Letter Slot by Owen King
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
Letter Slot is a great Horror short story. This is the 2nd-Shivers Collection release that I have picked up and I enjoyed it just as much as the 1st, Jackknife.
This is the 1st-time I’ve read from Owen King, and I can definitely see the family resemblance. This guy knows how to tell a COMPELLING story. I was hooked from the start!
This story follows Blake, a teenage boy, who lives with his single-mom. They’ve been struggling and Blake’s Mom’s health has suffered because of stress and an accident she had at their rental property.
Nothing seems to be going right for them, and Blake just wants it to be better, particularly for his Mom, who does so much. He hates seeing her in pain.
As part of a school assignment, he ends up pouring out all these thoughts and emotions into a letter, and putting that letter through a mail slot of an abandoned show house.
He’s floored when he receives a response with an offer to help make all of their problems disappear. All he has to do is give his new pal a name; a name of someone he hates.
Blake is left with a real Faustian dilemma on his hands. He’d do anything for his Mom, but what will it cost him?
I really enjoyed how this story played out. The way it was told, it was beautifully-plotted for such a short story. I was completely sucked in and invested in the moral dilemma.
I feel like King did an exceptional job creating an unsettling atmosphere, even when you didn’t know exactly what was getting under your skin. It was a whole vibe; very well done.
Thank you to Brillance Publishing for providing me with a copy to read and review. Grover Gardner’s narration in the audiobook was perfect for this story.
I highly recommend that format!