Beautiful Ugly is the first book that I have read written by author Alice Feeney. But it probably won’t be the last book of hers that I read.
Beautiful Ugly is quite an interesting story of a man whose wife has disappeared under suspicious circumstances. Or she has just up and walked away from their marriage. This is the theme of the book and it’s told from Grady Green’s view for most of the book. But then it switches to Abby’s side of the story. It keeps you guessing the entire length of the book.
Abby was an investigative reporter who sometimes received death threats about her stories. Her husband Grady is a New York Times bestselling author. But Grady can’t seem to write a new book. He seems to be to be struggling after he lost his wife a year ago. His finances are in a bad place and he is about to become homeless. Grady is really a loner who wants to spend his time isolated but writing or with Abby before she disappeared.
And then his agent suggests a new direction that helps Grady recover and write another bestseller. She offers him a rent free cabin on an island that has only a few residents. On this island he can concentrate on writing a new book.
Grady agrees and moves temporarily to this island. Here he meets some strange residents and experiences strange happenings. Sometimes he feels like he’s losing his mind. But he can start a new manuscript. Grady has trouble sleeping and thinks he has seen his absent wife on the island. Is he cracking up or is Abby really there on the island?
The characters are very realistic and believable. Especially poor heartbroken, beaten down Grady Green whose only love is his dog since Abby is gone.
Abby is not quite as well portrayed. Her character though a main character is much of the time only Grady’s memories. But there are times we hear her story. Her story is also told in a lot of her memories of Grady and their marriage. Was she happy or unhappy with her marriage. Were there problems that Grady was unaware or chose to ignore?
There’s other characters of residents on the island that Grady encounters. Most of these characters though are minor characters. But each one adds to the story and the mystery.
I thoroughly enjoyed this book and it kept me guessing until close to the very end. And it has quite a surprise ending. I couldn’t have guessed what that ending was going to be. I love a good book with a very different ending than you would suspect.
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