Beautiful Bad by Annie Ward

Review by Amy Annie Ward has successfully entertained me for hours on end with Beautiful Bad, a deeply plotted psychological thriller that will keep you up all night, guaranteed!. This was a well thought out, entertaining ride of a book. Maddie, a writer from the US runs into a British soldier when they are both travelling. She finds herself drawn to him and they end up married and living in Maddie’s hometown of Kansas. Years into their marriage, they have a beautiful son and everything seems fine until a camping trip results in a life-changing fall for Maddie, mangling her face, and possibly affecting her emotional state. She seeks the advice of a therapist who helps her bring to light her fears, insecurities and tries to help her resolve her anxieties with her home life. Ian has been head over heels for Maddie since the instant he met her. They end up together and have a son, but for years he has battled PTSD associated with his years in the British army. All he wants is to provide for his family and protect them, but his haunting past may be darker than anyone anticipated. Jo, who is Maddie’s best friend was always there for Maddie, until one day she cold shouldered her and kicked her out of her life, uncharacteristically. Even though she was not a main character, as the story progresses, her role in Maddie and Ian’s relationship takes shape and clarification of how the events took place overseas begin to make sense. Told from multiple points of view, as well as fluctuating from past to present, I found myself completely invested in this dark, intensely written, brain boggling thriller. While the premise of this book may seem more like a romantic drama, I assure you there was so much under the surface that you need to read it to fully appreciate the depth of the story. I was able to determine the trajectory of the story, but there were so many other unforeseen twists that I didn’t mind at all. What I really enjoyed was the story followed Maddie so effectively from her twenties to her thirties, that I was able to really develop a connection with her as a character. And, of course, like any truly good psychological thriller, it’s not over until its over. Be ready for more twists just when you think there can be no more. A page turner to the very end, any true psych thriller fan will love this one! **ARC provided for an honest review**

Release Date: March 19, 2019

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