Rock Paper Scissors by Alice Feeney – Who Really Is The Wicked One?

Title: Rock Paper Scissors

Author(s) Name(s): Alice Feeney

Published in: August, 2021

Why You Might Like This Book: Read this book if you enjoy

• psychological thrillers,
• dark thrillers,
• shifting perspectives,
• dark secrets and lies, and
• intense suspense.

Who Should Avoid This Book: Avoid this book if you are triggered by or dislike

• loss of a loved one,
• divorce or separation,
• psychopathic characters, or
• intense relationship drama.

Yes, another plot involving a getaway to a remote place in Scotland in bad weather conditions! But this book has received a lot of good ratings and it seems to be a favourite. Let’s see what it is like.

The married couple, Adam and Amelia, both of them in their 40s, have been together for long, but time has changed them as people (?) and the relationship is no longer what it used to be, and they are considering separating from each other, at least Amelia is. That’s when their therapist suggests going away for a weekend and spending time together to see if that can somehow help the relationship. Yes, as absurd as the idea is, Adam reluctantly agrees to go with her on a weekend getaway during a snowstorm to stay in a converted chapel along with their dog Bob to stay at a place for which Amelia won a free stay. But once they reach the place, it is eerie, with nobody else around there, and they do not even know who invited them in the first place.

Both of them have had difficult childhoods and have no family other than each other and Bob. Adam Wright is not just like any ordinary man; he has a problem, prosopagnosia, which makes it hard for him to see distinguishing facial features on anyone’s face, even his own, and yes, that must be an odd experience for a spouse. He is a screenwriter who loves reading and makes a living writing movie adaptions of interesting books. Adam’s first book or screenplay is called “Rock Paper Scissors”, which involves a man who writes a ltter to his wife every year on their anniversary, even after she dies, and sadly for him, even after all these years, he has not been able to make a movie adaptation of his own, his first book. Amelia on the other hand is a dog-lover, who works at a local nursery for animals, someone who wants children, and is afraid to leave her husband at this point because she has nobody else, not even close friends. Amelia has her own secrets, a dark side that contrasts what you would expect of someone working for an animal charity, and Adam knows that she does.

The place, called Blackwater Chapel, has an eerie feeling from the moment they arrive. Only after reaching there does Adam start probing his wife about how she booked this place, and Amelia says that she won tickets to this stay in a raffle at work, and some stranger sent her en email saying that she’d won, a stranger whose name she doesn’t know, whom they haven’t met yet. Bob, who is old and tired these days, begins acting oddly, barking loudly from the time they arrive, as though he senses something strange. The place is empty with no other guests. In the first few chapters, one must admit, the author sets the stage almost perfectly for a horror story, also telling us more about the main characters in the good old show-don’t-tell way!

Surprisingly, there is a chapter that reads like limerence, which you don’t see in many books. There are many such chapters, actually, in the form of yearly romantic letters addressed to Adam, starting from the year he 2007, when he was in his 30s, letters so touching and lovely that you might forget that this is not a romance novel after all. The letters reveal many beautiful memories, including “the word of the day” and “the word of the year” games, books, dogs, and two loving people in a happy marriage. Except these letters are not shared with Adam, he does not get to read these letters, and they carry some secrets. This way, there are a few interesting layers that add to the thriller plot.

There is another character, Henry Winter, an old man, a world-famous crime fiction author who Adam respects much and adores, and somehow, coincidentally, his agent died many years ago. That gave Adam the opportunity to connect directly with the author and he has adapted a few of Henry’s books into screenplays since then. Today, Adam sees Henry as a father figure.

Weird things start happening. Surprising Amelia, Adam already seems to know the chapel house well. Amelia also gets the feeling that there is someone else, other than these two, in the chapel, a place that looks mostly deserted. Soon, another main character is introduced, a woman named Robin, needless to say, another dark and twisted character, and as one can guess, not a complete stranger to the Wrights either.

Slowly, as we get to learn what they think of themselves and of one another, the drama gets interesting, too, and secrets are unravelled one by one, making you question already who really is the bad person here. Both the husband and wife have their share of regrets, fears, and justifications for what they have done and are doing. They both do sneaky little things behind each other’s back, assuming that the other doesn’t know it all. This is a dark, twist-heavy psychological drama-thriller centered on a strained relationship and an unsettling setting. With shifting perspectives and a mounting sense of unease, the book keeps readers questioning what’s real until the very end.

Interesting quote: “Isn’t love like breathing? Isn’t it instinct? Something we’re born knowing how to do? Or is love like speaking French? If nobody teaches you, you’ll never be fluent, and if you don’t practise, you forget how … “

Spoilers ahead: There is another character introduced, a famous actress who connects with Adam’s past and the eerie place they are staying in now, October O’Brien. Half way through, a few things become painfully predictable, like it happens in many mystery stories, the dog Bob goes missing, it is Robin who has invited them over for the weekend, anonymously, the car tyres are mysteriously and eerily slashed, and so on. Robin reveals that she knows more about the Wrights than they know about each other, and there are still some twists in the second half.

If not for the creative analogies here and there about life and people, the monotonous narration could get well, a little too monotonous, as there seems to be little difference in the ways the different characters feel and perceive. Was it because of the same, stoic tone of the novel from the beginning to the end that the ending did not feel as good as some reviews say it is? Overall, this book feels like 10% romance, 40% thriller, 50% drama, and 0% humour.

Nothing unputdownable here, Feeney’s writing style is still quite good, so if you are okay with a dark novel that won’t keep you up at night or give you crazy dreams or make your heart beat fast, and you could enjoy a well-written suspense drama with psychological twists, you might enjoy this novel. I’d give it a 3.8 rating. What do you think?