Wow, what a book, I got so involved I was sure I knew "who did it". But the book is full of twists and turns and intriguing relationships. A good read

4.5 rounded down.

In a small town in Kansas, a 911 dispatcher receives an emergency call involving a possible home invasion or domestic disturbance – a woman’s voice, screaming for help, a shrieking child heard crying in the background. Diane Varga is the first officer on scene. She rings the doorbell, yells, “Police!”. Receiving no answer she looks through the window, and sees blood – a lot of blood. Something terrible has taken place at this quiet residential address in a nice neighbourhood. Rewind to Macedonia, 2001, where American Travel Writer, Maddie, meets British Security Officer, Ian, and a toxic relationship begins.

Whew, I had firmly settled on a 4-rating, but those last approximately 50, mind-altering, pages saw me upping it to 4.5. Talk about shocking! Definitely a few surprises I didn’t see coming. This one’s more of a slow burn – character rather than action driven – delving deep into the psychological ramifications of Maddie’s relationship with Ian, and what motivated both characters to end up the way that they did. The flashbacks set in Europe did get a bit tired after a while, but the last 20% showed just how important and relevant every scene that took place back then was, so pay close attention, the payoff is worth it!

I feel it’s important to state that even though this book is advertised as domestic noir (which parts of it definitely are), a large chunk of it takes places in Eastern Europe – Bulgaria, Macedonia, Bosnia – with graphic depictions of poverty, violence, and war, which could be disappointing to readers expecting a straight-up domestic thriller, and may not be the right read for others. But as I said above, those events are crucial to the plot. This isn’t much of a spoiler, so I will also mention that there is some animal cruelty in the form of a cat being poisoned. It takes place off site though, and when mentioned, doesn’t go into any kind of vivid detail, so cat lovers should be okay.

You’ll need to be on the ball, because there are three separate timelines to keep track of – the day of the 911 call, titled ‘The Day of the Killing’ (Officer Diane Varga POV), twelve weeks beforehand, working forward (Maddie POV), and the years leading up to that day, beginning in 2001 (Maddie, and on occasion, Ian). Side note: Annie Ward excelled at writing a young child (Maddie and Ian’s son, Charlie). Some authors either make the mistake of having their preschoolers whine and be annoying, or remain silent in the background, barely speaking, but Charlie was well-characterised, intelligent and funny, with age appropriate dialogue and behaviour.

Recommend to my fellow psychological thriller fans. I’d be keen to read more by Annie Ward.

I’d like to thank Netgalley, Quercus Books, and Annie Ward for the e-ARC.

US Publication Date: 21st March, 2019.

Review posted on Goodreads and Instagram. Will be uploaded to Amazon on publication day.

A murder mystery that keeps you guessing until the end. Beautiful Bad is a great book by Annie Ward.

Another cracking title from Quercus. Loved this and couldn't put it down. I really found the cover pulling me in and I am so happy to be able to get a chance to read this. Will recommend to friends.

A very twisted tale that took long time to unravel and contained a few suprises. Characters were very well portrayed,but not very likeable.

Beautiful bad pulls you in right from the start with a hysterical phone call from a terrified woman with a screaming child in the background, in fear of her life and that of her child.
The book time-hops between when Maddie is working abroad and first meets Ian, eventually to become her husband, and the present day. It is also told by different voices between chapters to give the perspective of each of the main characters.
Maddie's best friend Jo is a difficult woman to like. She seems hell bent on preventing Maddie and Ian getting together and refuses to have anything to do with Maddie once they do, particularly when faced with the news that Maddie is expecting her first baby.
Ian is a complex man, seemingly the "bad" part of the story with PTSD causing some odd behaviours that make Maddie uncomfortable.
Maddie herself is pretty likeable, a bit downtrodden and apparently in an abusive relationship she reaches out first to a therapist and then to her friend Jo to try and work out her anxieties and to extricate herself from her current situation.

The story is full on with plenty of secrets, terror, murder and suspense and a twist at the end that I did not see coming!

Oh my goodness....where do I begin.... this book is remarkable, it draws you in, it informs your thinking, it colours the pages with the harsh reality of life in war torn Eastern European countries and it makes you feel; you will feel angry, sad, frustrated, scared, breathless, happy, relieved, astounded and then, finally, as you reach the end you will feel confounded. Disconcerted.

Mad die and Ian meet in war torn Skopje whilst Maddie is visiting her friend Jo. Maddie is a teacher, Jo works for a refugee organisation and Ian is in the military. And we follow their story over the next fifteen or so years. Maddie feels invincible after a childhood accident. Ian moves from the military to providing security across Iraq, Nigeria, Bulgaria. He sees things he wishes he could unsee. Jo takes risks to ensure the safety and well-being of the refugees she helps.

And as their story unfold we get to know them, we hear their voices as they each narrate some of this book. And the book flicks between then, now.
Astonishing, breathtaking and gripping.

I really enjoyed this read, loved the characters and the plot - it was a really good strong ending as well

Beautiful Bad is Ms Ward's sophomore novel and first psychological thriller; having become fatigued by the latest domestic dramas due to their formulaic, predictable plots I was overjoyed that it turned out to be a superbly constructed story. The synopsis really doesn't do it justice as it makes it sound like every other thriller out there, but it's original and unique. The tension builds slowly as you progress, the characters are complex and multifaceted and the plot so, so gripping. I read this genre a lot, and sadly I'm rarely surprised by the twists and turns, but here, I most certainly made predictions that were way off the mark.

This is indeed one of the best psychological thrillers I've read in a long time, and although it does make use of some familiar tropes it didn't take away from my overall appreciation of such a solid, sophisticated and utterly compelling narrative. If you're into these type of books then this is a must-read.

Many thanks to Quercus for an ARC.

This book was gripping. It is told going backwards and forwards in time, which I usually dislike, but felt worked well here. It starts at the end so we start the story finding out about a murder and work backwards. Again this worked.

I didn’t actually like any of the three main characters so found that I didn’t really care which one was killed, or by who, however I still found the telling of the story gripping and so I did want to finish the book.

It was interesting to read the lives of the characters building up to the main event but I still can’t see why one character was so hated by another. The motive given didn’t seem quite enough.

I’m not sure I was totally happy with the ending but saying that I really did enjoy the book and would absolutely recommend it to others.

Thank you to NetGalley, Quercus Books and the author, Annie Ward, for the opportunity to read an advanced readers copy of Beautiful Bad in exchange for an honest and unbiased opinion.
I was hooked. I really enjoyed the multiple timelines, so you could not guess where the story was going to go.
A real page turner . 3.5 stars.

Beautiful Bad by Annie Ward is tough book to review. I didn't hate this book but I can't say that I loved it either. It started off so well - straight into a the scene of a murder and the police coming to the house after a frantic 911 call. It then jumps back and forth through time and tells the story of Maddie, Ian and Jo. At times I found it to be very slow and then others I was fascinated.

Ian and Maddie met 16 years ago in Europe. Ian was in the British Army and Maddie a travel writer visiting her best friend Jo was an aid worker. They did not exactly hit off straight away and Jo was not a fan at all. They meet in various places around the world for the next 16 years. Now they are married and have a son, Charlie. Ian is not a pleasant man at all and I did not see the attraction. He is controlling and does not give Maddie a happy life. Without giving anything away it is hard to say much more about the story.

It is certainly a different way of telling the story but I wasn't completely sold on it. I did enjoy parts of this book.
Thanks to Quercus Books and Netgalley for my advanced copy of this book to read. All opinions are my own and are in no way biased.

An unusual, creative and page turning story which starts with a murder scene, then sets off telling the tale which take the reader to worn torn countries, which I was not expecting from the description of the book. I personally really enjoy books where you can try and look for clues along the way to unpick the revealed crime. I read a lot of crime fiction but this book really kept me guessing.

After witnessing the crime scene, we are introduced to friends Maddie and Jo working through the Balkans, where Maddie meets and falls in love with Ian, an English Security Officer. Against the back drop of war and the effect on the human psyche, we discover more of the characters, their flaws and their experiences. Whilst I really enjoyed the characters of Maddie and Ian, I found Jo to be difficult to connect to.

I feel I can't say much more without giving away too much, but certainly worth a read!

This book kept me gripped. It includes strong characters, vivid descriptions and some unforeseen twists near the end. The story moves backwards and forwards in time, from the 'day of the killing', through the timeline of when Ian and Maddie met, several times, in various war torn countries. It shows a good understanding of the damage done to soldiers and others working in these terrible conditions for a period of time, including the horrors of living with someone who has PTSD. I read it in 2 days, and I am looking forward to the next book by Annie Ward.

I found this book very hard to get into. Too many timelines for my liking, making it confusing but that said I did not give up and found the last quarter of the novel had me somewhat hooked to know the outcome. Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for the chance to review it

My oh my what tangled webs we weave. This is a well written book, whose main characters are mentally broken. The book is descriptive and moves back and forth telling the story of one man and three women. It kept me awake last night reading it and was thrilling to the very end. It sows the seeds of suspicion as it progresses along and you think you know who the crazy one is. No you do not. The end chapter reveals all and I suspect the killer will kill again unless the family and Police find them. Worth a read? Oh yes.

A rapid roller-coaster ride of a story, rushing headlong towards a conclusion that it's hard to see coming. Well crafted characters make it easy to follow along as they make their journey - but how well does anyone really know anyone else?

Beautiful Bad is a thriller that is not of the whodunnit variety but the story getting there with the hows and whys.
On the whole I enjoyed this very different thriller, finding out about two best friends, Maddie and Joanna and their lives leading to, during and after meeting Ian a soldier working in war torn countries. This is a very cleverly written book but at times I felt it was confusing due to the three timelines it bounced around and at times felt it didnt sit right. Also their were times in the middle of the book that could have been cut out as nothing seemed to happen and felt it didn’t add to the scene setting either. This is a book in which I hated all characters but because I wanted to find out about the twisted turn of events that happened I was still invested in a couple of characters and I’ll leave that up to you which of those they are.
I would like to thank Netgalley and Quercus Books for this ARC I received in exchange for an honest review.

The synopsis of this book was so intriguing. Parts of the book really drew you in and kept you hooked and other parts I had to skip over because the story seemed to go nowhere. A little disappointing that I skipped some of the story but I though this had the opportunity to be so much more

Told in three timelines, now, the weeks leading up the event both set in America and years ago set in the Eastern Block. The back and forth wasn’t confusing and all went to make an excellent story.

This book starts with the murder and leads us through the years of events leading to present day. Just when I thought I had it worked out there was a twist.......and another twist.......and finally a twist I really didn’t see coming.

Fantastic book which I highly recommend.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publishers for the ARC in return for an honest and unbiased opinion.