I was ready for another twisty psychological thriller, and Rock Paper Scissors by Alice Feeney definitely delivered.
The premise grabbed me right away: an unhappy married couple, an isolated chapel in Scotland, a snowstorm, and an anniversary trip that neither of them seems particularly excited to be taking. Add in Adam’s face blindness, a stack of anniversary letters he’s never read, and the increasingly creepy things happening around the chapel, and there was obviously WAY more going on than a troubled marriage.
And there certainly was.
Amazon Summary
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.
My Thoughts
I don’t even know where to begin with this one because apparently I should have questioned EVERYTHING.
First, those letters.
We’re reading these anniversary letters from Adam’s wife throughout the book, so naturally, I assumed they were written by Amelia. We’re learning the history of their marriage, the problems they’ve had, the gifts they’ve exchanged, and all the things Adam’s wife has never actually said to him.
Except…
That wasn’t Amelia.
It was Robin.
Robin was Adam’s first wife. She was the woman who wrote all those letters and saved the anniversary gifts. Amelia was Robin’s friend, and she was also the woman Adam cheated on Robin with before eventually marrying her.
I should have seen something coming, but I didn’t put that together!
And once you know the truth, suddenly so many things you’ve already read mean something completely different.
It also explains why Adam and Amelia seem to have so little in common. It’s obvious throughout the book that neither one of them is particularly happy in the marriage. They both have secrets; they’re both keeping things from each other, and this romantic weekend away is anything but romantic.
Then there was Blackwater Chapel.
I was completely prepared to believe the place was haunted.
When strange things started happening inside the chapel, my mind went straight to GHOSTS.
The isolated setting made it even better. They’re in this creepy old chapel in the middle of nowhere; the weather is terrible, strange noises and other unexplained things keep happening, and they can’t simply pack up and leave.
Meanwhile, Robin is nearby.
Once everything starts coming together, you realize just how much of what was happening had been carefully orchestrated.
And then we learn that Robin isn’t simply Adam’s ex-wife. She’s also Henry Winter’s daughter. The same Henry Winter whose books Adam has spent his career adapting for the screen.
There are just layers upon layers of secrets in this book.
Then there’s Amelia’s past.
Finding out that Amelia had been there on the night Adam’s mother was killed was another huge revelation. Suddenly, this woman hadn’t simply wandered into Adam’s adult life through Robin. She had a connection to him going all the way back to when they were teenagers.
And because Adam has face blindness, he never recognized her.
But even THAT isn’t the whole truth.
For much of the ending, we’re led to believe Amelia was responsible for the hit-and-run that killed Adam’s mother.
Except she wasn’t the one driving.
Adam was.
That final revelation changed the way I looked at him, too. Adam has spent years haunted by his mother’s death, but he’s also been living with a version of that night that isn’t the complete truth.
And really, that’s what I loved about Rock Paper Scissors.
Everyone has their own version of the truth.
Robin isn’t who we initially think she is.
Amelia isn’t who Adam thinks she is.
Adam isn’t exactly who we think he is either.
Even the history of Blackwater Chapel and Robin’s childhood becomes questionable by the end.
Nobody in this story is giving us the whole picture.
And I’m still not entirely sure I’d call any of them particularly good people!
Amelia certainly has plenty to answer for. Robin orchestrates this entire nightmare and ultimately kills Amelia. Adam has his own secrets and betrayals. Yet somehow, by the end, I still found myself invested in Adam and Robin finding their way back to each other.
That’s quite an accomplishment considering everything that happened.
I also loved how atmospheric this book was. Blackwater Chapel wasn’t just a backdrop. It felt like another character in the story. The snow, the isolation, the history, and all the creepy things happening inside made the entire weekend feel claustrophobic and unsettling.
And even after I learned that Robin was behind so much of it, I’m not entirely convinced Alice Feeney wanted us to dismiss the possibility of something supernatural happening there.
That’s exactly the kind of ambiguity I like in an ending.
Rock Paper Scissors kept taking things I thought I understood and showing me that I’d only been given part of the story. Just when one mystery seemed solved, another revelation changed it.
I really enjoyed this one.
Final Recommendation
I would definitely recommend Rock Paper Scissors to readers who love psychological thrillers filled with secrets, unreliable perspectives, troubled marriages, and twists that completely change the meaning of things you’ve already read.
The isolated Scottish setting gives it an almost gothic feel, while the anniversary letters add another mystery running alongside everything happening at Blackwater Chapel.
And if you love a book that makes you think you’ve figured out the twist only to discover there’s another twist hiding behind it, this is definitely one to read.