Rock Paper Scissors by Alice Feeney

 

Mr. and Mrs. Wright have a problem with their marriage. They also have secrets from each other that, I'm certain, doesn't help the issues they face in their failed relationship.

Adam and Amelia Wright have been married ten years.  Amelia works at a dog rescue organization at Battersea.  Adam is a writer and adapts books to movie scripts.  He wrote a script called Rock Paper Scissors which he hoped would be a successful screenplay but it's never made into a movie. He spends his days adapting other authors' work into films.

Adam also suffers from a condition called Prosopagosia which is also called face blindness. When I read that bit I was certain the author had made up that medical condition but sure enough, it's quite real.  Those who suffer from this condition can not recognize faces at all - their loved ones or anyone.  They cope by learning a scent, perfume or the way someone walks. This is important in developments of this thriller.

Amelia, unbeknownst to Adam, writes a letter to him every year on their anniversary where she pours her heart out about her love, her hopes and her frustrations with him being a workaholic.  She never gives him the letters but through this you get the core of their failings with one another.

Then Amelia wins a trip to a remote getaway in the wilds of Scotland.  Blackwater Chapel is so remote the phones do not work and there is absolutely nothing near them. No stores, petrol stations or homes.  It's a windy, snowy stormy night when they finally arrive, bickering most of the way.  It's the last chance to save the marriage by getting away and having time together. 

So, here is where I looked up the genre of the book because I do not like horror, at all.  It isn't.  They arrive and the chapel door is locked.  They walk around the building and when they come back, the door is open.  Creepy.  Inside there is a dust coating on the bench in the foyer. Adam gets the lights on and Amelia sees a smiley face traced in the dust on the bench.  Amelia asks Adam is he did it but he claims he did not. The lights go out after Amelia is in a wine cellar, a face appears in the frosted  stained glass window, their very clean guestroom has the exact furniture and decoration as they have in their London home.  

This is a suspenseful story which reveals the big twist very close to the end.  The chapters are titled Amelia, Adam and eventully a third perspective is introduced called Robin.  You won't know who Robin is until much later.  Again - thriller, suspenseful and you'll immerse yourself into the very cold Scottish countryside and wish you could pull that blanket a bit tighter around you as you read.

Sharing with Joy at Joy's Book Blog for British Isles Friday.