Feeney, Alice: Rock Paper Scissors

Fesselnd!

Wow. This is one of the best books I have read this year. Why?Totally surprising twists, very good story, lot of tension and I love the language. I have marked so many good sentences. This books makes you think a long time after reading it.

Adam and his wife Amelia are traveling from London to Scottland in Amelia’s old car during a snow storm. She won this weekend trip and thought it would be a good idea for them to work on their relationship. But when they arrive at this eerie Lake with its old Chapel redefined as a house, strange things begin to happen. It seems that Adam and Amelia are hiding something from each other and both have their own thoughts about how this weekend is going to turn out.This was my first book from Alice Feeny. After reading the first chapters I was impressed by her writing style. I never highlighted so many sentences in a kindle book before. But as much as I am in awe of her talent I was soon a bit bored by the story. There are a lot of books out there about couples and their domestic dramas. This one has a unique setting (the cold winter night in this creepy chapel/house with a lot of weird things happening) but it jumps a bit too much back and forth. But as creepy as the setting is I was somehow bored and found that nothing substantial was happening. There was just a bit of a cat and mouse game but it failed to intrigue me. I could easily put the book down and I never felt the urge to go back to it. So I was not really into the story and did not expect much. Therefore the twist(s) came as a surprise to me and made me realize that I was not very concentrated while reading it because in hindsight there were a lot of clues. So at least I was hooked for the ending.I loved the writing but the story was more of an OK read for me until the end. I loved the first twist, maybe even the second one but then it was a bit too much. It is a highly fictional story with unique but also weird characters. I found it interesting to read about someone with face blindness and what kind of problems they bring to your daily life. I never thought about that. I was a bit bored in the middle because there is not much happening and I found it sometimes confusing. Of course, when you have that kind of twist you somehow have to write around it so that it can work. That sometimes leads to some affected situations where you ask yourself why on earth the author tells it in such a weird way.While the writing is a 5 Star for me, the story is just a 3 Star rating. So I end up with 4 Stars. But I think I will read another book from the author, just to read her phrasing again.Ghit

I would expect more from this book. The ending was a shock but it was not very fast paced and it might bore some people. But the plot and the idea are great.