Rock Paper Scissors

Locations
Call Number: Fiction / Feeney, Alice, Adult Book / Fiction / Thriller / General / Feeney, Alice
On Shelf At: Malletts Creek Branch, Pittsfield Branch, Traverwood Branch, Westgate Branch

"Rock Paper Scissors is the latest exciting domestic thriller from the queen of the killer twist, New York Times bestselling author Alice Feeney. Think you know the person you married? Think again ... Things have been wrong with Mr and Mrs Wright for a long time. When Adam and Amelia win a weekend away to Scotland, it might be just what their marriage needs. Self-confessed workaholic and screenwriter Adam Wright has lived with face blindness his whole life. He can't recognize friends or family, or even his own wife. Every anniversary the couple exchange traditional gifts--paper, cotton, pottery, tin--and each year Adam's wife writes him a letter that she never lets him read. Until now. They both know this weekend will make or break their marriage, but they didn't randomly win this trip. One of them is lying, and someone doesn't want them to live happily ever after. Ten years of marriage. Ten years of secrets. And an anniversary they will never forget"-- Provided by publisher.

REVIEWS & SUMMARIES

COMMUNITY REVIEWS

A little creepy and a bit unbelievable submitted by dailyreader on July 10, 2023, 6:34pm I was engaged for the full book, and there were some surprises, but there was a lot to buy into to believe the book. And it felt hard to root for any of the characters.

Suspenseful submitted by cdunlop on August 21, 2023, 3:46pm This is the story of a disintegrating marriage, or perhaps one that has already disintegrated. Adam Wright, a prosopagnosiac, is a workaholic screenwriter and would-be novelist. His long-suffering wife, Amelia, works for an animal shelter, and has won a raffle for a vacation to Scotland, which, on the advice of a marriage counselor, might enable them to recover the intimacy that has disappeared from their relationship, a problem that is revealed in annual anniversary letters that Amelia writes to Adam, but never shows him. At the beginning of their vacation there's a major snowstorm, and the two (plus their dog) make their way to their accommodation in an old converted church, where, before long, spooky events begin to occur. These events seem attributable to a woman -- Robin -- who lives in a nearby cottage, but she remains elusive.

Told alternatively from each of the couple's perspectives plus Robin's, the novel (perhaps aptly described as a "thriller") creates some suspense that is ultimately resolved in an unexpected manner. The plot is engaging to the point of being something of a "page-turner", and Feeney's writing is highly capable, although somebody -- either the author or her character -- needs a grammar lesson: "I'm sure dealing with his crazy ex will only bring Adam and *I* closer together again" [p. 257, emphasis added].