About the Book:
Think you know the person you married? Think again…
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.
(Rock Paper Scissors releases on September 7, 2021.)
My Review:
My favorite of Alice Feeney’s books!
“Life is all about choices, and learning how to put ourselves back together when we fall apart. Which we all do. Even the people who pretend they don’t.”
Adam and Amelia have won a trip to a Scotland hideaway, which Amelia hopes will help repair their troubled marriage. Not only does Adam suffer from a condition called prosopagnosia (which I had never heard of), he is also a workaholic, and for his part, he doesn’t fully trust Amelia. Something seems off but he can’t put his finger on it.
“Three years and so many secrets. Are there things that you keep from me too?”
Adam’s condition is also known as facial blindness which means he can’t see or remember people’s faces, including his wife’s. Right from the start, the author disorients the reader in the best way, and I never quite recovered my balance!
Adam is a well-known writer and Amelia has supported his workaholic tendencies throughout their marriage. She hopes that just for this short holiday, that he can focus on her and on their marriage. Adam’s wife has written him a letter each year on their anniversary, so the point of view switches back and forth between Amelia, Adam and the person who might or might not be the host of the Scottish cottage where they are staying with their rescue dog, Bob.
“People are careless with their words nowadays. They throw them away in a text or a tweet, they write them, pretend to read them, twist them, misquote them, lie with, without, and about them. They steal them, then they give them away. Worst of all, they forget them.”
I loved the mention of the British rescue organization Battersea Dogs & Cats Home throughout the book. The animal rescue group is near and dear to Amelia’s heart and she is a long-time volunteer there. The remote Scottish setting is perfectly creepy and I always love a book about writers and the writing process. And of course give me a book about a troubled marriage and I’m all in: “It feels like the terms and conditions of our relationship have either been forgotten, or were never properly read in the first place.”
There is an incredibly clever twist which I did not see coming. I had to re-read certain parts of the book to make sure that I had not missed any clues. A wonderful domestic thriller which will make for great end-of-summer reading.
(Thank you to the publisher for providing an electronic copy via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.)
