Title: The Letter
Author: Kailah Raye
Publisher: Page Publishing
Genre: Action/Romance
Pages: 256
ISBN: 978-1641384667
Reviewed by: Barbara Bamberger Scott
Hollywood Book Reviews
The Letter is a romance story of grand proportions, Raye’s new book takes us to Afghanistan and back, tracing the connectivity of three very different people.
Matt Connor and his friend Law Levine are staff sergeants and close buddies deployed on their fifth mission together, this time in Afghanistan. One night, Matt writes a letter, by hand, and the next day, he is killed in combat. A woman he knew and loved, Ryean Callan, gets a visit from Matt’s grief-stricken mother Maria, who tells her the worst. Unknown to Ryean, Maria is also a surrogate mother to Law, who approaches the young woman in a way that seems too personal, too intrusive, while she is still pondering her loss. But Law has a letter – the one Matt wrote the night before his death – asking him to watch over Ryean, whom he characterizes as stubborn and tough – but “she just needs a good man in her corner.” He is determined to honor his best friend’s wishes, and persists in gently trying to gain Ryean’s trust.
Law finds out just how tough this single mom can be when, in their next encounter, Ryean proves herself to be the right person to know in an emergency, acting as medical aide after a bar brawl. From that incident, the two gradually get to know each other, both stepping carefully and only revealing their innermost secrets over the course of several months. But even as they declare their love for one another, events will shake them up when death looms for Ryean and an unborn child.
Raye shows her writer’s strengths in this debut novel. She creates powerful, almost nightmarish visions, that push the star-crossed couple ever closer together, almost against their will. She has a fine ear for dialog, from the bar and battle talk of the hardened soldiers to the woman-talk of Ryean and her girlfriends. The action is stirring, well described and almost constant, with many surprising twists, especially as we think all is resolved and the story is drawing to a close – then everything suddenly breaks loose and all bets are off about the ending. The Letter is a classic tale of wide proportions. It defies the confines of genre, and proves the worth of its author.