How Does 'Rock Paper Scissors' End? Spoilers Explained.

Just finished reading ‘Rock Paper Scissors’ by Rob Ryan. What a read! The end of the book was so powerful and unexpected, packing in so much for the reader in the final chapters. It follows the crumbling marriage of Adam and Amelia and they set off on a weekend break to a remote Scottish chapel. But it quickly turns into a complete psychological nightmare and nothing is as it seems – particularly with Amelia. The letters she wrote confessing everything? Made up. The strange history of the chapel? All part of her plan. But what really threw me for a loop was that Amelia is not who she seems to be… in fact, she’s Ruby – the little girl Adam decided to seduce when they were kids. And what he’s been told all these years is a complete fabrication.

Throughout the ending of the novel the confrontation with Ruby in the locked-up chapel is quite harsh for the reader as Adam realizes he has been tricked and tries to leave but all of the doors and windows are locked up. Why Ruby has set up this trap for Adam is slowly revealed throughout the ending of the novel and ultimately is a means for her to make Adam face up to his own selfishness and the lies he has lived. The ending of the novel also clarifies the meaning behind the symbol of ‘rock paper scissors’ and how it relates to the marital game of Adam and Amelia/Ruby. Ruby’s ‘scissors’ cut through Adam’s ‘paper’ lies and Adam’s ‘rock’ can’t crush Ruby. The ending is quite bleak for Adam, the man who couldn’t face up to the truth and he is left a broken man while Ruby disappears into the night leaving behind a single letter. It is implied that Ruby will go on to trick and manipulate another victim in the future and the novel portrays revenge as a game where no one wins.

What has really stayed with me though is the atmospheric feeling of the novel. The crumbling chapel, the snowy isolated surroundings and Ruby’s unhurting gradual exposure of Adam to his worst fears all culminate in a prettygreat climax for a novel of this style – the worst fear for most people is that something is true and they just don’t know it yet. And for a long time we are blinkered to the truth of Ruby by Adam’s face blindness, the narrative tool of the author. It’s a superb trick. The ending is as it should be – no neat wrapping up of a bow for anyone. Just Ruby’s letter floating to the ground. SoBasic. Yet so DamnSatisfying for fans of Psychological thrillers with a great villain who wins in the end.

This is one of the darkest endings that I have read by this author. Unlike her other thrillers that often have some sense of justice, escape or a new beginning, however tainted, this book provides no hope for Adam or Amelia. Instead they are trapped in the life that they have created and seen for what it really is – ugly. And the worst thing is that they have both been given a life sentence of having to read/admit the terrible things that the other has done/written. In many ways this is a horror book and it is particularly psychological. It leaves you feeling uneasy and makes you take a scary look at your own personal relationships.

The mention of the scissors at the end of the story has been bugging me. Are they going to use them to hurt each other? Are they a symbol of their severed relationship? Could they be used to cut themselves free from each other – in divorce, or something even worse? Or are they just another mundane object that has been rendered useless in this strange game that they played? I think the power of the scissors lies in their ambiguity. They could be whatever you fear most in that situation. For me, they represented the simple choice that the two characters now had to face: to cut the knot or not. The fact that we are not allowed to read of their choice is what is so unsettling about the story.

The ending is slow in revealing itself, like a poison. It isn’t suddenly revealed and then something can happen as a result of it. Rather, it is slowly exposed to the reader in small but devastating bits. The reader learns about the journals first, then Adam’s confession, and then a very quiet conversation that explains the nitty-gritty of how they were deceived. And then, in silence, the book ends. The author trusts the reader enough to not feel the need for a car chase or gunshot in order to realize the extent of the horrors he or she has experienced. The choice is brave and it pays off.