Sad to say, this is another book, I had no character that I could sympathize with! Not one! Sleazy Maddie, Joanna, dark, broody Ian, none of them made me want to keep reading, I did, in order to give an honest review! The beginning, middle, and ending are all extremely depressing! I love thrillers, not something headed for paperback trash! How could this book end with a beautiful child being raised by a cold-blooded murderer? Too much for me! Are Publishers putting out these books for sociopaths? I appreciate Netgalley for allowing honest reviews to be published!
I do not recommend!
carolintallahassee.com

Rollercoster ride. Twist and turns. Altering time frames. A story that could not be put down. Loved the writing and the characters and how they developed. I just couldn’t get enough.

I enjoyed reading this for the most part. The end of each chapter left me wanting more. Even though we did get background U wish there were more chapters from Ian's point of view. However that may have made it easier for the reader to guess the ending? Highly recommend for people who enjoy a psychological thriller.

This book was a struggle for me to complete. It starts with a mysterious incident, and has multiple points of view and timelines, but ultimately the story was just flat and dull. The back and forth with the viewpoints and timelines, made for a cluttered mess. There was just too much back and fourth, that I began to lose interest. I did enjoy the perspective of the main character Maddie, but the other perspectives just seemed irrelevant and unnecessary to the development of the plot. Once I lost interest I couldn't find the middle or ending all that intriguing. I will say the final scene makes for an interesting twist, but really that's all I enjoyed. Thank you NetGalley and Park Row publishing for my advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.

This book is told from alternating timelines and alternating point of views. The story starts off from the POV of Maddie. She is married to Ian and it is clear they have their issues in their marriage. What exactly is going on? Who is to blame? Maddie thinks she may need therapy and slowly everything is revealed as we continue reading.

The story then jumps to the day of the killing, when a frantic 911 call is placed. What happened that fateful day? Who was killed? Who is responsible? As we read more into the story we get piece by piece of what unfolded leading up to that day.

I enjoyed how this book was written from Maddie's and Ian's alternating point of views as it allows us to get a better understanding of each of them and see things from their perspective and through their eyes. They each tell their own story, of how they first met, began dating, later got married, and it all unfolds to the present day. I also enjoyed the alternating timelines, from the past to the present and back to the past again, and the suspense building up the the day of the killing.

The suspense keeps building up and leaves you wanting to read more and more to find out what happened and who was killed and what truly happened.

Maddie's best friend Joanna warned Maddie years ago that Ian was bad news... did she know something that Maddie didn't know? Was she hiding something? Ian seemed dark and mysterious, attractive, secretive and dangerous, but Maddie seemed attracted to these traits of Ian's.

A cleverly written book that builds up the suspense and is an addictive read from beginning to end.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publiser for this ARC. 3.5 star This page turner starts out with the detective coming in on a crime scene with a big pool of blood. A family lives at this beautiful house, what could have happened?

I really enjoyed the details of Bulgaria and Macedonia and threw out the story. It kept me engaged the whole time and wondering what every single character was up to.

An action-packed thriller! The book starts off with a killing and then goes back and forth in time, which I found a little difficult. There were some great twists and an epic ending I did not foresee!
I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

I wondered why a good part of the book was all about Ian and his time in Afghanistan, thought it was boring and I was wondering where the "good stuff was,
It turns out the author thought this was all necessary background for the clincher part: I felt that part could've been cut down.

Ian and Mattie meet at a party and eventually marry and have a son Charlie .


A 911 call is received and a frantic female voice I heard and a child hysterically crying.


When the office gets to the house she discovers a trail of blood and two women and a child hiding. The story that unfolds is that Ian got into an argument with Joanna (Maddie's friend) they both intensely dislike each other.
. It appears that Joanna was being strangled by Ian and Maddie & Charlie feared for their lives.


Previously Maddie had suffered severe facial injuries while on a camping trip , she can't remember how she got hurt.

She is seeing a psychologist and has traumatic brain injuries. Ian suffers from PTSD and is quite angry and drinks a lot.

She discovers her husband has been preparing for doomsday and even has gas masks and weapons in their basement when her neighbor is helping her with the sump pump..


She fears for her and her son's safety and thinks about leaving him but she's afraid of what Ian would do to them.


When Joanna visits she has an allergic reaction to the cheese Ian bough so he tries to perform a tracheotomy (thereby leaving the marks on her neck) she fight him and holds him down so Maddie can stab him in the back.and rescue her. They escape upstairs and hid e from him.


The detective that's first on the scene doubts the story of what happened, there's'a pen and a paring knife on the kitchen floor and a blanket with blood on it on the stairs.and Charlie states "You hurted me"..


It turns out this was a scheme Joanna and Maddie concocted so Maddie could get out of her marriage with Ian's money. They get new identities and escape to Bulgaria and we learn that Maddie kills Joanna as well since Joana was asking for a lot of Ian's money.


A good book, believeable story until you are blindsided with the truth.

Copy furnished by Net Galley for the price of a review.

I may be nuts, but I was not crazy about this story.  Amongst all the glowing reviews, including one by a GR friend with whom I invariably agree (helloooo Carol!), you are going to see this rather lackluster rating of mine.  It may be nothing more than having read an overabundance of this genre, and finally OD'ing on this one.  Multiple time lines and POVs are starting to wear thin, too.

In all fairness, there were a couple of little tweaks that were quite good, and I suspect this novel is going to shine when it is released.  <spoiler>It might be a good idea to make sure that you and your partner want the same things out of life.</spoiler>

I love a good thriller, but this book was not a win for me. I felt like there was too much information given that wasn't relevant to the plot of the book. I found my mind wandering, not paying attention, only to tune in and realize that it didn't matter...I hadn't missed anything. Wish I liked this more...

Beautiful Bad starts with the day of a killing and works its way backwards, but it was told so well I didn’t mind the reverse chronology. Annie Ward does a fine job telling the story of Maddie, Ian, and Jo.
Maddie and Ian are married, but maybe not happily ever after. Detective Diane will help figure that out.
A beautifully written book, spanning several countries, Beautiful Bad will keep you going until the surprising, explosive end.

This book has everything a good thriller needs.... characters to both like and dislike, danger, multiple shockers, and a really good plot twist. This is a book that you will want to stay up late reading because you can't bear to put it down. I highly recommend this book!

This book opens with a 911 call featuring a frantic woman begging for help and a terrified child crying in the background. Police are dispatched and there is blood all over the kitchen. Who does all of that blood belong to and who is the killer?

First time reading from this author, and what a maze, who done it? Told from multiple POV’s, but I liked it. This novel was well written. Thank you... I definitely would recommend this book for a mystery!

Thank you NetGalley for an ARC review for honest review! :)

Overall, I just thought this was ok. It didn't add much to the genre and became more and more predictable (to me) as it went on. Maddie's obsession with Ian really made me want to slap her. And while the ending did hold some pay-off, it was too little too late, in my opinion.

***5 Stars ***

WOWWWWWW!!! This started as a very slow burn for me but I quickly became sucked in to the story line and couldn't put this one down.
The story begins with a 911 call and an investigator arriving to a bloody scene in a home.
Maddie was a travel writer overseas, her friend Jo lived overseas as a relief worker and then we met Ian, a bodyguard/contractor in war zones and dangerous locations throughout the world.
Throughout the story there are three different time points: the day of the killing, # of weeks prior to the killing, and the overseas times when Maddie and Ian met along with their relationship with Jo.
Throughout a lot of this story I was angry, I couldn't stand the behavior of the characters but it is what made me love this so much. The ending was great, I didn't see it coming, it made me even more angry, it was just a great psychological thriller. This publishes March 5th, 2019 and is a must read! It will start slow but the relationship/story line building is crucial to when you are freaking out at the end.

Special thanks to NetGalley, Annie Ward, and Harlequin for allowing me an ARC in exchange for a honest review.

Beginning with an alarming scene and a 911 call. You know something bad has happened...

I struggled at times with the back and forth in time. It took a while for me to get into the story and there were times that it slowed down and was hard to get through.

3.75 stars

I would first like to thank Netgalley and Park Row Books for allowing me to read an advanced copy of this novel in exchange for an honest review.

We first meet Maddie as a desperate voice at one end of a 911 call. As the story progresses we bounce back and forth between Maddie's first person POV to the third person POVs of her husband Ian and the first responding officer to the 911 call.

Told from the early 2000's to present day we follow the complicated relationship of Maddie,Ian and her best friend Joanna all over the world. As we begin to fit the puzzle pieces together to discover what happened we also have a countdown to the event starting ten weeks prior.

There is a lot of strong parts to the book. I loved the countdown, seeing what was happening in Maddie's life as she worked through the repercussions of an accident that has left half of her face scarred and her memories of the night that it happened blurry at best. Suffering from a brain injury she is not feeling at al like herself and is questioning if she is losing her mind.

The biggest weakness I found in this novel is that seemed to be all over the place. Often there was so much going on that I felt a bit of an overload. I am a reader that enjoys many different characters and many POVs as well as a good journey along the way. The problem was that sometimes the journey actually got in the way. Though things did end up coming together in the end it still felt as if too much was going on and if a few bits and pieces had been cut the book would have ended up as a 4.5 to maybe even a 5 star for me. As it is now I would have to give it 3.75 stars. The characters are all interesting and flawed which is the way I like my characters in a psychological thriller and is definitely a good read. Just be prepared for a little bit of an overload. In the end the bones of this novel are great and I do recommend it.

This book started out strong, though started to falter midway through, timelines on certain plot points started getting jumbled, and a few non sequiturs thrown in like they were missed in exposition and playing catch-up. The transition from Maddie's first person narration and Ian's third person limited perspective seemed to come out of nowhere. As the book wore on, both characters became tedious, and no longer cared what happened to them and their toxic relationship. The ending may be appealing for some, though I found it nonsensical and lazy. Not getting the 4+ star reviews - I'd give it 1.5, rounded down.

Beautiful Bad opens on the day of the 'incident'. An operator has received a call begging for help.
When the officer arrives at the scene, there is blood, a lot of blood and it is apparent that whatever has occurred, there will be a bad outcome. The storyline then goes to the past and to the present as we build up to what happened that night.
Maddie and Jo were best friends who lived in Europe, teaching English and working with refugees. Many weekends, they get together to try and overcome the atrocities they have seen, and it is on one of these weekends that they meet Ian. Maddie is drawn to Ian like a moth to a flame, and even though his womanizing and questionable state of mind have him pulling Maddie closer and then pushing her away, Maddie is hooked.
Fast forward and Jo is nowhere around, but Maddie and Ian are married with a son Charlie. Maddie has been in a horrific accident and even though she doesn't remember what happened, she is anxious and nervous about, well everything and Ian's being away from home for work, means she has to try and cope with her son and her fragile state of mind. And that is where things get really weird, really quickly! It would be impossible to say much more without giving some spoilers away, so let me just say you are in for a heck of a ride and the author keeps dropping one twist after the other. I didn't see how this one was going to end and even so I still don't quite totally get the attraction between Maddie and Ian, but I will chalk it up 'author's license'.I enjoyed the read and I don't think too many people will figure out the whole plot!

Beautiful Bad surprised me. I find it more and more difficult to find books with twists that actually surprise, Beautiful Bad fits the minority. My favorite aspect of the novel is the working in reverse. Annie Ward did a lovely job executing this backward explanation of events.