Beautiful Ugly (25 in 2025 #8)

 

Author: Alice Feeney Title: Beautiful Ugly Publisher: Flatiron Books Date Published: 01/14/2025

Read Dates: 04/06/2025- 04/07/2025
Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐

Beautiful Ugly is a dual POV (mostly single POV) thriller. It follows Grady, an author whose life has fallen apart after the disappearance of his wife Abby. His agent loans him the use of a cabin she inherited on an isolated island in Scotland. While there, he keeps thinking he sees/hears his missing wife and struggles to figure out what’s real and what’s all in his head.

This is one that kept me on my toes. Most chapters are from Grady’s POV, with a few told from Abby’s POV to round out, or confuse, the narrative! I gave up guessing and just waited for it all to unfold. I was a little disappointed in the ending, but I’ll definitely read this author again!

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.

Wives think their husbands will change but they don’t.
Husbands think their wives won’t change but they do.