Maddie and Joanna had been friends since they met in Spain.

What happened, though?

Joanna and Maddie have lost touch, Maddie married Ian, and now we come upon a 911 call as the first page of BEAUTIFUL BAD opens.

We follow from when Maddie meets Ian overseas and when Ian and Maddie are married.

The chapters are labeled in years as well as weeks before the 911 call.

As you read, subtle hints were given to the underlying tension and the situations that caused everything to fall apart and turn into murder.

Joanna seemed pretty volatile, jealous, and dangerous.

Ian seemed to have some problems with women, had secrets, and seemed dangerous.

Fiona seemed as if she could fly off the handle for any reason. She was also jealous of Ian.

Maddie seemed to be the weak character and the most gullible, or was she?

So many characters to wonder who made the 911 call and who the attacker was.

The BEFORE-the-day-of-the-killing chapters weren't that interesting to me even though they were the lead up to everything.

There are some frightening situations throughout the book including details of the 911 scene, bizarre happenings, and abuse.

If you enjoy a many-chapter wait for the final scene, BEAUTIFUL BAD will be a book you will enjoy. The ending did turn out to be a surprise.

BEAUTIFUL BAD was good, but I wasn't wanting to rush back to it. 3.5/5

This book was given to me as an ARC by the publisher via BookishFirst in exchange for an honest review.