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alexblackreads 's review for:
Rock Paper Scissors
by Alice Feeney
I just found this annoying. Like it wasn't one of the worst thrillers I've read, but just about everything in this was annoying to me in some form.
One thing I struggled with so much for the first two thirds was the lack of information. I get that thrillers keep secrets from the reader and the characters, but I still want to have some information. I want to be able to follow what's happening and I want to be in the process of learning new things, and it just felt like I wasn't. At all. The lack of information was thrown in my face constantly (like oh wouldn't you like to know this thing we've referenced sixteen times? gotta wait another hundred pages). And then you get all the information at the end, obviously, but I needed something more to carry me through the book.
The plot twists in this were pretty cool and I was very down for them, but they weren't enough to get me/keep me invested. It felt like the super cool plot twists came at the expense of well developed characters and an interesting story. I'd rather the latter two, but if you are a thriller reader who's very driven by twisting, turning, shocking revelations, this may do a lot more for you than it did me.
This book is told from what is essentially four POVs; the husband, the wife, a mysterious woman, and letters previously written from the wife to her husband on their anniversaries. I liked the inclusion of the letters in theory, but in practice it felt like they delayed the story. Like the way they shared information and changed the reader's perception was really cool, but just for story pacing and personal enjoyment, I always kind of sighed whenever we got to a (often very lengthy) letter from the past that continuously talked around whatever all the secrets were.
Not a book for me. There were other little things, like at one point she made a crack about a super bitter woman who was the kind of person who writes negative book reviews (eyeroll inducing and kinda made me not want to try her again), but it wasn't terrible. Just annoying to me. I've read worse; I've read better. It's probably not one I'll ever think about again.
One thing I struggled with so much for the first two thirds was the lack of information. I get that thrillers keep secrets from the reader and the characters, but I still want to have some information. I want to be able to follow what's happening and I want to be in the process of learning new things, and it just felt like I wasn't. At all. The lack of information was thrown in my face constantly (like oh wouldn't you like to know this thing we've referenced sixteen times? gotta wait another hundred pages). And then you get all the information at the end, obviously, but I needed something more to carry me through the book.
The plot twists in this were pretty cool and I was very down for them, but they weren't enough to get me/keep me invested. It felt like the super cool plot twists came at the expense of well developed characters and an interesting story. I'd rather the latter two, but if you are a thriller reader who's very driven by twisting, turning, shocking revelations, this may do a lot more for you than it did me.
This book is told from what is essentially four POVs; the husband, the wife, a mysterious woman, and letters previously written from the wife to her husband on their anniversaries. I liked the inclusion of the letters in theory, but in practice it felt like they delayed the story. Like the way they shared information and changed the reader's perception was really cool, but just for story pacing and personal enjoyment, I always kind of sighed whenever we got to a (often very lengthy) letter from the past that continuously talked around whatever all the secrets were.
Not a book for me. There were other little things, like at one point she made a crack about a super bitter woman who was the kind of person who writes negative book reviews (eyeroll inducing and kinda made me not want to try her again), but it wasn't terrible. Just annoying to me. I've read worse; I've read better. It's probably not one I'll ever think about again.