Audiobook12 hours
The Ugly Duckling
Written by Iris Johansen
Narrated by Barbara Rosenblat
Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
4/5
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About this audiobook
With more than eight million copies of her books in print, Iris Johansen has captured top spots on national best-seller lists and attracted a wide audience of fans. Renowned for her superb storytelling, Johansen adds a dark twist to the well-known fable in The Ugly Duckling. Nell Calder is the docile, plain wife of a powerful financier. She is content to live in the shadows of his elegant international life. Suddenly one night, at a lavish party, a hit man targets her husband. Nell's face and body are deeply marred by the same violent hand. But from the ensuing surgery and rehabilitation, Nell emerges beautiful, strong, and bent on revenge. To develop the skills she needs to face her attacker, Nell must conquer her fear and face almost impossible odds. Layered with suspense, drama, and passion, this fast-paced novel plunges you into Nell's dangerous mission. Narrator Barbara Rosenblat provides the perfect pace for a gripping, sophisticated tale.
Author
Iris Johansen
Iris Johansen is the author of over twenty novels - including Final Target, Body of Lies, No One to Trust, Dead Aim and Fatal Tide - and consistently hits the top end of the bestseller lists in America. She lives in Georgia, USA, where she is at work on a new novel.
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Reviews for The Ugly Duckling
Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
4/5
6 ratings3 reviews
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5This is the story that shows the transformation of a woman from an unattractive, submissive wife, into an assertive and lovely woman who knows what she wants and how to achieve it.Nell Calder wasn't born beautiful, a fact that her unfeeling mother had informed her about. How Nell was able to grow normally in a home with such an unfeeling mother was a tribute to an inner strength that Nell didn't know she had.Nell married well but at a party on an island in the Aegean Sea, her husband, Richard, a banker, and her precious four-year-old daughter, Jill, were murdered. Nell fell from a balcony during a struggle with a killer and was so badly injured that she needed plastic surgery.After her surgery, Nell's appearance changed to that of a beautiful woman, but inside, she was still a shell. When she learned that her family had been murdered, she went into a depressed state.Nicholas TAnek was at the party and felt somewhat responsible that he couldn't stop the murders. He tells Nell that the man responsible for the killings is Philippe Gardeaux and that the killings were carried out by Gardeaux's man, Paul Maritz. Nicholas informs Nell that Gardeaux is a criminal and is attempting to win favor and position with the Columbian drug lords. After learning of the man who ordered her family murdered, Nell has a new reason to live, revenge.The author does a nice job in describing Nell's progress into a woman possessed with the desire for revenge. We witness her vigorous physical training and learning how to use weapons to use against the killer.I enjoyed reading this fast moving novel and reading of the interesting characters.The novel was enjoyable.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5This isn't a book that I was dying to read. It was one that I had kind of left behind because it didn't sound that great. However, I was pleasantly surprised to have really liked it! In fact, I liked it enough that I read it in 2 days.Tanek is the perfect savior for Nell. He's determined and driven, but soft and caring when he's needed to be. Nell is also driven and a little stubborn to boot. They work well together once they lay it all out there! There is one part of the story that Nell takes into her own hands, and I thought that it worked well for the story.Overall, I'm really glad that I went back to read this one.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Johansen, like Roberts and Coulter, is one of those that has made it onto the bestseller lists and can be found in other than the romance section--in this case, this novel was found in general fiction and works as a thriller and mystery, and it has a fairly clean style that can hold point of view. It fits in the standard revenge plot, as the titular heroine, Nell, works to avenge her family's death--plastic surgery upgrades her from ugly duckling to swan. Well-paced, often suspenseful, this story zipped along and I cared about the characters, including and especially Nell and her love Nicholas, who works with her against the villains of the story. Nice twist too at the end.