Beautiful Ugly Book Review: A Twist-Filled Thriller

Beautiful Ugly: The Thriller I Couldn’t Figure Out

With Halloween coming next month, I decided Mom’s Reading Corner needed something a little darker and more mysterious.
I don’t usually read thrillers anymore—but Beautiful Ugly by Alice Feeney kept appearing in book clubs everywhere, so I finally had to see what all the fuss was about.

And I’m glad I did.
Mostly because I could not figure this book out.
At all.

I am usually a really good guesser.
I’m the person who announces what is going to happen halfway through the movie—sometimes to the annoyance of everyone watching with me.
But this story had so many twists, secrets, and unexpected turns that every time I thought I understood what was happening, Alice Feeney proved me wrong.

A Disappearance Without an Answer

Grady Green is a successful writer anxiously waiting to hear whether his newest book has made the New York Times bestseller list.
His wife, Abby, should be there with him for the big moment—but she’s still on her way home.
When Grady calls her, he hears Abby suddenly slam on the brakes.
She tells him there is a woman lying in the road and that she is going to get out of the car to help.

Those are the last words Grady ever hears his wife say.
Abby disappears without a trace.
Her car is found abandoned.
There’s no body.
No explanation.
And no way for Grady to know whether Abby left him, was kidnapped, or was killed.

A year later, Grady is still grieving, barely sleeping, and unable to write.
His agent suggests that he get away from everything and stay in a secluded cabin she owns on the Isle of Amberly, a tiny island off the coast of Scotland.
Remote Scottish island?
Isolated cabin?
No cell service?
What could possibly go wrong?

Welcome to the Island—or Maybe Not

Only twenty-five people live on the Isle of Amberly, and visitors are allowed for just a few months each year.
There are no cell phones or landlines.
The locals communicate using walkie-talkies, and the unreliable ferry is the only way on or off the island.
It sounds like the perfect place for Grady to escape his memories and begin writing again.

Except something feels wrong almost immediately.
Grady feels as though he is being watched.
Things inside the cabin seem to move when he isn’t there.
The islanders appear friendly enough—but he never feels entirely welcome.

Then Grady sees a woman who looks exactly like his missing wife.
Is Abby alive?
Is someone deliberately tormenting him?
Or is a lonely, exhausted, grieving man starting to lose his grip on reality?

This is where the story develops an almost Twilight Zone feeling.
Everything is just slightly off, but it’s impossible to decide whether something sinister is happening or Grady is simply becoming paranoid.

Whose Story Can You Believe?

Most of the novel is told from Grady’s point of view, but we also hear from Abby.
At first, I expected her chapters to answer some of my questions.
They did not.
Instead, Abby’s side of the story made me question nearly everything Grady had told us.

This book is very much a “he said, she said” story—but neither person is telling us everything.
The more I learned, the less certain I became about what was true.

I will say that Abby was much easier for me to sympathize with.
Grady can be whiny, self-centered, and entitled.
He is accustomed to being the successful author in the relationship, and he expects the people around him—especially his wife—to arrange their lives around what he wants.

He isn’t always likable.
But he is interesting.

Just When I Thought I Understood…

Alice Feeney is known for writing big twists, and she definitely delivered with this one.
Every time I settled on a theory, another detail changed everything.
Some twists were small.
Others made me mentally race back through the story and reconsider what I thought I knew.

And even when I started to become suspicious, I never put all the pieces together.
That is exactly what I want from a thriller.
I don’t want a twist that comes completely out of nowhere, but I also don’t want to solve the entire mystery in the first few chapters.
Beautiful Ugly kept me guessing almost until the very end—and for someone who is usually a very good guesser, that is saying something!

This isn’t a horror story, but it is dark, unsettling, and sometimes creepy.
It explores marriage, ambition, resentment, grief, and the stories people tell—to one another and to themselves.

It also asks an intriguing question:
How well can we ever really know another person—even the person sleeping beside us?
If you’re looking for a twisty, atmospheric book to ease you into the Halloween season, Beautiful Ugly might be just the one.
Just don’t expect the Isle of Amberly to make your list of future vacation destinations.

“What are you thinking? How are you feeling?
What have we done to each other?”
— Nick Dunne, Gone Girl