Books › Rock Paper Scissors
Rock Paper Scissors
384 pages
A chilling, claustrophobic puzzle box of a marriage where every secret is a weapon and the truth is buried under layers of deception.
What it feels like
Reading this book feels like being trapped in a snowed-in cabin with people you suddenly realize you don't know at all. The atmosphere is immediately chilling, drenched in the claustrophobic dread of the Scottish Highlands and the suffocating weight of a failing marriage. It moves with a propulsive, tightly coiled energy, pulling you through alternating perspectives and hidden letters that constantly shift the ground beneath your feet. The prose is sharp and deliberately manipulative, feeding you puzzle pieces that don't quite fit until the final, breathtaking picture is revealed. It is a masterclass in misdirection, designed for readers who love the delicious paranoia of domestic suspense and the thrill of a jaw-dropping twist that forces you to rethink everything you just read.
- Mood
- claustrophobic
- chilling
- dread-soaked
- isolated
- Tone
- deceptive
- cynical
- tense
- suspicious
- Pace
- propulsive
- Themes
- marital decay · the weight of secrets · perception vs reality · betrayal and revenge
- The writing
- Sharp, manipulative, and tightly coiled, utilizing alternating perspectives and hidden letters to expertly obscure the truth.
- The arc
- Begins with simmering marital resentment that steadily escalates into disorienting paranoia before culminating in a paradigm-shifting shock.
- Who it's for
- Readers who crave twisty, atmospheric domestic thrillers where no one can be trusted and the setting is as hostile as the characters.
Content notes
- gaslighting
- emotional abuse
- animal death
- infidelity
About the book
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.
Description from Open Library.
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