LCChaosandhome

Tag: mystery

  • Book Review: Beautiful Ugly by Alice Feeney

    Book Review: Beautiful Ugly by Alice Feeney


    Beautiful Ugly follows Grady Green, a successful author whose life falls apart when his wife, Abby, disappears after a shocking incident on the road. Despite an investigation, Abby is never found, leaving Grady struggling with grief, guilt and unanswered questions. A year later, unable to move forward or write again, he retreats to a remote Scottish island hoping the peace and isolation will help him escape his memories and begin working on his next novel.
    The island setting is one of the strongest parts of the book. It is bleak, isolated and full of odd characters, creating an uneasy atmosphere from the start. Grady is already an unreliable narrator, so when he begins to believe he has seen a woman who looks exactly like Abby, it is hard to know what is real. Is his wife somehow still alive? Is someone deliberately trying to unsettle him? Or is grief and guilt causing him to lose touch with reality?
    Initially, I found the mystery genuinely intriguing. Abby’s disappearance, Grady’s troubled state of mind and the strange atmosphere on the island made for a promising start. There was enough tension to make me want to keep reading, and I was interested to see how all the secrets, relationships and different timelines would eventually connect.
    Unfortunately, the story went downhill as more was revealed. The twists became increasingly unbelievable and the plot started to feel far too ridiculous to take seriously. Rather than being shocked by the revelations, I found myself questioning how anyone could have behaved the way they did, or how certain events could realistically have happened without being discovered earlier.
    I carried on because I hoped the ending would pull everything together and make the increasingly strange plot worthwhile. Sadly, it did not. The final reveals felt more far-fetched than clever, and the resolution did not make up for the amount of disbelief the story required along the way.
    For me, Beautiful Ugly was wide of the mark. It had a very strong premise, a suitably creepy setting and an intriguing mystery at the beginning, but it lost its way with an overly complicated and implausible plot. I wanted a tense, clever psychological thriller, but instead I found myself trudging through it and waiting for it to improve.

    You can buy the book here

    https://link.amazon/B0bWuEqh6


    Overall: 2 out of 5 stars.

  • Book Review: Some of Us Are Liars by Fiona Cummins

    Book Review: Some of Us Are Liars by Fiona Cummins

    Rating: 4.5 / 5

    Some thrillers grip you with pace. This one grips you with people — and then pulls the floor out from under them.

    What it’s about (no spoilers)

    Jen Miller leaves her youngest child in the care of her two sisters while the family gathers at superstar Winter Kellaway’s beachside estate for a wedding celebration. The champagne is on ice, the decorations are flawless — and one split-second lapse turns the happiest day of the year into a tragedy the family will never recover from. What follows is grief, blame, an explosive court case, and a long-buried secret that refuses to stay buried. DC Saul Anguish is brought in to investigate.

    What I loved

    The twists. Plural. Every time I thought I had it worked out, Cummins shifted the ground and I was wrong again — and not in a cheap, out-of-nowhere way. The clues are there; you just don’t see them until she wants you to.

    The sisters are the real engine of the book. Winter, Jen and Alyssa are so believably written that the fallout hurts, and the shifting timelines and viewpoints mean you’re constantly re-weighing who deserves your sympathy. That’s the clever bit: your loyalties keep moving.

    It’s also genuinely emotional. This isn’t just a puzzle to solve — it’s about guilt, forgiveness and how far people will go to protect the ones they love. I read most of it in two sittings because I simply couldn’t leave it alone.

    What didn’t quite work

    My one real gripe is the subplot involving Saul. I never felt it earned its place. Every time the story cut back to him I found myself wanting to get back to the sisters, and I don’t think losing those sections would have cost the book anything — if anything the central story would have hit even harder. It’s not badly written, it just sits slightly apart from everything that makes the novel so compelling. Half a star off for that.

    The verdict

    A dark, twisty, surprisingly moving thriller with characters you’ll be arguing about long after the last page. If you like Lisa Jewell or Claire Douglas, or you enjoy a courtroom thread running through your crime fiction, you’ll fly through this one. It was also shortlisted for the CWA Twisted Dagger 2026.

    4.5 out of 5 — highly recommended.

    You can buy the book here

    https://link.amazon/B07Y7qejX

    Have you read it? Did you guess the twist? Tell me in the comments — and let me know if you agree with me about Saul.

  • Book review I found you by Lisa Jewell

    Book review I found you by Lisa Jewell

    Lisa Jewell’s I Found You is a masterclass in suspense, delivering the kind of twisty, character-driven storytelling that keeps you hooked from the very first page to the final reveal.


    Set across dual timelines, the novel introduces us to Alice, a single mother who discovers a mysterious man on the beach outside her home. He has no memory of who he is or how he got there. At the same time, in London, newlywed Lily is thrown into panic when her husband Carl disappears without a trace—just days after their wedding. What follows is a cleverly woven narrative that slowly draws these two seemingly separate stories together.
    Jewell excels at building tension through small, unsettling details rather than dramatic shocks. The pacing is steady but gripping, allowing the suspense to simmer as each piece of the puzzle falls into place. Just when you think you’ve figured it out, another twist pulls you in a different direction.
    The strength of I Found You lies in its characters. They feel real, flawed, and deeply human, which makes the mystery all the more compelling. Alice, in particular, is a standout—warm, intuitive, and determined to help a stranger, even when it puts her at risk.
    As with all of Lisa Jewell’s novels, the real magic is in how everything connects. The ending is both satisfying and surprising, tying together the threads in a way that makes you want to go back and spot the clues you missed.
    If you enjoy psychological thrillers that keep you guessing until the very end, I Found You is a must-read. It’s a perfect choice for anyone who loves layered storytelling, emotional depth, and a plot full of unexpected turns.
    Rating: 4.5/5 – A gripping, cleverly plotted thriller that keeps you guessing.