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Rock, Paper, Scissors
Rock, Paper, Scissors is the fourth mystery thriller novel written by Alice Feeney and published by Flatiron Books in 2021. The novel takes place in an isolated chapel that is turned into a holiday rental and tells the story of Amelia and Adam Wright, a couple with a strained marriage with hopes that the weekend away will mend their relationship. They are both suspicious about the intentions of the other person and as strange incidents take place, they grow increasingly wary of one another. The story is narrated in four ways, with each perspective being told by an unreliable narrator. The first perspective is of Amelia, an employee at a dog shelter. The second perspective is of Adam, a screenwriter who prioritizes his work over everything else. The third narration style is told by Adam's wife through love letters, dedicated to him and written every year on their anniversary. The fourth perspective is Robin's, a strange and mysterious neighbour of the chapel that the couple are staying in. An extra perspective, a private investigator's, is included in the last chapter.

Plot
It is February 2020 and Amelia Wright is driving her husband, Adam Wright, and their labrador, Bob, to a chapel in Scotland where they are staying for the weekend. She won the weekend getaway from a raffle at her job at Battersea Dog's Home. The car ride is tense and the couple are constantly fighting. It is revealed that Adam suffers from prosopagnosia, an impairment that causes facial blindness. There is a snow storm but despite this, Amelia had insisted that they go away because their therapist had recommended a trip together to attempt to mend their relationship. The surrounding area of the chapel is completely desolate except for a diner, which the couple noticed had been abandoned. They approach the chapel but the front doors are locked. As they make their way to the back of the chapel to find an alternative opening, they hear the front doors open. They are both apprehensive about entering but they do anyway.

The story switches between the current day and to the past, told through love letters written to Adam from his wife. The first love letter is titled Rock and detailed the story of how Adam proposed with his mother's blue sapphire ring. Adam surprised her with Bob, a puppy she wanted to adopt whose tag read "Will you marry me?". The couple is happy and in bright spirits. Each chapter after that has a theme of a type of material that is traditionally gifted to one's partner for each year of marriage, for example, paper, iron, or silk. On their first anniversary, she suggested to Adam that he reaches out to his favourite author, Henry Winter, to allow him to write his novels into screenplays. He said yes, although he doesn't know that his wife had something to do with it. On their second anniversary, she began to notice Adam focusing more on his work than her.

In the current day, inside the chapel, the couple heats up frozen curry and drinks wine from the cellar. They are both internally reflecting on their relationship and how they got to where they are today. As Adam goes to retrieve more wine, Amelia is looking outside when suddenly, a pale face appears in the window, scaring her and causing her to drop a bottle of wine. When Adam goes outside to investigate, he finds sheep and blames them for scaring his wife. The face is revealed to readers to be Robin, a mysterious and bitter neighbour of the chapel. Upstairs in the bell tower, bats spook Adam and he almost falls but is saved by Amelia. He is upset because he saw her hesitate before catching him. He has a nightmare that night, revealing that his mother was killed while walking their dog because Adam refused to. After he awakens he goes to turn off the generator without letting his wife know, because he wants them to leave early. He reveals that they both were involved in an affair. All the while, unbeknownst to him, Robin had snuck into the chapel and was hiding until he ascended upstairs once again.

In the flashbacks through letters, Adam gets the attention of October O'Brien to star in his original screenplay, Rock, Paper, Scissors, based on a man who writes his wife letters on their anniversary every year. October is a rising star and he was set on having her play in the role. His wife writes that Adam chooses work over his marriage constantly. His project is trashed when October commits suicide.

Back at the chapel, the next morning, Bob was gone and their tires were slashed. The couple were planning to leave but now are unable to. They decide to go talk to the cottage, assuming it is the caretaker of the chapel to see if they can find help. Adam goes around the back and catches a glimpse of Robin petting a rabbit, although all he can see is a woman with white hair. She shuts the curtains and the couple decide to climb the hill behind the chapel to see if they can find any clues or help. As they are up there, they see Robin entering the chapel with a key. They run down to confront her. They enter the chapel and see men's boots in the entryway and find a brochure about the chapel which says that it was used to imprison witches and currently houses ghosts. They also find a secret study that was purposely left open by Robin, exposing that the chapel belongs to Henry White. Outside, they find a headstone that reads "Henry White: Father of one, author of many" and they discover that he died two years prior. Adam disputes this because Henry had sent him a manuscript only a year ago.

In the letter flashbacks, Adam's wife befriended a volunteer at work who begins to dress like her. On their tenth anniversary, she caught Adam in bed with her and she left without saying a word.

Robin confessed that Henry is her father who she had a strained relationship with because she believes he murdered her mother and also bullied Robin afterwards. When he died, he called her and gave her instructions on who to inform and what to do with his will. He killed himself as she went to get him a drink and instead of following his instructions, she buried him.

Meanwhile, the couple notice that new pictures had been added to the chapel by Robin. They are wedding photos of Adam and Robin. It turns out that Robin was his first wife whom he had cheated on with Amelia. The couple tries to leave but the door is barricaded, Robin slips a letter under the door for Adam. It would have been their 12th anniversary. She explains everything, including how her father hired a private investigator to watch them but discovers that her best friend, Amelia, was the one behind the wheel when his mother died.

She tells him to make a choice:


 * Rock: He chooses Amelia and can try to leave.
 * Paper: He chooses Robin and they go back to their lives from before.
 * Scissors: He doesn't want to know the third option.

Adam confronts Amelia who charges at him with a knife, only to be stabbed from behind by Robin. 6 months later, Robin and Adam are back in their home together with Bob. Adam confesses that he was actually behind the wheel when his mother was killed alongside his girlfriend at the time, who turned out to be Amelia.

The final chapter is narrated by Samual Smith, the private investigator who is worried because he hasn't heard from Henry Winter. He goes to the chapel and finds Henry's headstone and Amelia's ring finger with the blue sapphire ring on it. Robin and Adam were unable to take the ring off and it is implied that Robin cut off her finger. It is also suggested that Robin practices witchcraft. He runs away and never looks back.

Characters

 * Adam Wright - A screenwriter who adapts films based on novels. He is married to Amelia Wright but is unhappy with their marriage and longs to break away. He suffers from prosopagnosia.
 * Amelia Wright - An employee at Battersea Dog's Home, married to Adam and hopes they can rekindle their marriage.
 * Robin - Adam's ex wife of 10 years, ex-employee of Battersea dog's home, former best friend of Amelia Wright, writer of the love letters.
 * Henry Winter - Robin's neglectful father, idol of Adam Wright and world renowned writer.
 * October O'Brien - An actress meant to star in Adam's original screenplay, Rock, Paper, Scissors before she passes unexpectedly.
 * Patty - A bored employee at the convenience store near the chapel.
 * Bob - A black Labrador mix, adopted by Adam and Robin.
 * Samual Smith - The private investigator hired by Henry Winter.

Origin
Feeney was inspired to write the story after staying in a rental in Scotland with her parter during a storm coined “Beast from the East". The pair were completely isolated and had no cell phone signal. Late at night Feeney saw a ghostly face outside the window who turned out to be the caretaker. A year later, they returned with their black Labrador to stay in a converted chapel and that night, Feeney stayed up from 2AM-5AM to fully form her idea for the novel. She says that writing the novel caused nightmares for her.

Reception
Rock, Paper Scissors became an instant New York Times Bestseller. The novel has over 170,000 ratings and 20,000 reviews on Goodreads with an average rating of 3.97/5.