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Beautiful Ugly

The Addictive Instant Sunday Times Bestselling Thriller – 'Her Best Book Yet!' (Harlan Coben)

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Beautiful Ugly

By: Alice Feeney
Narrated by: Richard Armitage, Tuppence Middleton
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About this listen

PREPARE TO BE HOOKED BY THE GRIPPING THRILLER FROM SUNDAY TIMES AND MULTI-MILLION-COPY BESTSELLER ALICE FEENEY. NARRATED BY RICHARD ARMITAGE (THE HOBBIT, FOOL ME ONCE) AND TUPPENCE MIDDLETON (DOWNTON ABBEY).

*AN INSTANT SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER*

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

Author Grady Green is having the worst best day of his life.

Grady calls his wife as she’s driving home to share some exciting news. He hears Abby slam on the brakes, get out of the car, then nothing. When he eventually finds her car by a 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.

EVERYONE LOVES BEAUTIFUL UGLY:

'I was consumed by this book, it's her best ever, a work of genius' – LISA JEWELL

'Her best book yet' – HARLAN COBEN

'I loved every word' – CLAIRE DOUGLAS

‘Unforgettable’ – CHRIS WHITAKER

'A masterpiece' – JANICE HALLETT

READERS ARE ALSO HOOKED BY BEAUTIFUL UGLY:

'Alice Feeney's best book to date'

'A deliciously dark tale of love, marriage and revenge'

'A beautifully written tale of an ugly situation'

Beautiful Ugly was a Sunday Times Bestseller w/c 27/01/2025

 Best of 2025 Domestic Thrillers Editors Select Family Life Genre Fiction Psychological Thriller & Suspense Marriage Exciting Scary

Critic reviews

Alice Feeney is one of my absolute favourites (Samantha Downing, bestselling author of For Your Own Good)
When I started reading Beautiful Ugly, I was not prepared to feel such joy in the writing, yet such terror in the story. A missing wife, a tortured couple and a lonely writer banished to a mysterious Scottish island, this exquisite novel is a relationship drama, a darkly twisting thriller and an examination of the fine line between isolation and loneliness. Alice Feeney has created a masterpiece, a riveting read, immaculately written (Janice Hallett, author of The Twyford Code)
Alice Feeney is back with another magnetic and jaw-dropping thriller. With a dreamlike quality and atmosphere that is off the charts, Beautiful Ugly takes readers into a world that is charming on the surface, but with danger, hatred and revenge lurking just beneath. Both witty and terrifying, I couldn’t put it down! (Mary Kubica, author of Local Woman Missing )
Wicked, wild, sinister and shocking. Alice Feeney rips up the rule book yet again. Beautiful Ugly is unpredictable and unforgettable (Chris Whitaker, author of We Begin at the End )
Alice Feeney is one of my favourite thriller writers and this is her best book yet. Highly addictive and beautifully written. Read Beautiful Ugly right now and thank me later (Harlan Coben, author of Fool Me Once )
I’m a huge fan of Alice Feeney and Beautiful Ugly is an atmospheric gem of a thriller, weaving an unpredictable and clever plot that will keep you guessing until the very end. Brilliant and chilling, with an inspired setting, characters that jump off the page and twists to give you whiplash. I loved every word (Claire Douglas, author of The Sisters )
Sharp, devious and so clever. The ending blindsided me completely! (Natalie Chandler, author of What We Did )
Be prepared to put your life on hold when you start this novel because there is a new twist on pretty much every page. Will you believe the husband or the wife’s story? As with every marriage, the truth is pretty murky right up to the very end. This is immersive and addictive storytelling (Araminta Hall, author of One of the Good Guys)
I was consumed by this book, it's her best ever, a work of genius. (Lisa Jewell, author of None of This is True )
This is dazzling and clever, and builds to a brilliant finale with an audacious pay off. I loved it! (Chris Ewan, author of The House Hunt )
Dark, clever, unusual and so beautifully written. A rare book were I truly had no idea where it was going, but that rewarded me with a surprise ending that worked perfectly. (Louise Swanson, author of End of Story )
Feeney is firmly established as psycho thriller royalty, so expectations are high with each new title . . . Her cleverly titled latest book does not disappoint . . . a brilliant study of marriage and revenge (The Daily Mail)
All stars
Most relevant
Sorry, this one was a bit painful to get through. So much 'suspenseful' dialogue, and endless descriptions of thoughts and feelings, stringing out the relative lack of detail in the story. I felt like I never really got to know the main two characters, until everything came spilling out in the final hour. It answered a lot of questions, but there was not enough content along the way to actually let me know what on earth was going on. The narrator is pretty good, but it was a bit 'hammy' - over-doing the suspense or the emotion as if talking to a child.
The book has a fairly interesting idea, but it's just not very well executed in my opinion.

Clear as Mud

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Overall, I enjoyed listening to this, but it could have been so much better if it was more realistic. The last 2hours listening were such a bore, I sped it up to hurry up the ending. The story was a ‘tell, don’t show’ approach, and not well written. I wouldn’t recommend it unless very bored. Shame, because up until about half way through it was brilliant.

Could be better.

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I listened to Beautiful Ugly, and the narration by Richard Armitage and Tuppence Middleton was outstanding. Their performances added depth to an already gripping story, making it even more immersive.

This book is everything you want in a psychological thriller—dark, addictive, and full of suspense. Alice Feeney masterfully weaves a story packed with twists and turns, keeping you guessing until the very end. Just when I thought I had figured it out, another revelation turned everything upside down.

I couldn’t put it down—it’s the kind of book that keeps you up late, desperate to know what happens next. If you love unpredictable thrillers that keep you on edge, I highly recommend Beautiful Ugly!

Gripping

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The narrator read almost the whole thing like he was on the verge of tears. Weird.

Started well. Silly ending.

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An intriguing, twisting and turning story, with perfect narration. Only spoilt by a far fetched and unbelievable ending.

An intriguing, twisting and turning story, spoilt by a far fetched ending

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