Lucy Dawson has quite honestly produced an absolutely incredible novel in You Sent Me A Letter. This book was advertised in such a way, and I'd heard so many great things about Lucy’s previous books, that I jumped at the chance to review it. It was fantastic and, despite its relatively short length, is in no way lacking and is jam-packed full of suspense from the start.
We first meet Sophie in the early hours of the morning who, whilst her fiance Marc is away, is home alone and wakes with a start to find a man in the room. This person, who seems to know far too much about Sophie’s family, hands her a letter with strict instructions that she is not to open it until 8pm the next day in front of all her family and friends at her 40th birthday party. Entering straight into panic mode, obsessing over the letter and what it may contain, Sophie finds herself unable to relax and enjoy her special day and all the surprises her fiance has planned for her. What repurcussions will this letter have, not just for her but all those she cares about?
As the minutes tick by to 8pm, Lucy takes us on a fast-paced journey with Sophie as she struggles to ascertain who is out to get her and tries to predict the contents of the letter. In doing so, we learn much about Sophie’s life - things, which if I was her, I would not want to become public knowledge. Learning what we do about Sophie left me in a complete quandary and I spent a lot of the book not knowing whether to feel sorry for her and the situation she was in or not. However, by the end of the book I was really warming to her and could see how much she cared about and wanted to protect those around her.
Lucy has created an extraordinary story in You Sent Me A Letter that is completely addictive and superbly written. I became hooked on this book extremely quickly which was undoubtedly due to its incredible opening which left me with so many questions that I was desperate to have answers to. It was also completely unpredictable which is exactly what I like in any good psychological thriller and every time I thought I’d cracked it something came along to make me completely change my mind.
The book also manages to convey a very important message with that being that all actions, whether good or bad, have consequences that we must be prepared to face up to and live with.
Well, what more can I say? After how much praise I’ve seen Lucy’s previous books get I clearly had very high expectations for You Sent Me A Letter and it certainly lived up to them. I can’t wait to catch up on the rest of Lucy’s books and hope to see more written by her in the future.
I would like to end this review by saying a massive thank you to the publishers at Corvus for sending me a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. A 5 star thriller that I highly recommend!
