PLOT & PACING
The story kicks off with the disappearance of Abby Green and her husband Grady’s descent into confusion, insomnia, and writer’s block. A year later, he escapes to a remote Scottish island to reset—but instead finds a manuscript left behind by the island’s former resident writer (shades of Yellowface), and a series of eerie encounters that suggest Abby might never have truly left. The pacing is tight, the atmosphere moody, and the final act? A masterclass in unexpected twists.

CHARACTER & VOICE
Grady is a mess—in the best way. Feeney masterfully uses the unreliable narrator trope to full effect, keeping us constantly questioning his version of events. Abby, though mostly seen through memory and illusion, becomes a powerful presence. And the island? Almost a character in its own right: strange, watchful, and deeply unsettling.

STYLE & ATMOSPHERE
Feeney’s structure here is genius. Each chapter title is a contradiction—Beautiful Ugly, Definitely Maybe, Perfectly Imperfect—mirroring the dualities in how two people can perceive the same event in completely different ways. The writing walks a taut line between poetic and punchy. There’s a cold, coastal chill that seeps into every paragraph. Scotland has never felt so eerily intimate.

THEMES & DEPTH
The novel explores how people can live completely different versions of the same relationship. It asks hard questions about authenticity: in marriage, in art, and in selfhood. Can you ever really know another person? And what happens when you stop knowing yourself?

PERSONAL TAKE
This was my first Alice Feeney—and I’m hooked. The ending floored me. I genuinely didn’t see it coming, and that’s rare. But beyond the shock value, what really stayed with me was the message: that being yourself, truly and unapologetically, is the bravest thing you can do.