have thoroughly enjoyed reading this book. It has a magical setting (for a while), The characters are well drawn and quite unusual. The story is so very well plotted with great detail.
A very unusual plot and setting and I loved it all. Especially the black labrador!
Great stuff. Brilliant read.

I adored Feeney’s writing in Daisy Darker, so I knew I needed to read more of her works. So happy I got to read the arc of her latest novel coming out in January, it was bloody brilliant. Same vibes that I got from Daisy Darker, the creepy, haunted vibes, combined with a thrilling story and incredible plot twists. You question everything as you go along, wondering what’s real and what’s not. And of course, my all time favourite when it comes to thrillers, an unreliable narrator. God, it’s just so good. It kind of makes you crazy whilst reading, because you don’t trust anything. But yeah, it’s a strong plot, with such weird and creepy characters, and an ending that will leave you reeling. It gave me strong vibes of both Yellowface and Gone Girl. Combine those two novels, set on a remote Scottish island, with creepy individuals that all wear the same silver ring, and only communicate with walkie-talkies… Highly recommend to all lovers of thriller books!

I really enjoy Alice Feeney’s writing, and I’ve read all of her novels. I think this one is now my favourite! This twisty new novel is guaranteed to keep you guessing right until the end.

Following his wife’s mysterious disappearance, author Grady Green loses everything. Unable to write, and desperate for solace, Grady takes up the offer taking refuge at a writer’s cabin on a remote island. But the island is strange and disorienting, and its inhabitants seem to have a whole range of secrets.

There are a whole host of strange and unsettling characters encountered by Grady as he tries to claw back his sense of self. Abby won’t leave his dreams, and when he begins to see her everywhere, Grady starts to question how much of his visions are due to his continuing insomnia.

With its grim beginning and the shift of setting to the mysterious island of Amberley, ‘Beautiful Ugly’ is much darker than Feeney’s previous novels. I loved it!

3.5 stars - Psychological thriller.

Author Grady is on the phone with his wife Abby, when she stops to help a person lying in the road. Abby never returns to the call and is declared missing. A period of time passes and Grady is not coping well, his agent and Abby's godmother, Kitty, sends him to a cabin she owns on the small island of Amberley for him to reset and try to overcome his writers block. Whilst Grady is there peculiar things start to happen.

I felt hooked from the start with this one, the first chapter when Abby goes missing draws you straight into the story. Although slow at times with mostly only Grady's perspective, I never once felt bored. The story gives us Abby's thoughts and feelings before her disappearance but these are few and far between.

I loved the setting of Amberley and the strange island residents - I was tense throughout thinking we had some sort of wicker man trope going and some parts genuinely creeped me out. However, as the twist was revealed, I was disappointed. I thought the reveal and ending was shocking but not all shock factors are good and I found this one very unrealistic and I thought really "insert eye roll"!

I've read the authors other work Daisy Darker (and loved) and I felt that one, although it could never happen in reality, was more convincing than this one.

Overall a great setting and interesting characters / plot but not a good ending in my personal view.

I have heard a lot of good things about Beautiful Ugly by Alice Feeny. I can see why it has recieved so much love. It is different to anything else I have read, and is tense and written with well paced suspense. Having said that, I struggled with most of the characters and didn't personally engage with the mysterious elements of the book. However, if you like domestic thrillers, unsettling, atmospheric and twisty reads with chilling locations, this is for you. While it wasn't really for me, i can totally get it's appeal.

4,5 stars

Wow! What did I just read?
For 80% of this novel, I felt like I was wandering through the same mysterious mist that envelops the protagonist—and I loved every disorienting moment of it. The twists and turns kept me utterly clueless until the jaw-dropping revelation at the end.

Let’s rewind to the beginning. Grady and Abby start out as your picture-perfect couple: he’s a bestselling author, and she’s an investigative reporter. Life is great… until the night Grady’s book hits the New York Times bestseller list and Abby vanishes. One moment, she’s stopping her car to help someone lying in the street; the next, she’s gone without a trace. A year later, grief-stricken and stuck, Grady accepts an invitation to retreat to a remote Scottish island to work on his next book. Sounds peaceful, right? Wrong.

This island isn’t just off the grid—it’s in another dimension of weird. No internet, no phone lines, sounds of children crying in the wind and a mist worthy of an old horror movie. Grady keeps seeing his wife everywhere, and if that’s not unsettling enough, random newspaper clippings of articles she wrote start appearing in his cottage.

As usual, Feeney plays us like a fiddle. From the first page, you know you’re being misled, but it’s impossible to resist trying to piece together the truth. Here’s my advice: don’t. Instead, let yourself get swept away by the intricately layered plot this master storyteller has crafted.

The ending is sure to spark debate, but I found it absolutely brilliant. Another home run for Feeney and easily one of the best thrillers I’ve read this year.

Thanks to @netgalley and @panmacmillian for my early copy.

Beautiful Ugly by Alice Feeney is set on the mysterious island of Amberly and revolves around the complex relationship between Abby and Grady. Married and then torn apart by Abby's mysterious disappearance, Grady, a writer, retreats to the remote Scottish Isle of Amberly to work on his next book at the behest of his editor, who is also Abby's godmother. This intriguing setup provides a rich backdrop for the story.

The vivid depiction of the island and its atmosphere is captivating, pulling readers into a world filled with secrets and suspense. The well-drawn characters, particularly Abby and Grady, start off as authentic and engaging. However, as the plot progresses with numerous twists and turns, the credibility of the story sometimes becomes challenging, which affected my overall enjoyment.

Despite this, the plot is undeniably well thought out and structured, keeping you invested until the end. The book’s strengths lie in its setting and initial character development, but my personal struggle with its plausibility kept it from being a higher-rated read.

Beautiful Ugly is novel with a lot to offer, particularly for readers who are looking for a good book about revenge!

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

Unsettling psychological revenge thriller with an unreliable narrator? Sounds like the perfect winter read.

On the night that anxious author Grady Green waits to find out if his latest book is a bestseller, his wife Abby disappears mysteriously. A year later, he travels to a remote Scottish island with only 25 inhabitants. Could one of them know what happened to his wife? And is it really her that he keeps seeing?

Thank you to netgalley and the publisher for my review copy. The story kept me gripped and the remote and hostile island was the perfect setting for Grady’s descent into madness (or is it?). There are a lot of Shutter Island, The Shining and Gone Girl vibes with this one and I really enjoyed the unsettled feeling throughout.

I loved the way that Alice Feeney cleverly introduces characters and facts about the island in such a subtle way; twists were on me before I even realised.

The ending - clever hidden message aside - did disappoint me a little; the big twist/reveal just seemed far too unlikely. But overall I enjoyed this thriller.

This is one of the few mystery thrillers I really enjoyed. It was very suspenseful; there are also some scenes that are so unsettling and weird. It gave me The Truman show vibes. The only thing that doesn’t allow me to give this book full 5 stars is the fact that we have an unreliable narrator, and a lot of plot and twists relay on that fact. But the scenery, the island, and the cute little map we have, are so precious, the atmosphere was top notch, I wish I could live there. It’s a solid mystery. I’ve never read from this author before, but I know she’s a famous name in the mystery thriller genre, this book proves this is quite deserved. The writing style is fast and swift, a cliché here and there, but I feel like this would be very good to listen to on audio. I couldn’t put it down and I’m actually surprised that I enjoyed it so much. 4.5 stars.
Thank you to NetGalley and Pan Macmillan for providing me with the ARC.

Alice Feeney has done it again! Beautiful Ugly is an absolutely unputdownable psychological thriller that blew my mind from start to finish. From the riveting first chapter to the unforgettable conclusion, this book had me hooked, questioning everything I thought I knew. Having loved Daisy Darker for its brilliance, I couldn’t wait to dive into Alice Feeney’s latest novel—and it exceeded every one of my high expectations!

The story opens with Grady Green, a writer waiting to hear if his latest novel has made the New York Times Bestseller list. His life should be perfect—but it’s anything but. When his wife Abby mysteriously vanishes after stopping to help a woman on the road home, Grady’s world is turned upside down. A year later, grief-stricken, broken, and unable to write, he’s offered a lifeline: a chance to work on the remote Scottish island of Amberley. But nothing on this isolated island is as it seems.

The atmospheric writing is exceptional. Feeney’s descriptions of Amberley make it feel like a character in its own right—moody, enigmatic, and eerily alive. I could almost hear the crash of the waves, feel the mist creeping in from the cliffs, and sense the crackle of the walkie-talkies as Grady delves deeper into the island’s mysteries. The isolation and silence are used so masterfully, with moments of calm shattered by tension-filled twists that left me breathless.

The island’s oddball residents are brilliantly crafted—unpredictable and unforgettable. Their strange behavior only adds to the sinister, off-kilter vibe that permeates the story. Is someone playing mind games with Grady? Or is it his grief, insomnia, and alcohol-clouded mind distorting reality? The line between what’s real and imagined is razor-thin, and I loved every second of trying to figure it out.

The stormy, windswept island of Amberley is the perfect backdrop for this unsettling, twisty tale. Every shadow, every crackle of static on a walkie-talkie, and every silence had me on edge as the lines between reality and illusion blurred for Grady—and for me as a reader.

Feeney’s trademark twists are jaw-dropping, and Beautiful Ugly delivers them in spades. The tension builds relentlessly, and the conclusion is nothing short of perfection—deliciously satisfying and thought-provoking.

This is more than just a thriller; it’s a masterclass in atmosphere and storytelling. If you love richly descriptive settings, unreliable narrators, and unpredictable twists, this book is for you. Feeney has once again proven why she’s the queen of unforgettable domestic thrillers.

Highly, highly recommend—don’t walk, RUN to grab your copy of Beautiful Ugly!

Well that was a verh good read! K always go by the not want to put done principle and this was one of them. An excellent and sometimes scary thriller with lovely twists. A must read!!!!#BeautifulUgly #NetGalley.

The premise if this thriller was good but it failed to live up to expectations for me. I felt it was a bit slow and repetitive until halfway through and I failed to like any of the characters, apart from Colombo the dog. The setting of a Scottish island was good but very unbelievable as regards to ferries and phone signal and the island residents. There was a twist in the story, but it left me with some unanswered questions and overall I found it quite a frustrating read. Thanks to Net Galley for my ARC.

A year on since his life fell apart, author Grady Green is still struggling. His wife has still never been found, he is now homeless and he is unable to write. In a last ditch attempt to save his career, he takes agent Kitty's advice to go to a remote island in the hope that the seclusion will kick start his creativity. But this island is anything but a peaceful, secluded retreat with lots of odd things going on and strange characters that live there, soon Grady is regretting his decision, but can he escape?

This was a creepy, twisty read with a very odd cast of characters! The unsettling atmosphere on the island was done really well and I recommend if you are in the mood for an atmospheric thriller.

A tense mystery which keeps you guessing throughout. I really enjoyed this one and couldn’t put it down. I did feel some bits dragged on a bit but there was still the underlying mystery.

Another twisty thriller from Alice Feeney.

The story follows Grady Green, an author, whose wife disappears the same night he achieves his greatest ambition. A year later Grady has lost everything - he cannot write, his wife is gone, his career has stalled and he's homeless. His agent, Kitty, comes to his rescue in the form of a cabin on a tiny island off the Scottish coast.

With the hope that with stability and peace will spur him on to write Grady jumps at the offer. But of course the island is not what it seems and neither are the inhabitants. And why does he keep seeing a woman who looks like his wife?

There were a few parts of this book that were a little too fantastical for me but they are few and far between and, on the whole, I enjoyed this twisty read. The characters are interesting and the atmosphere of the book feels oppressive throughout.

Recommended.

Thanks to Netgalley and Pan Macmillan for the advance review copy.

What an amazing read! The story is so atmospheric it actually gave me goosebumps and so many twists, it left me dizzy!
It was dark and scary at times and the islanders felt unfriendly and threatening. The depth of this unfriendliness and threat is shocking when all reasons are finally revealed. The very end left me shuddering. This book is one you have to read if you like something a bit darker.