Successful screenwriter Adam Wright has a problem. He can't see faces. Not even his own wife's. Called "face blindness," the condition makes him rely on other senses, such as knowing his wife's gait, her laugh, her scent.

Amelia has been married to Adam for almost 10 years and is growing sad and tired of his condition. Their relationship is superficial, civil, social, but nearly sexless and unexciting. Adam retreats to his work around the clock, leaving Amelia to fend for herself.

In one way the couple are very traditional. On their wedding anniversaries, they always follow the guidelines — paper, silk, linen, leather — in exchanging gifts. Amelia takes it a step further. She writes letters to her husband explaining how she's felt the past year. Thing is, she never gives them to him. The letters are just one of her many secrets.

As their 10th grows near, Amelia "wins" a lottery, one she doesn't remember entering. The couple are off to Scotland for a free weekend getaway. The inn is an ancient converted chapel, and there's not a soul in sight. As a snowstorm builds, they decide to stay at least for the night.

What could have been a healing, romantic holiday turns into a harrowing struggle to stay alive. Who invited them here? Who wants them dead?

It sounds a bit like one of Adam's screenplays, but even he could not have imagined how the plot would play out.

Rock Paper Scissors

By Alice Feeney.

Publisher: Flatiron Books, 304 pages, $27.99.