Beautiful Ugly by Alice Feeney

 Finally, a book with a male lead.  Many of our recent thrillers centered on a female protagonist that gets in to all sorts of mischief, trouble, and mayhem.  Now we have a male author deserted on a small island with zero contact with the outside world.  What could go wrong?

Did you notice anything strange about the island?  Lots of things are.  

I like that each chapter focuses on an oxymoron, indicating that this is not exactly black or white, it is a gray world, and all the characters are not exactly what they seem.

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Discussion Questions - Borrowed from: Book club questions for Beautiful Ugly | Bookclubs

1. How does Feeney build a growing sense of unease?
2. Have you ever been to Scotland? Could you picture the Isle of Amberly? Do you imagine it as similar to anywhere you've ever traveled?
3. Did you enjoy all the twists and turns of the plot, or did it feel convoluted to you?
4. Which twist was most jaw-dropping for you?
5. Oh boy that ending! Did you expect it? Did it make sense to you? Did you feel it did a good job of tying up loose ends from earlier in the novel?
6. Beautiful Ugly is told from both Grady's and Abby's perspective. What does the reader gain by experiencing both points of view? From the way that the novel also jumps back and forth in time.
7. Spoiler alert: Beautiful Ugly features a very unreliable narrator. How do you feel about this authorial choice in novels, especially thrillers?
8. Did you grow to care about Grady or Abby as characters? What about any of the many eccentric side characters on the island? Why or why not?
9. Thriller Book Club Favorite Question:  Who would you cast in each role?

The Father She Went to Find by Carter Wilson

 This was amazing!

The main character becomes a savant by trauma - never heard of that.  That's an interested condition, though.  You remember EVERYTHING from the day of your accident until this very second.  How mind numbing.  It can definitely be useful but difficult.  I mean, there are definitely some things we need to forget to protect ourselves, don't you think?

Besides this psychological phenomenon we have all kinds of fun in this book.  From missing fathers, random road trips, meet-cutes, strange coincidences, drug cartels meet mob bosses, rogue cops, clandestine agencies, I mean the list goes on and on and on.  

There's just no knowing where this genius will find herself next.  All I can say is she took me for a ride, and I didn't stop gasping until it ended!  And even then ... 

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Discussion questions (taken from the back of the book; Poisoned Pen Press, 2024 (c))

1. Our main character is a savant and can remember everything.  How does this ability affect her?  If you had the ability to remember everything, how do you think you'd feel and why?
2. Penny's father left her after her accident.  What does he send her once a year on her birthday, and what made her 21st birthday different?  How did you feel when Penny received this card?  Would you have reacted the same way?
3. Penny sets out on a road trip to find her father, as well as the clues they buried all those years ago in their final moments together.  Why is this a risk for her?  Would you have done the same thing?
4. Penny and her father "talk" in her head.  What are these conversations like, and how do they change throughout the narrative?  Why do you think Penny feels the need to have these conversations?
5. Sebastian tells Penny, "You recall everything but know nothing."  What does he mean by this?  How does the idea of recalling versus knowing play a role in Penny's character transformation?
6. Travis and Penny begin to travel with a woman named Fia.  Why are the Snakeskin Boys after her, and what is the reason they decide to all travel west?
7. In an emotional ending, Penny is finally able to "find" her father.  What does she learn about him?  How did you feel when this was revealed?
8. List your cast of characters!