Rock Paper Scissors: A Full Summary
At a Glance: A psychological thriller set in the isolated Scottish Highlands, told through shifting perspectives and anniversary letters, exploring themes of deception, revenge, and the dark side of marriage.
Alice Feeney's Rock Paper Scissors ensnares readers in a web of marital discord and long-buried secrets. Adam and Amelia Wright, teetering on the edge of divorce, embark on a remote getaway to a converted chapel in the Scottish Highlands, hoping to salvage their fractured bond. But as a snowstorm descends, trapping them in the isolated Blackwater Chapel, the couple soon discovers that their deepest wounds lie not in the past, but hidden in plain sight. Through alternating perspectives and a series of shocking revelations, Feeney masterfully unravels the dark complexities of love, betrayal, and the insatiable hunger for revenge.
Plot Overview
Act I: A Marriage on the Rocks
The story opens with Adam, a screenwriter suffering from prosopagnosia (face blindness), and his wife, Amelia, arriving at the eerie Blackwater Chapel. The trip, won by Amelia in a raffle, is meant to be a last-ditch effort to save their failing marriage. From the start, the atmosphere is thick with resentment and unease. The narrative alternates between Adam and Amelia's perspectives, revealing their deep-seated distrust and the secrets they keep from each other. Interspersed throughout are anniversary letters from a wife to her husband, chronicling their relationship from its romantic beginnings to its present, strained state.
Act II: Secrets Unveiled
As detailed in the Chapter 1-5 Summary, strange occurrences plague the couple at the chapel. Doors mysteriously open, a cryptic welcome note appears, and their dog, Bob, vanishes. Adam is haunted by nightmares of a woman in a red kimono being killed in a hit-and-run, a traumatic event from his childhood. Their investigation leads them to the discovery that the chapel belongs to Henry Winter, Adam's reclusive mentor, and that a headstone in the graveyard indicates Henry died two years prior. The tension escalates as Amelia sees a face in the window, the power fails, and their car tires are slashed, leaving them stranded.
Act III: The Final Twist
The climax arrives with a letter slipped under the door, addressed to Adam. The letter is from his first wife, Robin, and reveals that she is the author of the anniversary letters. The letter exposes Amelia's true identity: she is the teenager who killed Adam's Mother in the hit-and-run. She orchestrated their meeting and marriage as a twisted form of penance or manipulation. As Adam confronts Amelia, Robin appears, brandishing scissors.
The final chapters reveal that Robin, Henry Winter's estranged daughter, orchestrated the entire weekend as an act of Revenge and Justice. She has been secretly writing her father's novels since his death. However, Feeney delivers a final twist: Adam was driving the car that killed his mother, a memory he suppressed, allowing the "woman in the red kimono" narrative to protect him from his own guilt.
In the resolution, Robin kills Amelia. Six months later, Adam and Robin are living together in London, having covered up the murder. Robin has written a novel titled Rock Paper Scissors under her father's name, which Adam is adapting into a screenplay. The book ends with a private investigator discovering Amelia's grave and a severed finger wearing a sapphire ring, suggesting their secrets may not stay buried.
Central Characters
Rock Paper Scissors features a cast of characters whose hidden motives and unreliable perspectives keep the reader guessing until the very end. For a deeper dive, see the Character Overview.
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Adam Wright: A successful screenwriter with prosopagnosia, making him an unreliable observer. Initially portrayed as a long-suffering husband, he is revealed to be the architect of his own trauma and a master of self-deception.
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Amelia Wright: Adam's second wife, initially presented as a sympathetic figure trying to save her marriage. She is later exposed as a manipulative woman with a dark criminal past linked to Adam's childhood trauma, making her both a villain and a tragic figure.
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Robin: Adam's first wife and the secret author of the anniversary letters. She appears first as a victim of betrayal but emerges as the brilliant, vengeful mastermind of the plot, driven by a desire to reclaim her life and punish those who wronged her.
Major Themes
Rock Paper Scissors delves into the complexities of human relationships and the destructive power of secrets. A full exploration can be found on the Theme Overview page.
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Secrets and Deception: This is the central pillar of the novel. Every character harbors devastating secrets, and the plot is driven by their gradual, shocking revelation. The constant unveiling of hidden truths keeps the reader guessing and challenges their perception of the characters.
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Marriage and Betrayal: The book is a dark examination of a marriage built on lies. It explores infidelity, emotional manipulation, and the ultimate betrayal of one's trust. The novel questions the very foundation of commitment and the potential for darkness within intimate relationships.
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The Inescapable Past: The characters are prisoners of their past traumas. Adam's guilt over his mother's death and Robin's dysfunctional childhood with Henry dictate their actions in the present. The novel suggests that the past can never truly be escaped, and its influence shapes the present in profound ways.
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Identity and Misperception: Adam's face blindness is a powerful metaphor for the ways in which all the characters fail to see each other clearly. Identities are hidden, fabricated, and misunderstood. The novel explores the fluidity of identity and the challenges of truly knowing another person.
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Truth, Fiction, and Storytelling: With characters who are writers, the novel constantly blurs the line between the stories they write, the lies they tell, and the objective truth, questioning if such a thing even exists. The novel questions the nature of reality and the power of narrative to shape perception.
Literary Significance
Alice Feeney has solidified her reputation as a leading voice in contemporary psychological thrillers with Rock Paper Scissors. The novel's significance lies in its:
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Intricate Plotting: The narrative is a puzzle box, with clues and red herrings meticulously layered. The final reveals re-contextualize the entire story, rewarding attentive readers and demanding a potential re-read.
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Use of Unreliable Narrators: Feeney masterfully employs multiple unreliable narrators. The alternating perspectives of Adam and Amelia, combined with the deceptive anniversary letters from Robin, create a constant state of suspense and uncertainty.
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Exploration of Domestic Noir: The novel operates squarely within the domestic noir subgenre, taking a seemingly ordinary marriage and exposing the darkness, violence, and psychological turmoil lurking beneath the surface.
"Marriages don’t fail, people do."
This quote encapsulates the novel's focus on individual failings and the destructive power of secrets within the most intimate of relationships.
Historical Context
Published in 2021, Rock Paper Scissors arrived during a period of immense popularity for the psychological and domestic thriller genres. Authors like Gillian Flynn (Gone Girl) and Paula Hawkins (The Girl on the Train) paved the way for stories centered on marital strife, unreliable female protagonists, and shocking plot twists. Feeney's work fits comfortably within this tradition while pushing the boundaries with its sheer number of layered revelations and its unique central conceit of prosopagnosia.
Critical Reception
Rock Paper Scissors was met with widespread critical acclaim and became a New York Times and international bestseller. Critics and readers lauded the novel for its breakneck pacing, claustrophobic atmosphere, and genuinely shocking twists. Feeney's ability to misdirect the reader was a common point of praise, with many reviewers admitting they were completely surprised by the final reveals. The characterization, particularly the slow unraveling of each character's true nature, was also highlighted as a strength. Some reviewers found the number of twists to be excessive, arguing that the final reveals strained credulity. However, even this criticism often acknowledged the author's ambition and cleverness in constructing such an intricate plot.