You Sent Me a Letter by Lucy Dawson

You Sent Me a Letter by Lucy Dawson
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

At 2 a.m. on the morning of her fortieth birthday, Sophie wakes to find an intruder in her bedroom. The stranger hands Sophie a letter and issues an threat: open the letter at her party that evening, in front of family and friends, at exactly 8 p.m., or those she loves will be in grave danger.

What can the letter possibly contain?

This will be no ordinary party; Sophie is not the only person keeping a secret about the evening ahead. When the clock strikes eight, the course of several people's lives will be altered for ever.


A well balanced good short story, a quick read that moves along at a gallop building tension and the main character Sophie's panic with every page.


Alone in her flat while her boyfriend Marc is away Sophie is visited by a stranger in the middle of the night who delivers a letter to her and threatens her family and friends if she does not follow instructions to read this out at 8pm the following day, the day of her 40th birthday party. Truly terrified this man will make good his promise that harm will come to her family and friends if she does not comply she is left to let the events of the day of her birthday play out before her with little or no control over the outcome.


We are then taken on the suspense building journey of Sophie's birthday and how events unfold; a day that truly seems to last a lifetime before she has to open the letter in front of all her friends and family.


It kept me guessing almost to the end when I did guess who was doing this but plenty of red herrings along the way to keep you off the scent. Her boyfriend Marc was the most obvious candidate with his controlling and secretive personality but you'll have to read it yourself to find out if he was the one out for revenge or not. I must admit I did find it frustrating that Sophie didn't feel tempted to just open the letter but then of course there would be no story! I do think that in the real world she would have.



Great use of suspense and tension building, a good page turner, very entertaining and worth the read - I give this a well deserved 4 stars for the genius marketing and a book that delivered on so many levels.

I would like to thank the publisher for sending this in exchange for an honest review.