Alice Feeney

Beautiful Ugly 

Tabea Lüth

Felt disturbed at the end. Quick read with good twists. Would read more from author 

Abigail Stutz

Alice Feeney delivers again! "Daisy Darker" was one of my favorite mystery/thrillers when I read it back in 2022, so I was excited to pick up her latest book. Although I didn't quite enjoy this one as much as "Daisy Darker", "Beautiful Ugly" does also have its fair share of twists (talk about that ending...killer!). 

New York Times best-selling author Grady Green is broke and broken, unable to write since his wife, Abby, went missing a year ago. When his agent offers him an opportunity to stay on a remote Scottish island to try to move on and begin writing again, Grady takes her up on it. Once there, however, things take a eerie turn as Grady is convinced he keeps seeing Abby. Other strange occurrences - the bones of a severed hand beneath the floorboards of his cabin, mysterious newspaper articles written by his wife, strange encounters with the locals, stories of the island's children's tragic deaths - cause Grady to wonder whether he is losing his mind or if something darker is happening on the Isle of Amberley. 

This was a bit of a slow-burn mystery; it took awhile for the plot to get moving, but once it did, it was one twist after another that kept me guessing. I did pick up pretty early on the fact that there were only women, no men or children, on Amberley. This gave me an idea of where Feeney might be heading with the plot, making me think that she was trying to create a twisted, feminist-esque tale...which did indeed turn out to be the case, though it felt somewhat extreme. Most of the twists outside of that, however, I didn't quite piece together until the big reveals. The closest one I'd otherwise gotten to was that I'd guessed Grady's agent, Kitty, was somehow involved in the mysterious happenings on Amberley, but I hadn't quite nailed how or why. And that ending was just wild! 

I'd been craving a good mystery when I picked up "Beautiful Ugly," and this hit the spot. Atmospheric and dark and twisty...just how I like my books. Again, my only main criticisms are that the pacing felt a tad slow at the beginning and that the extremely twisted "feminism" take was a bit far-fetched. Otherwise a fantastic read that I'd definitely recommend to anyone who loves a good mystery/thriller. 

Moira

Alice Feeney delivers again! "Daisy Darker" was one of my favorite mystery/thrillers when I read it back in 2022, so I was excited to pick up her latest book. Although I didn't quite enjoy this one as much as "Daisy Darker", "Beautiful Ugly" does also have its fair share of twists (talk about that ending...killer!). 

New York Times best-selling author Grady Green is broke and broken, unable to write since his wife, Abby, went missing a year ago. When his agent offers him an opportunity to stay on a remote Scottish island to try to move on and begin writing again, Grady takes her up on it. Once there, however, things take a eerie turn as Grady is convinced he keeps seeing Abby. Other strange occurrences - the bones of a severed hand beneath the floorboards of his cabin, mysterious newspaper articles written by his wife, strange encounters with the locals, stories of the island's children's tragic deaths - cause Grady to wonder whether he is losing his mind or if something darker is happening on the Isle of Amberley. 

This was a bit of a slow-burn mystery; it took awhile for the plot to get moving, but once it did, it was one twist after another that kept me guessing. I did pick up pretty early on the fact that there were only women, no men or children, on Amberley. This gave me an idea of where Feeney might be heading with the plot, making me think that she was trying to create a twisted, feminist-esque tale...which did indeed turn out to be the case, though it felt somewhat extreme. Most of the twists outside of that, however, I didn't quite piece together until the big reveals. The closest one I'd otherwise gotten to was that I'd guessed Grady's agent, Kitty, was somehow involved in the mysterious happenings on Amberley, but I hadn't quite nailed how or why. And that ending was just wild! 

I'd been craving a good mystery when I picked up "Beautiful Ugly," and this hit the spot. Atmospheric and dark and twisty...just how I like my books. Again, my only main criticisms are that the pacing felt a tad slow at the beginning and that the extremely twisted "feminism" take was a bit far-fetched. Otherwise a fantastic read that I'd definitely recommend to anyone who loves a good mystery/thriller. 

4 out of 5 stars.

Great read. Lots of twists which led to several late night reads 

Joanna Tweedale

"Places, like people, can often seem nice at first, until you get to know the real them and see them for what they are."

This was selected for my book club's March read, otherwise I doubt I would've picked it up. I do want to branch out more into thrillers and mysteries because I often need to shake up my genres otherwise I get really burnt out just reading fantasy and romance all of the time. This one didn't initially interest me too much when I read the blurb, but when I started it I was intrigued to begin with. The first chapter had a great hook, the sudden disappearance of Abby left me wanting to know more, and seeing how Grady's life fell apart without her tugged at my feelings enough for me to care a bit about the MMC. The idea of running away to a remote island off the coast of Scotland to a writer's cabin in the woods felt slightly cliché but it made sense, a secluded place with strange islanders feels like a typical thriller to me, so I was fascinated to find out how this one could be done differently without feeling too predictable. I think this book had a good premise, but I just couldn't connect with the story or the characters, and ultimately felt pretty bored until about 200 pages in.

I think the main thing for me was that there was a lot of repetitive information. I felt like I was slapped in the face with certain details and there was quite a bit of tell instead of show. Grady reiterates over and over again just how much he loved Abby, how much he loves his solitude and peace and quiet, and also how he keeps convincing himself that he's only seeing Abby everywhere because he's tired. Grady's exhaustion is really very central to this whole story and we are told about it in almost every single chapter. I think the author wanted us to fully understand that Grady feels like he is slowly losing his mind long before he even arrived on the island but I think Feeney executed this in a way that was just too obvious. There were so many clues along the way that Grady missed which I would think should've raised more concern than it did, so it felt like she wanted Grady to be kept in the dark from his own cluelessness but made the red flags just a bit too obvious for my liking, and the way Grady responded to these flags just didn't feel realistic. 

>>>SPOILER I think any normal person who finds a severed hand in their cabin would be slightly more freaked out than he was, plus the islander's insistence that he couldn't leave and the person breaking into his cabin multiple times. You would think he would've been more on edge, but there were times when he noticed freaky things and just brushed it off too easily. <<<END SPOILER

There were elements of the story that were handled well, the confusion and spiralling into madness was written nicely, I felt like I was going crazy alongside Grady trying to understand what was happening at points, especially when he was trying to work out if he was being drugged, when he was figuring out if what he was seeing and being told was real or not and also when he tries to speak to Sandy about Book 10. 

>>>SPOILER Grady is definitely an unreliable narrator, but the other characters are all unreliable too, so it was convoluted and a head scratcher at times.<<<END SPOILER

The ending was interesting. Feeney was trying to make this into a feminist message about women fleeing the evil and ugly of the world and coming together as a community to support each other, but I don't think this message hit the way it was intended to. I also don't feel like it was nearly as shocking as some people made it out to be, I didn't fully work out what was happening but it didn't really feel like a big revelation that shocked me, it more just made me go "ohhhh I see" instead. I think I just wanted something a little bit more from the story, some more action and depth, and I didn't really find it 'thrilling' just complicated. This book was more about unravelling threads than having me on the edge of my seat, heart racing and worrying about the main character, and I think it was missing that aspect.

It was an entertaining enough read in the end but it just didn't capture me overall and I found myself getting a bit bored through the middle. I think this is an example of a pretty good idea but not executed quite right. I'm not a big thriller reader so I kind of expect thrillers to 'wow' me because I haven't read enough of them to see the signs or know the standard tropes or see the formulas that thriller writers often use. So this one left me a bit disappointed. I think I am also used to slightly more subtle, descriptive writing whereas this book felt like it was told at me rather than immersing me within the story. I do think this book would be a good read for some people, but it wasn't quite it for me, so while I can't personally recommend it I think others might enjoy it. On a last note, definitely make sure you check your trigger warnings before reading this book, I think you have to expect a certain level of darkness in a thriller but this book mentioned rape and sexual assault more than I thought it would.

"No man is an island, but a woman can be if she needs to be."

Genevieve 

"Places, like people, can often seem nice at first, until you get to know the real them and see them for what they are."

3.5⭐

This was selected for my book club's March read, otherwise I doubt I would've picked it up. I do want to branch out more into thrillers and mysteries because I often need to shake up my genres otherwise I get really burnt out just reading fantasy and romance all of the time. This one didn't initially interest me too much when I read the blurb, but when I started it I was intrigued to begin with. The first chapter had a great hook, the sudden disappearance of Abby left me wanting to know more, and seeing how Grady's life fell apart without her tugged at my feelings enough for me to care a bit about the MMC. The idea of running away to a remote island off the coast of Scotland to a writer's cabin in the woods felt slightly cliché but it made sense, a secluded place with strange islanders feels like a typical thriller to me, so I was fascinated to find out how this one could be done differently without feeling too predictable. I think this book had a good premise, but I just couldn't connect with the story or the characters, and ultimately felt pretty bored until about 200 pages in.

I think the main thing for me was that there was a lot of repetitive information. I felt like I was slapped in the face with certain details and there was quite a bit of tell instead of show. Grady reiterates over and over again just how much he loved Abby, how much he loves his solitude and peace and quiet, and also how he keeps convincing himself that he's only seeing Abby everywhere because he's tired. Grady's exhaustion is really very central to this whole story and we are told about it in almost every single chapter. I think the author wanted us to fully understand that Grady feels like he is slowly losing his mind long before he even arrived on the island but I think Feeney executed this in a way that was just too obvious. There were so many clues along the way that Grady missed which I would think should've raised more concern than it did, so it felt like she wanted Grady to be kept in the dark from his own cluelessness but made the red flags just a bit too obvious for my liking, and the way Grady responded to these flags just didn't feel realistic. 
>>>SPOILER I think any normal person who finds a severed hand in their cabin would be slightly more freaked out than he was, plus the islander's insistence that he couldn't leave and the person breaking into his cabin multiple times. You would think he would've been more on edge, but there were times when he noticed freaky things and just brushed it off too easily. <<<END SPOILER

There were elements of the story that were handled well, the confusion and spiralling into madness was written nicely, I felt like I was going crazy alongside Grady trying to understand what was happening at points, especially when he was trying to work out if he was being drugged, when he was figuring out if what he was seeing and being told was real or not and also when he tries to speak to Sandy about Book 10. 
>>>SPOILER Grady is definitely an unreliable narrator, but the other characters are all unreliable too, so it was convoluted and a head scratcher at times.<<<END SPOILER
The ending was interesting. Feeney was trying to make this into a feminist message about women fleeing the evil and ugly of the world and coming together as a community to support each other, but I don't think this message hit the way it was intended to. I also don't feel like it was nearly as shocking as some people made it out to be, I didn't fully work out what was happening but it didn't really feel like a big revelation that shocked me, it more just made me go "ohhhh I see" instead. I think I just wanted something a little bit more from the story, some more action and depth, and I didn't really find it 'thrilling' just complicated. This book was more about unravelling threads than having me on the edge of my seat, heart racing and worrying about the main character, and I think it was missing that aspect.

It was an entertaining enough read in the end but it just didn't capture me overall and I found myself getting a bit bored through the middle. I think this is an example of a pretty good idea but not executed quite right. I'm not a big thriller reader so I kind of expect thrillers to 'wow' me because I haven't read enough of them to see the signs or know the standard tropes or see the formulas that thriller writers often use. So this one left me a bit disappointed. I think I am also used to slightly more subtle, descriptive writing whereas this book felt like it was told at me rather than immersing me within the story. I do think this book would be a good read for some people, but it wasn't quite it for me, so while I can't personally recommend it I think others might enjoy it. On a last note, definitely make sure you check your trigger warnings before reading this book, I think you have to expect a certain level of darkness in a thriller but this book mentioned rape and sexual assault more than I thought it would.

"No man is an island, but a woman can be if she needs to be."

the “twist” was kinda insane and i’m not sure if i mean that as an insult or a compliment 

myonna

I didn't love Feeney's last book, but this one is a banger. Grady's wife disappeared one year ago on the night his book hit the New York Times bestseller list. Now, Grady is broke and broken, can't sleep, function, or write. His agent, Kitty, offers him a chance to go to a remote Scottish island to recover and write. On his way there, Grady is convinced he sees Abby, his wife.

This was creepy, atmospheric, and twisty, and I did not see that ending coming. You should definitely read this book.

Cheri McElroy

Alice Feeney is back!

I didn't love Feeney's last book, but this one is a banger. Grady's wife disappeared one year ago on the night his book hit the New York Times bestseller list. Now, Grady is broke and broken, can't sleep, function, or write. His agent, Kitty, offers him a chance to go to a remote Scottish island to recover and write. On his way there, Grady is convinced he sees Abby, his wife.

This was creepy, atmospheric, and twisty, and I did not see that ending coming. You should definitely read this book.

Beautiful Ugly

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