Official excert-

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 is the next exciting domestic thriller from the queen of the killer twist, New York Times bestselling author Alice Feeney.

Short summary- ~5-10 minutes

Adam and Amelia went on a trip with their dog Bob to a chapel during a snowstorm that Amelia won at her work. They are having martial problems and they try to make the best of it. He is a screenwriter that has face blindness. They are staying in an old chapel that was renovated to be a home with a wine cellar. They have a simple dinner and have some wine. They see the bell tower and a bunch of bats fly out and Adam almost falls. The power goes out twice and they are general feel unenvered especially when Amelia is convinced she saw someone outside, so they decide to leave in the morning. In between chapters there are letters from Adam’s wife about each year of their relationship. They met and immediately fell for each other. They lived in a small apartment and he did not have much work, and suddenly he got an opportunity to adapt a novel from a popular horror/crime author Henry Winter. They adopt a dog from her job and they get married. They try to have children but after issues including a miscarriage they give up. Her letters include that she has secrets and lies.

Robin is a woman who lives in a nearby cottage and is the person Amelia saw outside. She watches them and knows who the couple are and sneaks in. Adam has nightmares of his mother dying from a hit and run that he feels guilty for. They wake up and realize their dog is gone. They know the doors are locked but check outside and it is very cold with a lot of snow and also see a graveyard. They can not find Bob and have no cell service. They decide to go to the cottage, Robin does not answer and Adam looks in. He sees the woman but she avoids them. They try to go to the top of a hill to see if they have service. Robin uses this time to go inside the chapel. In the letters, their marriage is doing well. Adam has written his own screenplay, Rock Paper Scissors, that has yet to become a movie. He becomes friends with an actress that tries to make it happen but then suddenly dies. He is adapting more of Henry’s books and while Adam is fascinated by the normally recluse author, his wife is not. They have a fight about him working too much and her not having much of a life, and she starts becoming friendly with a girl from work.

Robin goes into the house and does some things to mess with the couple. Adam and Amelia see someone go inside and they run after them. They go inside and notice a secret room. Adam recognizes the room and knows that he is in Henry Winter’s house. They are both confused and decide to leave and ask the police for help, but their tires are slashed. As they are walking around they see Bob’s collar on a headstone in the graveyard. It belongs to Henry Winter, claiming that he died two years previously. They are confused since Henry released a book recently and there has been no word of his death but even Adam has not spoken to him for a long time. They go back inside the house and look at some of the photographs on the wall and notice that one is Adam’s wedding picture to his first wife, not Amelia. In the letters, Adam has been spending more time working and she has been spending more time with her friend. On the day of their anniversary, she came home early to find Adam in bed with her friend, to which she immediately leaves.

Robin was Adam’s first wife and Amelia was her friend that Adam cheated on with and then married. Robin is also the estranged daughter of Henry Winter and never told Adam about it, but she secretly asked Henry to let Adam adapt one of his novels. Henry asked her to help with his death including telling everyone. Robin ignores it and insteads to pretend to be Henry and finishes the book he was working on. Amelia is not afraid of Robin but then Robin slips a letter for Adam under the door. It reveals everything and asks him to choose between her and Amelia. The letter also reveals that Amelia has secrets of her own including that she had a troubled childhood and once lived near Adam. She used to steal cars and was suspected of a hit an run the night Adam’s mother died. Adam is shocked but asks Amelia about it. She does not answer him and they both get angry. Amelia grabs and knife but Robin stabs instead.

Adam and Robin go back their home happily together and never talk about what happened again. She writes the books as Henry Winter and he writes the screenplays for it. Adam then reveals he has his own secrets and that he was mad at his mom and ran out that night. He met a girl in a park and they start to kiss and they want to do more but need privacy. They break into a car and she teaches him how to drive. They drive around the block and he takes a corner too fast and he hits his mother. The girl pushes him out the car in shock. He never tells anyone and lets the police believe it was a random teenager and Adam can’t recognize anyone.

*There is an epilogue of sorts about the private investigator that discovered Amelia’s past worked for Henry for many years. He is surprised atthe sudden no contact and tries to find him. He finds the chapel and Henry’s grave and is confused but leaves.

Long summary ~ 25- 30 minutes

The story is told through the viewpoints of the three main characters and letters from the wife to the husband from the past. The present being Feb. 2020. 

Amelia- Amelia and her husband, Adam, are driving to Scotland for a weekend getaway during a nasty snowstorm. Adam has prosopagnosia so he can not recognize people’s faces. It is revealed that their marriage has issues. Adam is a screenwriter and has had success turning novels into blockbuster movies and she works at an animal shelter. She almost hits a stag and they fight about going on their vacation. They finally found the place which was a renovated chapel. They also brought their dog, Bob, with them. When they first try to open the doors, they are locked but after going around to look for another door, they come back and the doors are open. 

Adam- They are suspicious about the opened doors and Amelia reveals she won it at a work raffle. He reveals that he doesn’t tell people about his face blindness and that he is just charming. He gets the bags and Amelia is upset that he brought his laptop to do work. He reveals that they have no children and his father left while he was young and his mother died early. Amelia was also an orphan, so they just have each other. He reveals that they go to counseling for their problems and the counselor thought the vacation would be good. The doors suddenly close and they suspect the wind. 

Letter(Rock)- 2007, They met randomly when she accidentally sat in his seat at the movies which got them talking. After they moved in together, she found his manuscript for a screenplay he‘d written, which has never made it to screen. She really wanted a dog since she works with dogs at the shelter. She found a puppy and wanted to bring it home but Adam said no. The next day, she had to assess a potential owner which turned out to be Adam with a marriage proposal on the name-tag. He had his mother’s sapphire engagement ring. She responded by saying they will play rock, scissors, paper and as she always played scissors to his rock, she won and said yes. His manuscript is about a man who writes letters to his wife on their anniversary which inspired her to write her own.

Adam- They head to the kitchen and find a note for them. The note mentions the word “we” which gets Adam curious, Amelia just thinks it’s the housekeeper who emailed her with the directions to the place but didn’t leave a name. They light some candles but the wind is picking up outside and she suggests putting some music on. Adam remembers it was not in the car, Amelia says it must have been a mistake but Adam knows but doesn’t say that he saw her take it out of the car before they left. 

Amelia- She goes to try to find some food while she thinks about her marriage, and how she has no one else. Adam comes to help and they find the freezer filled with food. Then he goes to the crypt to find wine. 

Letter (Paper)- 2009- She got promoted at work and he had some minor work after two failed pilots. The morning of their anniversary, she reads from her phone that the agent for Henry Winter has died. Henry Winter is a famous author whom Adam adored. His agent would never let any of Henry’s books get adapted so she thinks maybe Adam has a chance. She tries to get Adam to get in contact but he is stubborn. Then she gives him her anniversary present of a paper crane that will hopefully give him good luck when he is a superstitious man. She goes out for a walk and when she comes home Adam reveals that his agent called him and said that Henry Winter wanted him to adapt his works after meeting with him.  She reveals that she has a secret from Adam and now maybe she can’t share the letter with him. 

Amelia- Adam heads into the crypt, and finds a bottle of wine. They eat their food in front of the fire. She rethinks her marriage and their problems, and insinuates that only one of them might be going home. 

Adam- He eats his dinner and starts to think about work and the novels he has written with Henry Winter. He only does that author’s novel and has not really worked on his own material. He finds the paper crane in his wallet and reminisces about it. He holds it and Amelia throws it into the fire, but he retrieves it.  

Letter (cotton)- 2010- Adam has become more successful since selling his adaptations, but sadly she has not been able to get pregnant. He told her to pack a bag for their anniversary but took her to a nice part of a neighborhood. He gives her a present of a key in a box and she sees the SOLD sign on a house. It was in need of work and she was surprised they could afford it. In the bedroom there is a bed and champagne with sheets made of cotton, and she got him socks. 

Amelia- she says sorry for throwing the crane into the fire, but Adam doesn’t seem to care. He accuses her of being angry all the time and she says she is tired of being the only one that puts effort into their relationship. He apologizes and kisses her. They decide to have more wine and Amelia goes to get it but then sees a face outside the window. 

Adam- She tells him she saw someone outside and he offers to go out. She says no and instead he helps her when she cuts her hand on broken glass when she dropped the wine. Adam is worried that she needs her inhaler because she has asthma. He thinks that maybe it was the housekeeper outside and asks her to call them. She gets her phone but there is no signal. Adam  decides to take a look outside, taking Bob the dog with him. 

Letter (leather) 2011- She reveals they spent their anniversary at a work party and Adam hopes to see Adam Winter there. She got him a leather satchel and he got her leather boots. She helps him when people come to talk to him at the party since he can’t recognize people. He keeps asking if Henry Winter is there but she says no and they eventually leave early. She mentions in the letter how he was there trying to get their attention and she secretly avoided him.

Amelia- Outside, they see sheep and Adam thinks maybe she imagined the face in the window. He tells her to relax and she feels like she is being watched. 

Robin- Robin was looking into the chapel but ran when Amelia saw her. She lives in a small cottage on the path to the chapel and knows the area well. She watched them drive past and go to the chapel. She saw them go inside and have their food. She also insinuates them going on their trip was a poor choice. 

Amelia- Adam convinces Amelia to go into the cellar, so he can get over her fear of it. When she goes down the lights cut out and the cellar trap door shuts.

Robin- Earlier she went to the local town to get groceries. She goes back to her small cottage and has a simple life with a rabbit. She uses candles and eats beans by the fire.  

Amelia- Amelia starts feeling paranoid that she is not alone in the cellar.  Adam opens the door and reveals that the lights went out and dropped the door by accident. She panics and wants her inhaler because she has asthma. Adam goes to get it and she uses matches to get some light and sees scratch marks and hears voices and scratching. 

Adam- Adam finds the inhaler and since Amelia struggles to get the ladder, he goes down to help. 

Amelia- Adam grabs a bottle and they decide to go back to bed. On their way up they see another note asking to not have dogs in the bedroom. Inside their bedroom, the room looks exactly like their own. Adam thinks that it’s because the design was in a brochure. Amelia is suspicious but goes into the bathroom, when she comes out, Adam is gone. 

Adam- Adam goes into one of the other rooms that has a “Danger Keep Out” sign on it and curiously wants to see inside. It leads to some stairs to the bell tower. He looks around and uses his phone to take a picture. He reveals that Amelia has been acting strangely and has seen a financial advisor.  She claims it was to prepare for their future, including a life insurance policy she had him sign when he was drinking. He reflects on his life with business and how people try to change him including his mother but died early. He also reveals that both him and Amelia both slept with someone they shouldn’t have. 

Amelia- she finds Adam at the bell tower,and she brings the wine and some blankets. Adam tells her about the stars and after some time they decide to head back inside. As she heads to go in she hits the bell and a bunch of bats fly out. Adam stumbles but she grabs him.

Adam- Adam thinks that Amelia hesitated when grabbing him and almost let him fall. He wants to leave, and they leave. Amelia is driving and there is silence while it is raining.  Suddenly there is a woman on the road wearing a red kimono. He tells her to slow down but she goes faster and they hit the woman. 

Amelia- She has to wake Adam up from a dream about a woman in red.  She reveals that he sometimes had nightmares and it takes him a moment to realize who she is. She journals about his nightmare, and the various changes in his dreams. It is revealed that he is having nightmares about his mother dying. His mother was hit by a driver that Adam saw but due to his face blindness, couldn’t help identify so he blames himself. It is also revealed that she was wearing the red kimono because she had male “friends” visit and Adam could hear. Soon Adam is sleeping again. Amelia takes a sleeping pill  and wakes up not long after because she heard a noise downstairs.

Robin- Robin sees the lights out and heads over to the chapel. She reveals that she didn’t plan to stay long when she arrived but ended up staying years.  She reveals that she recognized the man although he is older and is curious if he still has nightmares. She reaches the doors and goes inside.

Letter (linen)- 2012- She reveals that they couldn’t get pregnant and she feels broken. She was supposed to meet him at the fertility clinic but he did not respond. She talks about the difficulty of the troubles of trying to get pregnant. That appointment the doctor revealed that she was pregnant. He arrived late to the appointment and she was annoyed. He cried when he learned about the pregnancy and seeing the scan. They play rock paper scissors to determine the sex. He gave her a linen cushion and they noticed blood. She had a miscarriage and she tried crying herself to sleep but it didn’t work and she thinks about sleeping pills. 

Amelia- She hears more noises downstairs and can’t get the light to work. The sounds come closer and she is scared. Adam opens the door and reveals he was thirsty so he went to go get some water. He also heard a noise but all the doors were locked and Bob would have growled. They go back to bed and decide to leave for a hotel in the morning.  

Adam- He pretends to be asleep and waits for Amelia to fall asleep and reveals he crushed up one of her sleeping pills and put them in her tea. He reveals that he started running since he spends the majority of his time at his desk.  Amelia thought he might be trying to have an affair but he has only thought about someone else. He also reveals that he turned out the power when she was in the cellar and now the generator outside too.

Letter (Wood)- 2013 – She is sad about not being able to get pregnant but she has moved on.They had the first fight because he came home late because he was talking to an actress named October O’ Brien who is interested in his screenplay. It turns into him saying she is not passionate about her career.  The day of their anniversary, he has to work but he promises to be home by dinner. She gets him a wooden ruler and he gets her a magnolia tree that he planted outside. She had tickets to the theater but there was a smoke alarm and she went home early and October was at their home.  October was actually helping cooking dinner and she adores October. 

Robin- Robin is hiding in a secret room until she is sure Adam is upstairs again. She reveals that she once lived there and heard that they planned on leaving in the morning but she implies that maybe one of them might not ever leave.

Amelia- Amelia wakes up and Bob the dog is missing. She says she searched the place and Adam reassures that the doors were locked and he’ll  come when he gets food. They pour the dog food and when nothing happens they decide to search outside. They go outside and see the snow is very deep so they think he is in the cellar. Adam plans on using his phone light and Amelia thinks that he “left” it back in London but he has it. 

Adam- Bob is not in the cellar and Amelia confronts Adam about having his phone. He tells her he noticed her taking it and grabbed and accused her of lying about Bob. He also says he has no signal to call for help. Adam reveals that he found newspaper articles about October O’ Brien, and a pamphlet about the history of the chapel. The pamphlet says the church’s cellar was used as a prison for accused witches in the 1500s. There are also urban legends about the chapel claiming it to be haunted.

Amelia- Amelia is determined to leave and find Bob, she thinks that he might have accidentally fallen from the bell tower. They get dressed and search outside again. They walked around for about 20 minutes and even found a small graveyard. She thinks that maybe he was taken and  Adam couldn’t imagine who. Amelia thinks to go to the cottage they passed and ask them for help. They go to the cottage and see smoke rising from the chimney so they know someone is home. Amelia knocks but no one answers. Adam walks around to the back to look, he sees a woman inside holding a rabbit but got scared when he knocked on the window but then she closed the curtain. He also saw candles everywhere and thought the woman might be a witch. 

Robin- She closed all the curtains and blew out the few candles. She is annoyed they came to her and was happy it was only the man who looked inside. She crawls to the door to see if they have left and reveals she invited them there. 

Amelia- Amelia wants to try knocking again and Adam advises against it thinking she is crazy. He also thinks it was the same woman Amelia saw the night before.  Adam thinks if they go to the top of a nearby hill that they will have service. Amelia writes a note for the woman in the cottage offering a reward for Bob. When she places the letter under the door she heard something and thinks Robin heard everything. 

Robin- Robin did hear everything and throws the letter into the trash. She looks out the curtain to see they are walking up the hill. She lights up a pipe and waits till they are at the top of the hill and reveals she took the dog as goes toward the chapel.

Letter (Iron)- 2014- Things have been good, and October O’ Brien has been helping Adam with his screenplay. They spent their anniversary at a French villa thanks to October. He gave her a bookmark and she gave him a key that opens a secret. She writes that she wanted to give the key so she can tell the truth about everything but wants to live happily in bliss. 

Adam- Adam gets to the top of the hill first and sees nothing at first. He couldn’t recognize the woman at the cottage but had a weird feeling. He also reflects on his mother’s death. They did not see anything so they head back but it is slippery so it takes longer. Amelia sees someone going into the chapel, Adam knows he has the key but the person goes inside the chapel. He asks Amelia about the raffle and it is revealed that Amelia only bought one raffle and found out that she won via an email from the housekeeper. 

Robin- She is inside the chapel and takes her boots off. She makes the guests’ bed, and pours out the shampoo and uses their toothbrushes to clean the toilet bowl. She takes some skincare and sees Adam’s wallet. She sees the crane but puts it back and takes Amelia’s inhaler then rings the chapel bell.  

Amelia- Adam runs down the hill and Amelia hopes the person is the housekeeper checking up on them. She hears the bell ring and thinks Adam has done it. She has gone inside but can’t find Adam, and he is behind the bookcase in a secret room. Adam has searched the house and didn’t find anyone but saw the secret door open and recognizes the room they are in and realizes who the property belongs to.

Letter (copper)- 2015- It was a difficult year, October O’Brien was found dead at 30. They went to New York for their anniversary and it was at the same time of a movie premiere of one of his books and Henry Winter might be there. She knows why Henry Winter was there and not because of Adam’s work of his screenplay. She spent the day alone in the city as Adam spent the day with Henry Winter. She takes a selfie at the Statue of Liberty, and goes to Coney Island.

They meet for dinner and Henry Winter wants Adam to go with him to LA to talk about the next movie. She gets mad that they haven’t spent any time together on their trip and he has that he had to being her because she has no friends. She admits this is mainly due to the infertility and all her friends losing contact over the years since they all have children. They exchange presents. He got her pennies from each of the years they have been together and she gives him a penny from a lucky penny machine on Coney Island. They argue some more about his career and she thinks that Adam is developing an attachment to Henry Winter as a long lost father idea. She actually spots Henry Winter a few tables away but says nothing. A new coworker messages her that she missed her and she sends the selfie she took earlier. 

Robin- Robin hides in a room until she knows they are inside the secret room and leaves the chapel. She tells a companion that everything will be okay and to wait, he starts to fidgets but complies. 

Amelia- She tries to realize who the room belongs to but Adam reveals that the property belonged to Henry Winter.  Adam recognizes the room from a picture where Henry had given to a newspaper. The desk had once belonged to Agatha Christie and was very unique. Adam also reveals that he did not want to adapt any more of his books and Henry was very upset. They are about to leave when she spots her inhaler on the desk behind him and he claims to not know it was there. Amelia is tired and just wants Bob, and to leave, and then they hear a dog barking. 

Adam- They go outside and see nothing, he saw boots at the door but are now gone. They see a figure in the distance and they go to it and see that it is a scarecrow but a snowman’s face. It is wearing Henry Winter’s style of clothes including his tweed jacket, silk bow tie and has his walking stick. They are confused since it was not there when they searched earlier. They walk around some more to find Bob but they find the graveyard with Bob’s collar sitting on top of a gravestone that belongs to Henry Winter. 

Amelia-They are both confused that Henry could have died 2 years prior. Adam thinks that since Bob could not have taken his own collar off so they are not safe. They look at the email notifying that she won and how Henry does not write emails. Adam hasn’t spoken to Henry for a while, and neither has his agent but he got a manuscript to become a movie. So he thinks Henry might not be dead. The headstone said “father of one,” so Amelia thinks Henry had a child, but Adam does not think so. Adam thinks they should leave and go to a police station, and grabs an ax for protection. As they go to the car, they find all four tires are slashed. 

Robin- Robin goes back to the cottage and rubs down Bob. She thinks about how Henry Winter called her and said he was ill. She goes to the hospital and he is in poor condition. They go to the chapel and he shows her his rabbit named “Robin.” He tells her his end of life plan and all the important documents. He shows off his laptop with her name as the password. His latest book was a bestseller and tells her to grab some champagne to celebrate. When she gets back, he is dead. She buries him instead of cremating him, she also doesn’t tell anyone he died and never used much of his money. She reads the work Henry was working on and she let the rabbit free but it doesn’t leave.

Letter ( bronze) – 2016- They did not celebrate their anniversary, she had been spending a lot of time with her friend and Adam a lot with work. Their lives are drifting apart, and she comes home to see Henry Winter there. He is there because of a hotel reservation problem and Adam invited him to stay. She felt uneasy so she immediately packed a bag and spent the weekend with her friend from work. When she returns, Adam has finished his screenplay and wants her to read it.  He knows she is upset and asks to play rock, paper, scissors to read it. Instead she says to play for their marriage. He usually lets her win, but this time he tries and they end up playing three rounds with him winning. She reads his manuscript and it is good. She gives him a bronze statue of a rabbit and he gives her a  bronze compass.

Amelia- Adam goes into the house and goes back into the secret room, noticing all the rabbits. He sees one of the drawers has a box with a bronze statue of a rabbit, in another he sees an origami bird, in another is an iron key, the last one is filled with copper pennies with eye holes and carved smiley faces.

Letter (pottery)- 2017- He has been writing a lot, and she has been spending time with friends. They had a simple night and she gave him a mug and he gave her pottery class. They were having an awkward moment but the doorbell rang. It was her friend from work who had a bad date with a makeover. Afterwards she is curious how she found their address and asks Adam what he thinks of her. He says she was like an actress. They play rock paper scissors on whether or not to be together forever, he lets her win. 

Adam- The desk is full of his old anniversary gifts and Adam blames Amelia. She claims not to have anything to do with it. She thinks the book Henry Winter was written by someone else and Adam thinks not. Amelia blames the woman in the cottage. He takes her to the staircase with photos on the wall. He asks her if she recognizes anyone in the picture. They see another door open and see a children’s room inside with a creepy Adam(Jack)-in-the- box, and writings on a chalkboard.

Letter (tin)- 2018- Their marriage was doing well but she felt suspicious that someone was watching them. One night, Henry Winter was on a talk show and slightly disses Adam and his work.  On their anniversary she left work early, and saw a tin of baked beans on the table. She saw Adam in bed with her friend  from work, and he claimed he thought she was her. She digs up the magnolia tree from their 5th and drags inside and puts it in bed.

Amelia- They are confused about the room and they see the final photo on the wall which is Adam at his wedding. Henry Winter is also there but standing in the background. She states she is not in the photo. 

Adam- Amelia reveals that it was from his first wedding to Robin. She thinks that Robin is Henry’s daughter and never told her. There are other photos with Robin. Adam recollects that Robin was estranged from her father. Amelia (Robin’s former friend) suspects that she had something to do with Adam getting that first screenplay. He thinks about the time and how the previous agent had died and Amelia is suspicious since a few people have died around her including October O’Brien. Adam thinks that Bob is safe with Robin, and realizes that when Amelia won the contest they could only come that particular weekend since it was his previous wedding anniversary. 

Robin- She remembers how she left in a hurry and left her engagement ring and grabbed a few things and left, but she does regret leaving Bob. She got in her car and left which is when Henry called her. She recollects about Amelia starting working at the dog shelter, and how much she has changed. She blames them both and planned for them to be there. She reveals her mother drowned in a bathtub and blames her father for it. Once her mother died, Henry removed all traces of her but Robin kept two pairs of embroidery scissors since her mother loved to sew. She suspects Henry of it since he writes crime novels including where a man kills his wife in a tub. She was at boarding school and wrote her own story about a novelist who commits crimes but gets away with it, and her teacher was impressed. Her father was informed and ignored her during Christmas break and she found her dolls floating in the sink and she woke up with her hair cut so she never wrote again. After she buried him, she saw his latest work and deleted a lot and wrote her own. She then typed it on a typewriter as Henry would have and sent it off at the town’s corner shop and claimed to be the new housekeeper. She waited and did not answer any phone calls. She got a letter from the agent saying it was his best one yet. She noticed that Adam had sent Henry his own screenplay (Rock Paper Scissors) for advice and with her old anniversary letters, she came up with a plan.

Letter (steel)-2019- They didn’t celebrate their anniversary because they were not together. She lives in a cottage in Scotland while he lives in London. She apologized for the lies about Henry Winter and asked him to let Adam do an adaptation of only one of his novels but Henry used Adam as a way to get close to her. She talks about how Henry bought most of the land that has the chapel with the town. He made up the ghost stories about the chapel so people would not bother him too. She reflects how Henry likes his alone time and so does she. She now realizes how similar Adam and Henry are as well. She thinks about Amelia stealing her old life. She finishes it with how he will have to make choices.

Amelia- Amelia thinks that Robin was kind but needed a friend more than she needed her. She believes the relationship was over before she even came and how unhappy Robin was. She believed she could make Adam happier and Robin is crazy. It worked out well because Adam loved to talk about his life and she loved to listen and found it exciting. They decide to leave by walking to the town. As they are getting their stuff they see another door unlocked which was Henry’s. There are carvings of the robin bird all over. They also see a red kimono that was left on their guest bed, and on the mirror is written Rock Paper Scissors. 

Letter (silk)- Feb. 2020-  She reveals that she has written letters but wants Adam to read this one privately. She says she has always loved him and wanted to protect him from Henry since he was a dangerous man. She said her dad was a bully to first her mother then her. He called her an unhappy accident.  She wanted to remove him from her life and changed her name to her mother’s maiden name. She has written a novel called Rock Paper Scissors which is a story similar to their own. She will send it off to Henry’s agent and have Adam do the screenplay as he always wanted but only if he ends things with Amelia. She revealed that Henry had a private investigator, named Samuel Smith, sending him weekly reports of their lives. She reveals that it was not a coincidence that Amelia worked at the shelter and befriended her and had changed her name because she had been in jail a few times since she was a teenager. Amelia even lived close to Adam and was suspected of stealing cars and joyriding. She was suspected in the hit and run that killed his mother. Robin thinks that Amelia writes down when he has nightmares so that she can ever know if he will identify her. She has proof and gives Adam options to stay or leave and be with her. 

Amelia- Amelia reveals she had spoken with legal people if the weekend did not go well. She recollects about being a child of foster care and how it was never a good fit. She wants to know why Robin would write those words and is doing this now. She thinks Robin has gone crazy and thinks she tried to freeze them by turning the generator off. Adam reveals he did so that hopefully it would convince to go home early. Amelia is not scared of Robin but Adam is and there is loud banging downstairs. They go to the door and an envelope slides in.

Adam- He gets the letter and reads it across from Amelia. He starts to tremble and Amelia thinks something is wrong. He finishes it and stands up by the window. He recollects that Amelia made all the moves to enter his life like moving in and dropping hints about how she wanted to wear the engagement ring. He never stopped loving Robin and thinks Amelia was possibly in a midlife crisis. He  starts to ask her about the things in the letter and she doesn’t answer.  He remembers the accident vividly and asks Amelia if she ever stole cars, and more things about the accident. She insists that he needs to calm down and needs her inhaler but it is empty. He asks her if she killed his mother and she replies that she loves him. He calls her a liar and she has trouble breathing as she responds that she is not the only one who has lied. She grabs a knife and comes at him but he sees a pair of scissors too. 

Letter (scissors)- Sept. 2020- They have returned home, including Bob the dog and Oscar the rabbit. They got rid of all traces of Amelia and Robin works as a writer but Adam is the only one who knows. They will keep it a secret that  Henry is her dad and that he and Amelia are dead. Adam threw his ring into the loch and Robin tried to get the ring back but it was stuck on Amelia’s finger.

Adam- His screenplay is finally getting made and Robin is a good writer. His nightmares have also stopped. He feels closure but also still feels guilty because he was supposed to walk the dog that night. He was angry because his mother would have “friends” come over a lot. He revealed that night when his mother’s “friend” came over, he left and met a girl. He smoked for the first time and kissed. She taught him how to steal a car so they could do more things. She taught him how to drive and they drove faster and faster when she touched his crotch, he looked down and when he looked up he turned too fast and started to spin and eventually hit his mother. He was frozen but the girl pushed him out of the car and drove away. Neighbors came out and saw him leaning over his dead mother. He didn’t know anything about the girl, including her name and was shocked to learn he was married to her. He doesn’t feel bad about what happened to Amelia and is happier now. 

Sam- Same loved horror and crime novels as a child but turned out to be a private investigator. Henry Winter called him to watch his estranged daughter. They became slightly close and he even convinced Henry to get a laptop so that he could email him. They also started  to chat about other things as well once a month. Then he didn’t hear from Henry for a while and did not answer phone calls. He would get emails to get pictures of the dog and pictures of the redecorated house but then stopped. Sam had worked for Henry for 10 years and was surprised to get no explanation to the ending. When he saw that the daughter had moved back in after the divorce, he decided to find Henry to tell him in person. He found out where he had lived from the Agatha Christie desk and found Blackwater Chapel through the shop owner in town who said the area was cursed. He revealed that Henry talked about his life with him saying that Robin had two writers for parents and could not separate fact from fiction. She was caught telling lies at her boarding school about witches and when Henry tried to discipline her, she cut off her own hair. She ran away a lot as a child then finally for good at eighteen and did not contact her father until she wanted the rights for the screenplay. He found the place but it looked like the sign had been chopped down. It was late and the doors were padlocked closed, he found the cemetery in the back and dropped his torch. While trying to find it on the ground, he found an inhaler and was convinced he heard his name being whispered. He found Henry’s grave and saw a trinket box with a sapphire ring, a crane and a pair of stork scissors. The ring was still attached to the finger. He thought he heard his name again and ran to his car.

My Review- 4.5 / 5 stars

I really enjoyed this book but was honestly a bit hard to start. There was a lot of foreshadowing and made it seem very ominous. I did not expect any of the plot twists and was truly shocked which made this story really good for me. I usually have an idea of what the plot twist might be but I was truly wrong. This is one of the reasons I enjoy books as most readers imagine the wife writing the letters to be Amelia and Robin to be another woman from their lives. This story is good as you reread it becuase you catch small details that show the two different wives. For me, the epilogue-ish chapter of Sam made me more confused and I prefer the story without it.