This book started so well. I settled down for a good read and it certainly kept me enthralled for many hours. This is the first of Alice Feeney’s books I have read and even though I wasn’t bowled over by this particular book, I will definitely try some of her others. Her writing style is really engaging and I enjoyed the mystery created around the residents of Amberley.

Ok, so what didn’t work for me and why only two stars? Well, the first half of the book was great - I was fascinated by the characters and wanted to find out what happened to them, but the last part - the reveal- lacked credibility for me. I just didn’t believe it. The well-publicised twist felt forced and was just too bizarre. However, this book has some terrific reviews so I would certainly recommend it as it may work for you.

I love Alice Feeney's books. They're great psychological, domestic thrillers with a twisty twist at the end. You could say Alice is the queen of the twisty twist. She has outdone herself with this one.
On the day he discovers he is a New York Times bestselling author, Grady Green's wife, Abby, disappears. One year later, Abby is still missing, and Grady has been unable to write another book. His agent offers him the use of a cabin she owns on a remote island off the coast of Scotland. With his dog, Columbo, for company, Grady sets off for the island of Amberley.
Cue strange goings on that Grady attributes to his insomnia.
I'm not going to give away any more of the plot, except to say that all is not as it seems on the island.

Beautiful Ugly is compulsive reading. It's edge-of-your-seat stuff, and when that final twist comes it takes you by surprise. Nope, didn't see that one coming. 👀
Thanks to Pan Macmillan and Netgalley for the digital ARC.

I've enjoyed other books by this author but this one didn't gel for me. I'm a literal person and the description of the island didn't work for me. I've been to Scottish islands. They are windswept and bare. Few trees and definitely not forests. A village of 25 people would not be able to sustain a butcher, a baker, a shop and a pub - they would likely be one enterprise, But more likely a community business. There wouldn't be picket fences, there would be stone walls. Things like that made it unbelievable for me. It all got a little weird and I lost interest at the half way point.

I really enjoyed this. The plot was interesting and I loved the way it played out towards the end. I wasn't prepared for the revelation but it made sense.
I enjoyed getting to know the community's characters. Maybe more could've been made of them, particularly as they're so important.
A deliciously dark and ominous novel.

Really loved the atmosphere of this book and the way you don't know what's real. Page turner for sure

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for providing me with an ARC of this book.

Beautiful Ugly is my first Alice Feeney novel, and while it kept me reading, I didn’t find it as gripping as I’d hoped. The story follows Grady Green, a writer whose life falls apart after his wife, Abby, mysteriously disappears. It all begins when Grady calls Abby to share exciting news, but instead hears her car screech to a halt and then nothing. When he finds her car abandoned at a cliff’s edge, the mystery deepens, and a year later, still searching for answers, Grady travels to a remote Scottish island hoping to move on. But when he sees a woman who looks just like Abby, his world is thrown into further chaos.

Feeney does a great job creating a vivid, almost suffocating atmosphere on the island. The isolation of the setting adds to the suspense, and the strange behaviour of the villagers only adds to the intrigue. The twists in the plot were unexpected, but I did feel that some parts of the story, especially around Abby’s disappearance, were a bit too far-fetched to feel entirely believable. It made it hard for me to fully buy into the mystery.

The two main characters, Grady and Abby, are unreliable narrators, but I found both of them hard to connect with. Grady felt a bit flat and uninspiring, while Abby seemed underdeveloped. Their strained, often selfish relationship made it tough to really care about their emotional journey, although I understand this was meant to highlight the darker themes of change and dissatisfaction within relationships.

There are feminist themes woven through the narrative, which I appreciated, but they did feel a little overemphasised towards the end, almost as if the story was trying too hard to make a point.

All in all, Beautiful Ugly was an easy, fast-paced read that kept me turning pages, but it didn’t quite hit the mark for me. With its eerie setting and some surprising twists, it’s still a solid pick for fans of psychological thrillers. However, I couldn’t help but feel that the characters could’ve been more compelling, and the plot could have been a bit more grounded.

I have just finished this book and oh my goodness it is a page turner from the beginning! It's the perfect book for lovers of thrillers. The chapters are short, which I like and there are lots of twists that catch you off guard. It is an interesting story and I wonder if there is any truth to it! I am adding Alice to my list of favourite authors! Definitely worth the read, a five star book in my opinion and will enjoy reading her other books too.

This thriller grips you from the very first page and keeps you guessing until the end, it takes a compelling dive into the complexities of human relationships and the dark secrets we keep.

The book centers around Abby and Grady, whose seemingly perfect lives begin to unravel when a dark past and hidden truths start to come to light. Each character has their own twisted motives and secrets, and they unravel in a way that feels both chilling and deeply real, the storyline is psychologically intense and emotionally haunting.

What makes this book particularly engaging is that it explores themes of beauty and ugliness, not just in a physical sense but within the soul. It challenges you to question what is truly beautiful and what is ugly in our lives, relationships, and society. The writing is sharp and thought-provoking, with Alice’s signature twists and turns.

If you enjoy psychological thrillers that delve into the darker sides of human nature, this one will keep you on the edge of your seat and lingering on every word. It’s an absolute must-read!!!

𝙩𝙧𝙤𝙥𝙚𝙨 :
• psychological thriller
• dark family secrets
• twisted relationships
• the duality of beauty and ugliness

𝙧𝙖𝙩𝙞𝙣𝙜 : ★★★★.5

Thank you Alice Feeney, Pan Macmillan & NetGalley for an e-ARC copy.

Thanks to Macmillan and NetGalley for the digital ARC in exchange for an honest review. I don’t think I’ve read anything else by this author, and having read this will do now.
It’s a very good book in terms of mystery and intrigue, easy reading at a good pace. I enjoy wondering what is happening, most of what I guessed was going on was wrong, which I like in a novel. I want to be surprised and it did keep me reading to find out. I was a little disappointed that one element of the plot was quickly obviously but not realised by the main character, surely a person wouldn’t really be that dense!? I did not see the ending coming at all, and it didn’t really gel for me, so for both those points it’s a 4* not a 5.

Beautiful Ugly Alice Feeney 4.5⭐️

Grady Green previous best selling author is struggling badly after his wife has been missing for the past year. He is on the verge of losing everything when his agent offers him a cabin on a remote Scottish island.

This book had a good creepy feel from the get go, but at the same time it feels very surreal, a little weird, and discombobulating. I never felt comfortable during the book, constantly on tenterhooks. I felt knocked off my axis.

It’s very different to her other books, and as such might be a marmite book. It’s also highly original and different which I crave in a book, so I loved it. The jury is out about the ending for me.

Wow! Alice Feeney is back with another twisty book that keeps you on the edge of your seat. I absolutely loved the story line in this book and it truly shocked me at parts. The dual timeline and unreliable narrator really added to the story.

There’s a lot to think and say about this book (won’t say all of it here!) It made for compulsive reading though I had to suspend my disbelief often as, particularly in a modern day setting, it was a little far fetched (I’d have preferred a slightly earlier point in time with the mobile phone scene altered accordingly). There were points where there was real tension and eeriness and I could vividly picture parts of the Isle of Amberley. I really enjoyed the ending (though not the resolution leading to it which frustrated me insofar as it tied things up too neatly). A gripping autumnal read but not a new favourite. Would love to discuss it with other readers.

I love Alice Feeney's writing and this book was no exception! This novel follows Grady after his wife Abby has gone missing and now he's struggling to write his next novel. He ends up on a small island with a very small population, and no obvious way of leaving very easily so he's forced to focus and write. What follows is him making strange discoveries and trying to piece together what is happening. He thinks he sees his wife multiple times but it's never her, and he's missing contact with the mainland. Nothing quite makes sense on this island and I had so many theories about what might be going wrong and I was mostly completely incorrect every time! There are also short sections about Abby interspersed throughout. This novel definitely requires suspension of disbelief, but I don't mind that at all - I love a dark and twisty novel that I just get swept up in and am along for the ride. This novel has twists and turns that are impossible to predict and I loved that. This was such a fun thriller novel and I definitely recommend it!

Awesome thriller that I couldn’t put down. I would never have guessed the ending.
Well worth reading. Alice is a master storyteller.

Great book


I really enjoyed this book from the off. I have read previous Alice Feeney books so I knew this book would be good. Having not read what the book was about I started the first chapter which ended quite abruptly and on a cliff hanger turning the story on its head to what I had expected so far and left me wanting more.


From there on, the story had me gripped with all the different twist and turns making me take note that they may be needed further into the book and the overall summary of the ending. I felt there was a lot to take in, in this book but that just added to the overall mystery and intrigue of the book. I won’t add any narrative to the book as I enjoyed it without any understanding of the book. I can’t rate this book enough!


Thanks to netgalley for an early copy of this book to read.

There is an undercurrent of menace throughout this book, starting from the very beginning. Feeney does an excellent job of making you feel uneasy throughout. Grady's wife is missing. She disappeared from a coastal road while on the phone to Grady. He is devastated. and in his grief he is unable to write so he agrees to go to the island retreat of his agent. An island retreat. Sounds idyllic doesn't it? But this one isn't what it seems. Once on the island Grady feels trapped but he is writing, captivated by the unpublished manuscript he finds under the floorboards and is intent on making it his own. Over the course of a few weeks he starts to see his wife, and believing her to be dead he wonders if he is losing his mind.

A highly satisfactory psychological thriller which isn't perfect but is a damn good read anyway. Thanks to NetGalley and the publishers for the ARC.

A fabulous read, full of twists and deep character exploration.

There is so much to unpick in this story, and with the depth the character studies go into. I really enjoyed getting to know the dynamics and relationships and how we perceive family etc. The setting was well written and we had a tense atmosphere from early on. I've heard people saying that they had the feeling of the 'calm before the storm' and that exactly sums up the beginning of this book. The island Grady goes to is so vivid in it's descriptions as well, so that really helped get into the story.

Overall a really fab psychological thriller. Well done Alice Feeney, as usual you've smashed it :)

I enjoyed this book a lot - although for reasons I couldn't put my finger on, I started off assuming Grady was in the USA rather than the UK. It might have been the name - Grady just didn't sound very British.

When Grady's wife disappears, his world falls apart. Large sums of money had been taken from their bank accounts and Abby had been receiving threats. Is she dead or alive? Was the money paying off the threats or preparing her for a new life? Grady just doesn't know, but very quickly he's lost the house they brought together and his position as a 'bestselling' author is in jeopardy. He loses his book contract and his agent suggests that he go and spend some time on a quite Scottish island with his dog, Colombo, and tries to get his career back on track.

The island is perfect for focusing his mind, but all is not as it seems. What happened to the man who previously lived and wrote in the lonely clifftop writer's cabin? Why is there no way to communicate with the outside world, and can he trust his own sanity?

Mostly, I thought this was a really good read. I didn't entirely buy into some of the ideas and there's a bit at the end relating to Abby's disappearance on a dark and lonely road that made very little sense to me. But on the whole, it's great. I didn't get the feeling that the author liked her protagonist very much.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publishers for my copy - and for not sending me to an island like this to write my review.

Many thanks to netgalley, the author and the publisher for approving my request to read this book.

This is the first book I've read by Alice Feeney and it most certainly won't be the last!

Beautiful Ugly is a fast paced, atmospheric twisty psychological thriller in which we met Grady move to an abandoned cabin on Amberley Island to revive his writing slump after the disappearance of his wife. Nothing is as it seems on the island and everyone has a secret to keep but just what are they all trying to hide.

I couldn't get enough of this book and read it at any given opportunity the day presented, the twist towards the end and the final big reveal were thoroughly enjoyable and right up street-5 stars from me!

I was very excited to receive this book. It is well written and the plot has the potential to keep me gripped. I am giving it, on the reading of the first few chapters five stars, because I feel once it is published and properly formatted it will deserve this. I will purchase a copy and read when published. Many thanks to the publisher for making this version available to me.