Alice Feeney

My Husband’s Wife is one of those addictive, “just one more chapter” thrillers that messes with your head in the best way. Eden comes home to find a lookalike living her life, her husband acting like she’s a stranger, and a house full of secrets. Then we jump back to Birdy—lonely, scared, and newly inheriting the same creepy house—whose story slowly pulls the rug out from everything we think we know.

It’s twisty, eerie, and full of “wait… what?!” moments. If you love show more domestic thrillers where nobody is telling the full truth, this one’s a super fun, page-turny ride. show less

By now, anyone who reads has seen the blurb. . .
My name is Amber Reynolds. There are three things you should know about me:
1. I'm in a coma.
2. My husband doesn't love me anymore.
3. Sometimes I lie.

. . . and the description:
Amber wakes up in a hospital. She can't move. She can't speak. She can't open her eyes. She can hear everyone around her, but they have no idea. Amber doesn't remember what happened, but she has a suspicion her husband had something to do with it. Alternating between her show more paralyzed present, the week before her accident, and a series of childhood diaries from twenty years ago, this brilliant psychological thriller asks: Is something really a lie if you believe it's the truth?

This is one of those books that is so compelling you want to stop everyone you meet and tell them about it. But you can't, because this story is so complex and has so many twists and turns that everything you say will be gibberish unless you explain it all - and that would spoil it.

This is the ultimate unreliable narrator, and the Liar's Paradox: If I say, 'I always tell lies', am I telling the truth?

Amber's life just seems sad. She's thirty-five years old, married but doesn't think her husband loves her, struggles on the job, appears to have obsessive-compulsive disorder, takes medication. There's a fairly large cast of characters - husband Paul, Mum & Dad, sister Claire, Nana, friend Jo, friend Taylor and Taylor's parents, co-worker Madeline, ex-boyfriend Edward - and three time periods - Now in the coma, Then just before the accident, and Before through a child's diary entries - and even with all those people and through all that time, she never seems to be quite happy or loved or successful. She says at one point, "I am liquid mercury trapped inside a maze. No matter what I do, I can't seem to flow in the right direction." and that kind of describes what we know of her whole life.

But what do we really know of Amber's life except what we see through her eyes? When she says, "I play the caring wife he needs me to be . . . . There is no time for me to practice my lines so I'm forced to improvise. It's not an award-winning performance, but enough to satisfy the audience of one," or "I always get the impression that she (her husband Paul's mother) sees straight through me and doesn't like the view," a little of our sympathy for Amber ebbs away. But then she says, "Funny how something so small can do so much damage and still look the same," and has nightmares about a little girl in a pink dressing gown we are a bit apprehensive for Amber. And when she says, "I can convince myself for a few seconds that I'm at the hairdresser's, that life has been restored to my version of normal." it feels like we have come full circle back to the sometime-liar - MY version of normal.

I read a lot of thrillers and mysteries and like to look for clues, and often solve the mystery before the end of the book. But I was surprised so many times I think I lost count. I would think oh, so that's it, and then wow, so that's it, but then it was no, it's THAT? Over and over, right up until the very end. Sometimes I Lie is dark, disturbing, relentless and just plain scary. One of the quotes on the book jacket says you'll be guessing until the very end, and you will. And you still won't have figured it out and will likely have to go back and re-read that last chapter to be sure you got it right. Once you pick this book up you won't be able to put it down, and you'll love it.

Thanks to Flatiron Books for giving me an ARC of this compelling and thoroughly enjoyable book. show less

“There are at least two sides to every story: Yours and mine. Ours and theirs. His and hers. Which means someone is always lying.”

Anna Andrews loves her job as BBC Anchorwoman responsible for presenting the One O’Clock News bulletin. She has held this position for almost two years ever since the previous presenter Cat Jones went on maternity leave. Much to her disappointment Cat returns and resumes her position and Anna is relegated to the role of Correspondent and assigned to cover a show more case in Blackdown where the body of a local woman has been discovered in the woods. She is reluctant to travel to Blackdown which is revealed to be her hometown and a place she does not want to return to.

DCI Jack Harper heads the Major Crimes Unit in Blackdown. He has moved there after his divorce and is somewhat pleased to have an actual crime to devote his time to. He is assisted by DS Priya Patel who is relatively inexperienced but dedicated and eager to please her boss.

The case becomes complicated when he realizes that the victim is someone he knows as does Anna. Anna and Jack are no strangers to one another either, having been married and only recently divorced after the death of their infant daughter. The story unfolds through three POVs –, Jack’s (His), Anna’s (Hers) and an unnamed narrator who we presume to be the killer. The murders continue, several characters from the past and new ones make their appearances with a fair share of lies and secrets being revealed and now everyone seems untrustworthy and looks guilty!

“We are a species of liars, and sometimes we deliberately join the dots in the wrong order, and pretend to make sense of what we see. We stretch the stories of our lives to fit our own desired narratives, presenting a prettier picture for those around us. Honesty loses every time to a lie less ordinary, and truth is overrated.”

Alice Feeney’s His & Hers is a dark twisty psychological thriller that will keep you guessing till the very last page. Her writing is sharp and crisp and the narrative is compact with an ending that you don’t see coming. The scenes of animal cruelty and sexual abuse were difficult to read. I rolled my eyes a couple of times at the very 'obvious' hints and did pat myself on the back, proud of the fact that I’d figured it all out, only to be proved wrong time and time again. Just when you say “AHA”, another twist leaves you flummoxed (and by then you’ve munched through a few fistfuls of M&Ms -the peanut ones!). The ending is a shocker (a bit hard to believe, but best to not overthink it!) and hard to predict, which makes reading this book well worth the time invested. I thoroughly enjoyed this book and finished it in a day. This is my second Alice Feeney novel having read Rock Paper Scissors which I also loved and needless to say, I look forward to reading read more of her work in the future.

“Time is a trapdoor we all tumble down at some point in our lives, often completely unaware of how far we have fallen. Captivated by an audience of our own worst fears, that demand an encore whenever we dare to stop feeling afraid. The emotional walls we build are there to keep the real us inside, as well as to keep others out. I’m making mine stronger, one brick of revenge at a time. We all hide behind the version of ourselves we let the rest of the world see.” show less

IN A NUTSHELL
'Beautiful Ugly' was a five-star read with great storytelling, great narration, great suspense, and a clever, satisfying conclusion.

‘Beautiful Ugly’ was my first Alice Feeney novel and it was astonishingly good. Given that it was about a recently widowed thriller writer retreating to a remote, barely inhabited island, I’d expected a bookish domestic psychological thriller. To my surprise, the book had quite a spooky, menacing atmosphere from the start, more like a show more slow-burn horror novel than a domestic mystery.

The story is told mostly as a first person, present-day account by the author Grady Green, narrated by Richard Armitage, interspersed with first person some-time-earlier accounts from an unnamed woman, narrated by Tuppence Middleton. I was drawn in immediately, both by Alice Feeney’s excellent writing and by the perfectly pitched narration.

From the start, I felt I couldn't trust what I was being told by Grady Green. I made allowances for his grief and It wasn't that I thought he was lying. It was more that he seemed like a man who habitually avoided unpleasant truths. Even so, I was engaged enough with him to feel anxious on his behalf as the events on the island started to feel more and more menacing in subtle, non-dramatic but deeply disturbing ways.

The sense of menace was increased by the slices of historical narrative told from a woman's point of view. They were vivid and tense but I couldn't identify whose story was being told or how their story related to Grady Green. The only thing that was clear was that these slices of life were strung together by a thread of misogyny. Given that Grady was the only man on an island populated by women, the narratives added to the sense of non-specific threat.

For much of the book I had no idea where the story was going but I knew that I absolutely had to find out.

I loved how hard it was to tell truth from lies, deception from delusion and paranoia from necessary caution.

The ending left my head spinning, it was so surprising and so perfect. show less