Title: Letter Slot
Author(s) Name(s): Owen King
Published in: April, 2025
Why You Might Like This Book: Read this book if you enjoy
- dark mysteries,
- unexpected twists and turns,
- even-paced narration,
- moral ambiguity,
- short fiction, and
- unsettling, dark fiction.
Who Should Avoid This Book: Avoid this book if you are triggered by or dislike
- death of a parent,
- grief and loss,
- homophobia,
- debt, and
- illness.
Letter Slot by Owen King is a story that explores the price one might be willing to pay for turning events to favour them. If you can enjoy the benefits of your choices and somone else must pay the price and face the consequences, should you let that happen? But what if you badly need some help? To what extent can a good-hearted civilian go? Where do you draw the line?
Blake is a sophomore student who lives with his mother Wendy. His father had passed away when he was just two years old, and since then is mother has been taking care of both of them. Wendy and Blake had much better lives in the past, when she had a better-paying job. They even lived in a decent place. But when she fell down accidentally one day and injured her knee severely, she lost that job, and soon everything started falling down – she had difficulty paying the bills, there was always one financial demand after another, she couldn’t pay her rent on time, and the owner of that house had told them to vacate. Now, they live somewhere in a remote place, away from the city, in a house that offers just the bare minimum. These days, Wendy is on medicines all the time, struggling to keep up with a job and to privde for and take care of both of them. Watching his mother suffering everyday hurts Blake and he finds himself to be helpless.
He goes to school, has a few friends and notices an old, religious, mad man named Hugh Brammer, who frequently approaches students and visits the school campus, holding some placard about “gay indoctrination in schools” but is harmless otherwise. These are all the contacts he has. They don’t have any relatives they can count on either. On another normal day, when his mother is sick and trying ahrd to cope, he goes to school and has a class where the life skills substitute teacher gives them a task on communication, asking all of them to write a letter to someone, a friend, real or imaginary, a mentor or someone, explaining to them what problems and challenges they are currently facing and might need help for. Anyway, Blake needs to vent out his feelinsg to someone, so he writes a letter to his “Pal”, describing what his mother and he have been going through of late, signing off the letter, calling himself “Bud”.
That day, the bus also breaks down, so the students have to just walk back home, and on his way home, he notices that there seems to be an abandoned, old house, surrounded by trees and weeds. For some reason, he gets curious and walks into the place, with a bit of skepticism. The place might have been a nice house sometime in the past, but as of now, nobody occupies it, and as he checks out the place, he picks his letter and drops it into the letter slot there, and gets back home. The following day, his mother faces a medical emergency, as she is diagnosed with perforated ulcer, and their problems worsen: Wendy’s health is worse than it was, as she lies in the hospital, they have more financial problems now, and some officers and social workers might meet Blake and tell him something he wasn’t prepared for. As he waits in his home, cleaning the space, with Wendy still in the hospital, and thinking about what would happen in the near future, he is surprised to find a letter addressed to him, “bud” from his “Pal”. This can’t be for real! He never expected hear back from anyone, nobody could have possibly read that letter, let alone take the time to write a reply letter to him?
He opens the letter to find a response to the contents of his earlier letter from his “Pal”, who expresses sympathy, then narrates an experience from their childhood days, when an old salesman would visit their home often, and not only would he sell goods but also play with them, show them around, and make them happy. “Pal” suggests that Blake and they could do something similar this time, where they would give Blake a bit of good luck if Blake would write the name of some person, any person whom he hates the most and share it with them. Also, Blake never hated anyone. Yes, there were bigoted politicians, selfish, corrupt leaders, haters who hated others, teachers he wouldn’t like, hypocrites, many such people, but he couldn’t hate anyone, he couldn’t imagine himself ahting anyone. But Blake becomes worried that sooner or later, some officers will meet him and he will be taken from home and his name would be put in the system, where he will be separated form his mom, and they will assign someone else to take care of this fifteen-year-old, so he quietly leaves his home. He runs to the old house to check out if there really is nayone living there, to see if he can find his “Pal”. There is no answer, but he had brought a note with him in which he had written the name of that homophobic old man – “Hugh Brammer” – which he drops through the letter slot. And almost immediately, he receives a call from Wendy’s office on her phone, and when he answers that, he hears from someone called J. J. Blasingame, the president of Moderna Design International, who informs him that owing to her exceptional work at the company, they will be offering her a reward of $75,000.
Soon after this incident, their lifves change drastically, they are able to move into an expensive new house and afford better gadgets, better medical support, and better services, which they could not have imagined earlier. Wendy even gets promoted at work. But then to get permanently cured of her knee problem, Wendy needs to go through a few surgeries, which she can’t afford at this point. In parallel, Hugh Brammer who seemed to be harmless was caught assaulting his wife, who had to be hospitalized, and that event made it to the news. Blake couldn’t believe it and felt uneasy. But what shocked him was the images of Hugh brammer’s brain scan reports that showed a lesion that seemed very similar to the tissue in the scan reports of Wendy’s ulcer.
Is all this new development somehow related to the letters he wrote to his “Pal”? Blake begins feeling uncomfortable and worried. Without revealing all this, he discusses such a hypothetical scenario with his friend Eileen, asking how she would feel, what she would do if she could gain something really good she wanted but she must pay the price that someone else, someone bad will suffer, not necessarily die but suffer a lot, so will she be okay with it? His mother still needs some more money to heal completely. As a son, he could help her by wishing and sharing his wishes to his pal, but as a person, could he, should he? He decides to be honest with his “Pal”, so he writes another letter, expressing gratitude and stating his confusion and worry and also his wish, that his mom recover completely, and drops the letter into the letter slot and gets back home. He finds another resposne now, from his “Pal”, where they state that they understand wht blake is going through, but they wish to help, to give him some more good fortune, and for that to happen, is Blake willing to trade the name of another person he hates? Blake participates in this “trade” again and jus like what had happened earlier, Wendy receives another round of good fortune. And this time, not just the person he mentioned to his Pal but someone else, someone innocent also suffers along.
Again, their lives improve drastically, following which Blake’s grades have been fine and Wendy’s surgeries have been successful as well. They even get a dog they name Bodie, Blake passes his driving test, and he secures an internship at a law firm. Everything is going well, there is not much to worry about. Throughout this time, with nobody else to talk to or confide in, Blake finds it hard to resist to not visit the old house anymore. But one day, things get ugly again, as Bodie dies. Something else catches his attention and Blake couldn’t keep away from his Pal anymore, so he initiates contact by writing another letter again, and this time, things get more intense and severe. For his letter, he receives a reply, wherr Pal consoles and comforts Blake that there is nothing to feel guilty about, that some people are bad at heart and they get what they deserve, so Pal could extend some more help or luck if Blake would give another name.
In all these occasions where Blake gives his “Pal” the name of a person he hates, for which he receives good luck in return, he realizes that it is not just the person he mentions but also a loved one of theirs who suffer along, facing serious consequences. Soon after, when Blake has a conversation with his mother, she tells him a few things he never saw coming.
Who was or who is “Pal”? Is “Pal” connected to Blake directly or indirectly? Is that a real human being or a ghost? Does someone really live in that house there or is the house haunted? What kind of choices are right to make and who takes responsibility for the consequences? The Letter Slot is a fast-paced horror short story written in third-person form, with supernatural elements and pleasant surprises and shocks, building up the atmosphere around the choices one makes and the consequences they have to face with an eerie theme. Overall, the book is fast-paced and a page-turner, easily keeping the reader hooked. The ending also has interesting twists. I’d give this a 4-star rating, and I’d recommend this for horror fans who like a quick-read.
