The Ugly Duckling

The Ugly Duckling - by Iris Johansen

You’ve probably read a lot of books that go something like this:
-We’re introduced to the good guy -The good guy has a young child that he/she loves -Young child is killed in an attack by a bad guy - Good guy swears revenge - Good guy gets revenge

There’s nothing wrong with such a story.  The real talent is how the author fills in all of the details.  How believable are the characters? How believable is the plot?  Is the story suspenseful?  Do you actually care?  Unfortunately in this story, it’s these details that make reading this book a rather tedious experience.  I never really found the plot believable, the characters were thrown together, and attention was paid to details that seemed completely unnecessary. 

Let’s take the main character of the book.  The “Ugly Duckling” is our heroine with a four-year-old daughter.  She’s really not that ugly, but she’s definitely no beauty.  Part of the problem is a lack of self-esteem which comes from a rather insincere and domineering mother.  So Nell Cader has a rather low opinion of herself.  Yes, she has a husband to go along with her daughter, but there’s no chemistry there at all.  He’s a pretty wealthy and important person, obviously.  So wealthy that he’s having some sort of party at the beginning of this story with very high profile international people - the kind of international people that terrorists like to attack.  An attack happens at the party.  Many, including Nell’s husband and daughter are killed.  She avoids death even though she’s pushed off a very high balcony into some jagged rocks.  She’s in pretty bad shape.

Well, there’s another “bad guy” at the party, but he’s not “as bad” as the terrorists, and he’s out to get their ring leader as well (which the only reason why he’s at this party).  It seems he feels sorry for Nell, and arranges for the best plastic surgeon in the world (that he knows quite well) to reconstruct her face after her accident.  Well, wouldn’t you know, after the surgery is complete (GASP!), Nell is now beautiful!  Now, if you get to this point in the book and think “it can’t get any more ridiculous than this”, you’ll be tempted to stop reading and throw the book in the trash.  If you feel that way, please do.  I wish I had.  All I can think of is that had this been anywhere close to reality, I can see women by the millions who weren’t happy with their appearance throwing themselves over balconies destroying their facial features so they can obtain better features through the miracle of surgery.

To be blunt, all of this is really unnecessary to the plot.  Since the connected “bad guy” (who’s not really a “bad guy” remember.  I mean, he is, but the main terrorist is the real “bad guy”, so the “bad guy” is really a “good guy”) now forms an unbelievable friendship with Nell, she’s privy to information that will help her go after the big bad terrorist.  Of course, being beautiful isn’t enough.  She also has to get into shape, so we read about her doing all sorts of calisthenics and weapons training.  I guess in this particular fantasy world, a woman can accomplish in a few short months what takes professional terrorists decades to master.

We then read about one ridiculous event after another that denies any element of reality to where Nell can eventually get the bad guy.  You might think I’m “spoiling” the ending for you, but it’s pretty obvious from the very beginning how the ending to this book will turn out.  Plus, if I’m “spoiling” the book for you, that means you probably won’t read it.  And believe me, you should thank me for that.  I’ve never read a Harlequin Romance, but this is the type of book that I would think one of those would be like – completely stupid, completely unbelievable, and a general waste of time and effort.  Maybe if I were a female I would have enjoyed this better.  If that’s the case, I’ll give it a 2-star rating as a benefit of a doubt.