Annie Ward’s Beautiful Bad starts out with Maddie questioning whether she should see a therapist because of her anxiety from a recent accident and her relationship with her husband spiraling out of control and quickly transitions into a murder scene. Who’s been murdered? What led to it happening? The book alternates back and forth between the murder, the twelve weeks leading up to the murder and the early years of Maddie and Ian, her husband. Both of them have personal issues when they meet in Eastern Europe, and the situation only gets more complicated, especially with mutual friend Jo involved. Despite adversity and a mercurial relationship, the two seem drawn to each other. Is Maddie as good as she seems? Is Ian as bad as he seems? This was a relatively good and fast read, but it seems to be another Gone Girl copycat in many ways, without ever really having a moment that felt like a plot twist I wasn’t expecting.