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Beautiful Ugly by Alice Feeney

Thriller

Beautiful Ugly

3peat author

Alice Feeney is officially a 3-time author at BOTM, which is a pretty big deal!

Early Release

This is an early release that's only available to our members—the rest of the world has to wait to read it.

by Alice Feeney

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Yes, she’s embroidered.

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Quick take

Prepare to spin sideways in this twisty island thriller about a missing wife and a man who can’t trust his own mind.

Good to know

  • Illustrated icon, Multiple_Viewpoints

    Multiple viewpoints

  • Illustrated icon, Nonlinear_Timeline

    Nonlinear timeline

  • Illustrated icon, Marriage_Issues

    Marriage issues

  • Illustrated icon, Writers_Life

    Writer’s life

Synopsis

Wives think their husbands will change but they don’t.

Husbands think their wives won’t change but they do.

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.

Content warning

This book contains scenes that depict sexual assault and mentions of the death of a child.

Free sample

Get an early look from the first pages of Beautiful Ugly.

Beautiful Ugly

HAPPILY MARRIED

If all we need is love, why do we always want more?

I dial her number. Again. Finally, she answers.

“I’m on my way, almost there,” my wife says without me having to ask. I can hear that she is driving, so she is heading home, but almost there sounds like a lie. She has a habit of stretching the truth into something more agreeable these days.

“You said you would be here,” I reply, sounding like a petulant child instead of a grown man. “This is important to me.”

“I know, I’m sorry. I’ll be there soon, promise. I’ve picked up fish-and-chips.”

Fish-and-chips is how we have celebrated almost every major milestone. It’s what we ate on our first date, when we got engaged, the day I got an agent, and when we bought our dream house. I’m a little in love with this old thatched cottage on the south coast, just over an hour from London but a million miles from the city. Our only neighbors these days are sheep. Tonight, fish-and-chips was how I hoped we might celebrate my first New York Times bestseller, washed down with a bottle of champagne I’ve been saving for five years. My editor in America said she would call if it was good news, but it’s nearly 9:00 p.m. (4:00 p.m. in New York) and she hasn’t been in touch. Nobody has.

“Heard anything?” Abby asks. I hear her turn on the windscreen wipers, and I picture the rain streaming down the glass like tears.

“Not yet.”

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Why I love it

The only time I like the winter is when I’m curled up underneath a blanket, there are no plans in sight, and I have a book that will keep me entertained for hours on end. Alice Feeney’s latest novel is the perfect book to combat those cold, dreary winter days. It has everything you could ask for in a good thriller: a remote and eerie island, an unreliable narrator, and unexpected twists.

Author Grady Green’s life is turned upside down in the span of a single phone call. While Grady is in the middle of sharing some good news with his wife, he suddenly hears her slam on the brakes, and then nothing… Not too long after, he finds her car at the edge of a cliff. His wife is nowhere to be seen. Flash forward a year later: Grady is still reeling from his wife’s disappearance. He’s struggling to write and decides to go to a remote Scottish island, hoping for some inspiration. But upon his arrival, he notices things are not quite what they seem. What is happening on this small island? And who is the woman who looks like his missing wife?

Reading Beautiful Ugly had me in a bind: I couldn’t decide whether to flip through the pages quickly to get the answers I desperately needed, or slow down and enjoy the mystery as it unfolded before my eyes. I can say one thing for sure, though—whichever way you choose to read it, you’re in for a thrilling ride.

Other books by Alice Feeney

Member ratings (2,090)

December selections
Homeseeking
Definitely Better Now
Beautiful Ugly
The Most Wonderful Crime of the Year
The Thirteenth Child
December selections
View all
Homeseeking
Definitely Better Now
Beautiful Ugly
The Most Wonderful Crime of the Year
The Thirteenth Child