A review by brooksie03051
Beautiful Ugly by Alice Feeney

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

Beautiful Ugly by Alice Feeney- Publication January 14, 2025 


Unexpected twists happen in this mystery thriller that is clever and hidden well.

Grady Green is an author who had the best day of his life turn into the worst day in a matter of minutes. He can barely contain his excitement and calls his wife on her way home to share the exciting news he was anxiously waiting to hear. He suddenly hears his wife Abby slam on the brakes, claiming a woman is in the road and she gets out of the car to check on her even though he begged her to call the police and not get out of the car. She left the call open as he asked but she never returned back to the car. In a panic, he knew where she was and rushed to see what happened, and found her car by the cliff edge, headlights on, car running, driver door open and her phone was still there. . . but she was nowhere to be found. 

A year later, Grady is still grieving, broken, and disheveled, he cannot bear to write any new books and is still desperate to know what happened to his wife Abby. He can’t sleep, and he can’t write, money is running out and he cannot even afford a decent apartment. His literary agent who also happens to be his missing wife's godmother allows him to try and get his life back by sending him off to a tiny Scottish island to try and get back some ambition to start writing again otherwise he will be broke and homeless. A previous writer she represented did all his writing on that island and wrote some of his best books while living there. The island is remote, has only 25 residents (some of who are a bit creepy), and no internet or cell phone coverage to interrupt him while he wrote. The only phone line has been dead for a long time according to the locals Grady spoke with, and they only have a boat come twice a week (weather permitting) for deliveries and mail.

Grady starts to see and hear strange things, including a woman who looks exactly like his missing wife. He thinks he is going crazy. Someone is leaving anonymous notes with old articles that his missing wife had written in the past regarding abused women and how the system wronged them, protected the abusive men that they fought off, and punished the women for protecting themselves or ignored their cries for help and ultimately were hurt worse without police intervention. Due to Abby's coverage of these cases, she was getting death threats from some of those people's families and Grady tried to convince her to stop writing those articles and stay home but she was very passionate about being the voice for those women and putting herself in danger. Did a family member from one of the abusive men have a hand in her disappearance? 

He hears children's voices, a strange fog and someone keeps leaving him things in his cabin on the island. Something strange is going on and he is desperate to find out why. When he mentions being taken back to the mainland where his car is to get items he left behind, people discourage it and offer to help him while he stays on the island to concentrate on writing his book. Things start to escalate and he is desperate to find out what is going on. 

"Life is a fairytale that rarely hands out happy endings. Life is beautiful ugly. My wife told me that."


This book was a slightly slower-paced story although it piqued my interest and was able to listen to it in one day. I didn't want to stop and find out what was going on in this little island with the strange people inhabiting it. Although many were friendly enough, something was off and he needed to find out why his missing wife seemed to keep popping up unexpectedly. This audiobook was well narrated by actors I am familiar with and enjoy listening to. I believe this book would be best enjoyed via audiobook as they did an excellent job.

This book has:

Unhappy relationships
Unexplained disappearance
Grief
Mental health challenges
Tension 
Child/spouse Abuse
Mysterious people
Isolation
Family secrets
Bizarre Anonymous notes
Multiple POV
Brief intimate scenes

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher Macmillan Audio for a copy of the 9hrs 19min Audiobook, Unabridged from Macmillan Audio beautifully narrated by Richard Armitage (best known for his role in The Hobbit film trilogy) and Tuppence Middleton (best known for her role in Downton Abbey) in exchange for an honest review.