A couple of months ago HarperCollins hosted a meet and greet where I had the opportunity to meet Annie Ward, the author of the upcoming thriller Beautiful Bad. The interview was fascinating; Ward mentioned that the book actually started as a memoir! That definitely sparked my interest - so much so, that I started reading it on the subway ride home.

The story drew me in very quickly - I tore through it over a couple of days. It’s well written - the world building was absolutely fantastic. The plot takes place in several countries, and I could picture each one quite clearly. As for the structure of the story, I struggled with it a bit. The plot jumped through three timelines: Past, Present and Day of the Killing. The division became confusing and broke up the flow of the story. I think one of the timelines was even going in reverse? Perhaps some readers could have kept it all straight, but for me it meant spending a lot of time trying to place where I was in the plot. To put it in perspective, I normally have no issue following this type of story structure - take that as you will. Anyway, I felt like the pacing could have used some tightening up as well, especially in the past sections. As for the ending - it really threw me for a loop! It was definitely unexpected. I’m actually not sure how I feel about the ending - I’d be interested to hear how you guys feel once you’ve read it!

Overall it’s a fun read and I think it would pair quite nicely with a day lounging on the beach.