An idyllic marriage? Maybe!
Wives think their husbands will change, but they don’t. Husbands think their wives won’t change, but they do.
The author Alice Feeney is known for her twisty, unpredictable thrillers and Beautiful Ugly, which was published in 2024, is no exception. It’s a strange and unsettling book, which tugs at your emotions as you read, and I’m still thinking about it a good while after having read it.
The main protagonist in Beautiful Ugly is Grady Green, a fairly reclusive middle-aged writer of a number of bestsellers. In spite of his literary success he is very insecure, only at ease with his beloved wife, Abby, who is an investigative journalist.
One night Abby disappears on her way home from work, and no trace is ever found. A year later Grady has fallen apart, cannot write, has lost all his money and is a proper mess. In desperation his agent suggests that he goes to stay at her cabin on a remote Scottish island, where he can enjoy the peace he needs for inspiration, and discover the will to write again.
On arriving on the island, he finds a strange set up: a ferry that only runs on and off, people (mostly women) who seem friendly enough but who smile too much and too widely when they meet him. And he keeps seeing his missing wife everywhere, only to realise that who he sees is not her. If he was in a state before arriving on the island, he is worse now. And it doesn’t help that every time he asks when the next ferry leaves for the mainland he’s fobbed off with an excuse.
Eventually he finds inspiration in an unexpected and not entirely ethical place, writes his new book and sends it off. And it’s after that that things start to really fall apart for him. He sees things, hears voices when no one is around, finds his cabin open when he’s sure he locked it, and so on. The scene is set for a climax.
I don’t wish to give away any more of the story so will stop here. All I will say is, be prepared for a shock!
My verdict
I found Beautiful Ugly a strange, unsettling and unpredictable book. Initially I felt for Grady in his predicament, but a little way into the novel I realised that he was hiding something, even in his own thoughts. It also became clear that he was utterly self-absorbed. Most of the story is told by him, but it is interspersed with a few chapters that are told by Abby in the weeks before her disappearance. In those it’s made clear that she’s unhappy and feels neglected, and that she also has some big secrets herself.
This novel is well written, with a great story line and a well-constructed and unpredictable plot. The writing is clever and assured. The descriptions of the island are vivid.
Did I like this book? Hard to say. It was gripping and very atmospheric, but I found it unsettling. It kept shifting under me, so I was never sure about anything. Is Abby alive or not? Who and what are the islanders? Is Grady a hero or the opposite? At first, I liked Grady, but I came to loathe him for his selfishness and his unconcern for others.
In my opinion, there are several unusual aspects to this book – quite apart from the twisty story. For a female writer to have a man as the main character isn’t that common; and it’s also pretty unusual to write your main character as someone who’s not an obvious hero. Alice Feeney handles all this really well and makes Grady entirely believable.
Intellectually I can see that Beautiful Ugly is a clever, well-written book, with a great story and as many twists as a corkscrew. And for that I have to give it 4 stars. Emotionally, it wrung me out and I was glad to finish it. But I’ll stick with the 4 Stars because I’m still thinking about this novel a good while after having read it.
Review by: Freyja
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