Rock Paper Scissors

Sometimes things have a way of working out. My little book club (previously the community book club) selected Rock Paper Scissors by Alice Feeney as our September title. I went to request it from the library and it was only available without a long wait as an audio book. So I put the hold on anticipating to get it a week or so later. Imagine my surprise when I got it the next day. We'd have it just in time to listen to it in the car on our drive back to Florida from New York. Unlike many of the novels my book club reads, it sounded like something my  husband, the non-reader, might also enjoy.

I think I liked this one as much as I did because I listened to it in the car with my husband. Thrillers, domestic or otherwise, are not titles I would ordinarily pick up, but it did seem like something we might both get engaged in while on a long car ride and that was totally the case.

The story about Adam and Amelia had more twists than the roads we were driving on. They've been married awhile and for lots of reasons, things just aren't right between Mr. and Mrs. Wright. They go on a weekend getaway to a converted chapel in Scotland to try and salvage things. It's make or break. Of course, their drive up from London is a terrible snow storm. They get to the chapel and no one is there to greet them. The power goes out. They start seeing and hearing things. It definitely was portrayed as a creepy place to bit.

Interspersed with narrative about their weekend are letters that Amelia writes, but doesn't share, on each of their wedding anniversaries. I thought that was pretty clever.

Whenever we'd come across something that didn't make sense, I'd need to remind my husband that eventually the author would choose to have it make sense and we'd get some clarity. At the end we were able to say, "Oh, yes, now I get it."

Maybe because I don't read that many thrillers, to me the story was fresh and entertaining. I have a feeling we'll be talking more about the author's craft than the actual story when we discuss this in our book club.

A final note: In this novel, Adam suffers from face blindness. A day or two before listening to this novel, I'd read an article about Brad Pitt suffering from facial blindness. It added an extra bit of interest to listening to this story.