Beautiful Bad

Description

In the most explosive and twisted psychological thriller since THE WOMAN IN THE WINDOW, a perfect love story leads to the perfect crime. 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 shocking crime. But what in this beautiful home has gone so terribly bad?

ANNIE WARD is a screenwriter and novelist. The Lying Club is her third book. Her second, The Ideal Wife, originally published as Beautiful Bad, was sold in seventeen foreign countries and translated into fourteen languages. A former travel writer, she loves mountains, beaches, languages and good food. She lives in Kansas with her husband and two sons.

Beautiful Bad is beautifully written, beautifully twisty - and beautifully twisted. A dark thriller with real psychological depth - JP Delaney, internationally bestselling author of The Girl Before As imaginatively constructed as it is compelling. Filled with unexpected twists, Beautiful Bad is a riveting read - Sarah Pekkanen, internationally bestselling author of The Wife Between Us Ward writes with the same compelling energy as you get in a blockbuster Netflix series. The original storyline and the expertly drawn minor characters will leave you suspecting everyone - and trusting no one - Daily Mail Readers need to be off-the-charts clever to figure out who's going to kill whom in this disturbing first novel - Toronto Star As touching and thought-provoking as it is terrifying, Beautiful Bad will leave readers spellbound. A buzzworthy read! - Mary Kubica, New York Times bestselling author of The Good Girl You won't be able to tear yourself away from the page. With fascinating characters that chill and horrify, the ending will leave you staggered - Liv Constantine, bestselling author of The Last Mrs. Parrish Utterly gripping and thrillingly original - I loved the unique settings. Cannot recommend this book highly enough - Karen Hamilton, author of The Perfect Girlfriend A slow-burning, intense and dramatic story about damaged characters - Sunday Mirror