★★★★☆
In this psychological thriller, author Grady Green has writer’s block after his wife mysteriously disappears. To help him get his writing groove back, his agent arranges for him to use a cabin on a remote island in Scotland, where he runs into a woman who looks exactly like his disappeared wife.
I wasn’t sure what to expect with this one – some elements of the back cover description reminded me of Rock Paper Scissors – but after recently finishing His and Hers, I wanted more of Feeney’s brand of writing. Plus, this one was on sale at the discount store I was shopping in. While some of the plot devices were similar to Rock Paper Scissors, the storylines had enough differences to keep me reading.
I loved the isolated Scottish island setting – the descriptions of the surroundings were well done and helped me stay engaged in the story. I also enjoyed that Feeney flipped the script, casting the unreliable narrator as male. So often this tactic is used for female lead characters, feeding into “crazy girl” stereotypes. The twist in this one was clever, and it is a surprisingly fast-moving read for a slower-paced psychological thriller. I was able to finish it in a day.
Feeney is quickly becoming one of my favorite thriller writers. I love the way she uses fresh metaphors in her writing. One of the notable lines in Beautiful Ugly was: “You can only rearrange the furniture of your life a number of times before things look the same as they did.”
Up next on my Feeney read list is Sometimes I Lie, which is off to a strong start. Who is your favorite thriller writer? What is your favorite Alice Feeney book?