Don’t give up on this book – read to the end – the twist is brilliant!

Amelia Wright has won a weekend away at a converted Chapel in a desolate part of Scotland. Adam, her husband is not keen but feels obliged to go as he’s always so busy with writing adaptions of books for television and films. They arrive at their destination in the most appalling weather; snow soon covers the car, and their mobiles show no service. Strange events begin to happen as soon as they enter the chapel. It’s a bleak and spooky place. Will they survive the weekend? That’s why I’m saying don’t give up on this book – I wanted to – more than once because it reminded me of my disastrous marriage!

Alice Feeney has a way of writing very deep, twisty, and frightening novels and this is no exception. Set in the bleakest possible landscape in Scotland in terrifying weather it’s “spooky” and then ending took me by surprise – I never saw it coming, which is always a plus.

Rony

Elite Reviewing Group received a copy of the book to review.

I've been a big fan of thriller novels for as long as I can remember but in a saturated part of the book market I don't think it's unkind to say that you get some duds in this genre.

Every once in a while though a thriller comes along that does exactly what you want it to do. For me that is grabbing my attention straight away, hooking me with a mystery and dragging me along through twists and turns that leave my head spinning and keeping that momentum up until an explosive ending. Rock Paper Scissors did all of those things in abundance. What it also had were very unlikeable characters which is a thriller trope that I'm a sucker for. There were so few redeeming factors about them, but I was still so invested in their relationship and what the outcome would be for them. I've learnt over the years that trying to figure out a plot twist whilst reading a book ruins the whole experience for me, so I try to go with the flow and that's when I'm always the most surprised. RPS kept the pace right until the end and every reveal that came along the way left me wanting more. It was very satisfying.

This is a proper binge worthy book and at times I had to go back and read parts again because my head was 🤯. It was so much fun and is one of the easiest 5 stars I've given all year.

I have heard so many good things about this book that I was eager to get stuck in.
Unfortunately, I don't think this is a book for me. It was well written and clever but I just didn't enjoy the story that much. Thanks to netgalley and the publishers and the author for the opportunity to read this book for my honest opinion

And excellent twisty thriller that kept me up to the small hours. Some genuinely chilling scenes and unpredictable outcomes made this one I will definitely be recommending to my friends, I can’t wait for the next one from Alice Feeney!

Talk about complex! I knew there was going to be massive twists and turns, but it was relentless and left my head spinning a bit. Which I quite liked. It wasn't necessarily the easiest book to read. It did feel long and sometimes laboured (a little). But nevertheless, I couldn't have given up without reading to the very end, and I did become fully engrossed.

Multi layered, complicated, creepy, gothic. Read it if you like psychological twists and being kept guessing.

Adam and Amelia Wright are spending their wedding anniversary in a remote chapel in the Scottish Highlands. They’ve driven up from London and the journey has been rather scary as it’s snowing and Amelia’s Morris Minor Traveller is struggling to cope with the wintry conditions! Their giant black Labrador, Bob, is also with them.

The couple are both in their forties. Adam is a workaholic screenwriter and Amelia works for Battersea Dogs Home and she won the weekend away in the staff Christmas raffle. Their marriage is faltering and they’re hoping that some time away together will help them reconnect.

Adam suffers from a rare neurological condition called prosopagnosia (face blindness), which means that he doesn’t recognise faces, including his own or his wife’s, and can’t see their distinguishing features or facial expressions. He uses other strategies to recognise people like their smell, the sound of their voice or their touch.

When they arrive at the chapel after their long and arduous journey, the whole weekend already seems a disaster, especially when they see their accommodation for the next few days! As strange and dark things begin to happen, I felt very afraid for both of them and their dog, especially as we learn more about their pasts and what has been happening in their lives.

The story is told from the viewpoints of married couple, Adam and Amelia, with sections about a mysterious character called Robin, all interspersed with unsent letters to Adam, written on their anniversary each year, from his wife. I liked the little images at the beginning of each chapter, especially the ones for the anniversary milestones – paper, cotton, leather, linen, etc.

Both Adam and Amelia seem to be hiding some serious lies and secrets from each other and, as the story unfolds, it’s clear that there’s lots they haven’t been honest about during their marriage. We’re given a few hints but I still wasn’t sure how everything was going to reach its climax!

None of the main protagonists seemed very likeable and I wasn’t really sure who to trust, if any of them! We’re introduced to other characters and I was suspicious of several of them and their motives. Looking back, there are lots of clever little hints throughout the novel about what is to come.

The book has gothic vibes and is very creepy at times – the chapel appears haunted and it’s in an isolated setting with all but one of the surrounding houses/buildings being derelict and boarded up, with no signs of life. There’s a good sense of tension and the story builds well and I felt uneasy from the start.

Overall, I really enjoyed Rock Paper Scissors – it initially took me a little while to get into the book but, once I had, it was intriguing, gripping and entertaining. This twisty thriller is well written and cleverly plotted, with several red herrings and elements of misdirection. I had various theories but wasn’t sure how it was all going to be resolved and I found the ending fascinating and I didn’t see all that coming!

This is about Amelia and Adam whose marriage is on the rocks. They go on a weekend break to Scotland which Amelia won in a competition at work.
It is told chapter by chapter from each of their perspective and Amelia's yearly anniversary letters. It is a great story that builds chapter by chapters. The characters are strong and the ending is fabulous.
Thanks to netgalley and the publishers for this read.

Rock Paper Scissors follows the story of a married couple on a weekend away in a last-ditch attempt to save their struggling marriage. It takes place in the remote Scottish Highlands where the pair are stranded, and it turns out the couple are both keeping secrets.

This thriller I have often heard praised for its atmosphere and I can definitely see why the secluded location puts many readers on edge but I personally didn't completely feel it. I'm unsure how to explain how I felt for the first 60% of the book, I was definitely on edge; I had theories and I wanted to know what was going to happen next. But I was also slightly bored, and found it hard to convince myself to pick the book up even when I was wanting to know what the was going to happen.

When the twists started kicking in some of them did catch me surprise, especially the first big twist which is one of my favourite tropes that happens in literary thrillers and left me reconsidering everything I'd already in. But the next big twist, and some of the smaller twists, I thought were somewhat easy to guess - and also somewhat disappointing.

Overall I feel like the premise of this book, and even the twists we ended up with, had so much potential but I'm just not quite sure this book lived up to them.

If you like a good creepy book, you will love this - it is hard to follow what is going on a lot of the time, it was for me but perseverence won out in the end! Definitely up there in my thriller/creepy books!

Rock Paper Scissors is a brilliantly twisty book, hitting you with surprises when you least expect them. Can't fault it. A lot of the book feels like it's perhaps moving at a slower pace, as we follow Adam and his wife Amelia on their competition prize trip of a stay in a lodge in the Scottish countryside, but the suspense builds and builds as we realise that neither of them have been honest with each other. We also see a variety of letters written to Adam by his wife on their anniversary each year, and through these we get more of an insight into what happened in their marriage and how they go to where they are today.

I don't want to give anything else away about this novel so I'll just say that it's skilfully written, with fantastic twists and a truly intriguing plot. Pick this up now! It's easily one of my favourite thrillers of the year and I'm so impressed.

This book exceeded my expectations.
I really enjoy all Alice's Feeney books but this books, wow its her best so far. The suspense, the story line and the characters. Once you start you will not put it down.

I do not usually start with the end, but wow, the ending, I didn’t expect that at all!  You can usually get an idea towards the end of the book, but this really had a twist.
 
Each chapter opens with a letter written to Adam on their anniversary, but Amelia and Adam are now facing a marital hiatus.  To help save their marriage, they take a trip to Scotland to stay in a chapel that Amelia has won in a competition and it is here that things become even stranger. 
 
This break away uncovers secrets for both of them and the way that the author has written this, you can feel the animosity between the couple start to unfold slowly.  It’s very clever because it isn’t apparent to begin with, you would have thought that they were quite loving to begin with. 
 
I struggled with the level of Adam’s face blindness diagnosis in that was he able to recognise Amelia or not and was he able to recognise people at a function ever?  Could he recognise Bob the Dog?  I wasn’t sure how credible this was. 
 
All in all, I enjoyed this book very much, I did feel it slowed in the middle but the end made up for it.  And I’d rate it 4 stars 🌟🌟🌟🌟.

Firstly, thank you to the publishers for sending me a copy of this book.
I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book, as I have done with all of Alice's previous novels.
The chapters were short and snappy and each one ended on a cliffhangers, which just left the reader wanting more and more.
The book was so hard to put down.
The book was full of such suspense and tension. The reader is almost always on tenter hooks, waiting for something to go wrong and wondering if the "bad one" is Amelia or Adam. Wondering which one is going to comitt the act!
Then the author does what she does all of her novels, and perhaps what she does best. She delivers the punch and twist and wow what a twist. Whilst, I had my suspicions about some of it, there was one huge aspect of it that I did not see coming!
The book was a complete game changer after this reveal.
The book was a fantastic read and lived up to the high expectation that I had for it. This was easily a five star read for me.

I struggled with this book as I found it too slow, and at times, overly dramatical. The only upside, in my opinion, was that it was based in beautiful Scotland.

Thank you to the author, publisher and NetGalley for allowing me to read this arc in exchange for an honest review.

Rock Paper Scissors tells the story of Adam and Amelia. A couple whose marriage is in trouble but win a timely short break in the Scottish Highlands. But when they arrive at their destination nothing is as it seems...least of all their marriage.

So, this been an Alice Feeney book I don't think it's a spoiler to say there's tons of twists in this book. Pay close attention as there are loads of clues that will totally trick you into thinking you've sussed out what's going on. I pride myself on working books like this out. But not this time. Which is bloody fantastic. But more than that it's a great story, with believable if somewhat unlikeable characters.

A great read which is a return to the promise of great things that the authors debut promised. Definitely recommended.

Wow! what a phenomenal read!
This book starts with, and continues throughout, with letters written from a wife to her husband every wedding anniversary.
Amelia has won a stay at a converted chapel which is very remote, her marriage with Adam has not been as it could have been for a while and she is hoping this will help ‘fix’ things.
As soon as they arrive strange things start happening…I am not going to write any more about the plot as I do not want to give anything away. YOU NEED TO READ IT!!!

This is full of twists that I didn’t want to put the book down. It was intense, chilling and like nothing I have read before.
Alice Feeney wrote such an amazing book that I had a huge book hangover afterwards.
I would say this is her best book to date!

This was a brilliant fast paced read. I was second guessing throughout the story and trying to work out how the characters were linked.

Brilliant twist at the end and interesting depth to the characters.

Amelia and Adam Wright seem like the perfect couple, but their marriage is in trouble. To try and save it they go on a make or break weekend away to a remote, converted chapel in Scotland. When they arrive, they both feel something isn’t right but discover they can’t leave. Who wants to keep them there and why?

The story alternates between Adam and Amelia’s points of view, and secret anniversary letters written to Adam from his wife over ten years. Each letter is named after the traditional gift for that year.

Adam has face blindness which was quite interesting but I’m not convinced it made much sense within the story.
There were some parts I felt could have been explained more and I was left with questions.

It’s difficult to say much about the story without giving it away. In a way I thought it was quite a slow burner and everything seemed to happen in the last 20% or so.

I found it very readable and despite not liking any of the characters, apart from Bob the dog!, I wanted to find out what was going to happen.

The ending was alright even though a couple of bits didn’t quite make sense.

I thought this book was something a bit different. It’s maybe not the most plausible story, but an enjoyable enough read.

3.5 stars rounded to 3.

Thanks to HQ Harper Collins and NetGalley for a copy to review.

It took me a while to get into this book. I didn't really like the main characters but things improved once the unsent anniversary letters began. You start to warm to the characters. Didn't expect the revelations at the end.

Another thriller by Alice Feeney which gripped me from the beginning and didn’t let go.
Based in Scotland it follows a couple trying to mend their marriage and told from the perspective of different narrators it gives the reader a great perspective on the plot.
There are secrets in this book be the suspense and eerieness is the setting gave me a great read.
I have read a few books by Alice Feeney and the twists were of her usual brilliant standard and I would recommend this to anyone who loves a good thriller with twists aplenty.
Thanks to the author, publisher and NetGalley for a copy of this in return for an honest review.