Grady Green is a New York Times best selling author, he is on the phone to his wife when she finds someone lying in the road, she gets out to check and disappears. A year later, Grady goes to the Isle of Amberly to write a new book, whilst there he keeps seeing a woman who looks exactly like his missing wife.

This didn’t really get going until just over halfway though, I am glad I stuck at it just to find out what the hell was going on with the residents of the Island! I didn’t really care for any of them to be honest. The last couple of chapters were packed full of information & it was slightly confusing.

I have read a few of Alice Feeneys books, she is great at a plot twist but this just dragged on too much for me personally.

Here is the blurb "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."

This book was good at times and at others not so much? I enjoyed reading the book on the whole it had a good build up. However, the big reveal just didn't make sense to be honest and I found myself scratching my head a little. I was also unsure which characters I had empathy for, and found myself switching between characters. It was an ok read but found the ending a little disappointing.

Many thanks to Net Galley and Pan MacMillan for an ARC of this book in exchange for a review.
Alice Feeney is a master at delivering a twisty dark story, this is also a clever game of cat and mouse between husband and wife.
The story is set in a remote island of Scotland, Grady who is a best selling author, is going to be staying in a cabin which had belonged to a deceased writer, he is hoping that he will find his words again and be able to come up with a new bestseller, he hasn’t been able to write since his wife Abby mysteriously disappeared one year ago he has been wallowing in grief, unable to sleep and drinking too much.
The islanders welcome him but he finds them all a little odd, they are all women and there are no children.
Grady keeps seeing his missing wife, she is always wearing the red coat she had on when she disappeared, is she still alive, or is his lack of sleep making him doubt what is real?
Great descriptive writing giving the reader a real feel for the remote island, a few interesting characters which add to the twisty, suspenseful story which I finished in 2 sittings and highly recommend.
4.5 stars

First time reading this author and I really enjoyed this book!. It was suspenseful and a page turner. I couldn't decide whether it was really happening to him or he was loosing his mind and I loved the twist! Great book would recommend. 5 stars.

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.