New Release Review: Beautiful Bad by Annie Ward

Annie Ward's sophomore novel and first psychological thriller, Beautiful Bad, is available for purchase today.

For more information on the book- or author- visit her web page here. Continue reading on for the blurb and my full review!

B L U R B :

In the most explosive and twisted psychological thriller since The Woman in the Window, a beautiful marriage turns beautifully bad. Things that make me scared: When Charlie cries. Hospitals and lakes. When Ian drinks vodka in the basement. ISIS. When Ian gets angry... That something is really, really wrong with me. Maddie and Ian's romance began with a chance encounter at a party overseas; he was serving in the British army and she was a travel writer visiting her best friend, Jo. Now almost two decades later, married with a beautiful son, Charlie, they are living the perfect suburban life in Middle America. But when a camping accident leaves Maddie badly scarred, she begins attending writing therapy, where she gradually reveals her fears about Ian's PTSD; her concerns for the safety of their young son, Charlie; and the couple's tangled and tumultuous past with Jo. From the Balkans to England, Iraq to Manhattan, and finally to an ordinary family home in Kansas, sixteen years of love and fear, adventure and suspicion culminate in The Day of the Killing, when a frantic 911 call summons the police to the scene of a shocking crime.

R E V I E W :

Beautiful Bad took me longer to read than usual. It is not a fast paced thriller, in fact, it is quite the opposite. The story moves forward at a slow pace, and it was often filled with chunks of information, and details I found were unnecessary in order to move the plot forward. The story is told in past and present time, and in multiple points of view. There were simply too many elements to the telling of this story that did not work for me. They greatly affected my enjoyment and left me feeling entirely unsatisfied by the time I made it to the end. There are three main characters within the story- Ian, Maddie, and Jo- whom I found to all be unlikable, and the relationships between them did not feel authentic. Maddie and Jo were supposed to be the best of friends, but the way they treated each other at times painted them more as people who didn't even like each other. Then there was Maddie and Ian. Maddie and Ian were attracted to each other during their early days as friends/acquaintances, and that attraction grew to be something more. They wanted each other, cared for each other, and eventually loved each other- without saying it. They went on to spend YEARS apart, yet I was to believe as a reader that these characters had become hopelessly in love after all that time, with limited interactions. Of course, in the present time they are married and have a son, but I never bought into their love affair. I felt no chemistry or connection between the two of them. The opening line of the synopsis says, "a beautiful marriage turns beautifully bad," which to me is entirely misleading, because at no point did I view the couples romance as beautiful or touched with love. There was something off with everyone from the start. I came to trust no one, and the story continued to head in a direction I could predict. As we reached the climax and the remainder of the story unraveled, nothing really shocked or surprised me. It was missing that edge of your seat intensity. I do wish too, that the crime was completely resolved. There are some cases where I don’t mind an open ending, or one that leaves you questioning what is true and what is not, but this wasn’t one of those times. I needed closure and I felt this story needed it too. I’ve seen some reviews from people who have loved the story, so take a look at those if you’d like a different view or opinion. In the end, this psychological thriller was clearly not for me.