The Fourth Letter
Ava and Kent retreat to a remote cabin for a final attempt to save their crumbling marriage. Instead of reconciliation, they find the first of four mysterious letters, each one unearthing secrets that threaten to destroy everything they have built.
- Ava - Kent’s wife
- Kent - Ava’s husband
- Rachel - Ava’s best friend
- Lucia - Ava’s daughter
- Hailey and Beth - Kent and Ava’s daughters
- Garrett - Kent’s childhood bully, Lucia’s biological father
- Ava finds a letter in the cabin.
- First letter: Polaroids of Rachel and Kent being intimate and a message stating, ‘ This is the first letter of four. Every dark secret will be brought to light.’
- Ava confronts Kent with the photos and he admits the affair lasted a year.
- Kent insists they leave before the other three letters are found, but Ava wants to know what they say, so she slashes the car tire to strand them.
- Kent and Ava search the cabin for more letters.
- Kent finds a letter in the back of the toilet tank.
- Second letter: A paternity test dated fifteen years ago showing Lucia is not his biological child but Garrett’s.
- He confronts Ava, and she admits she slept with Garrett because she was lonely while Kent worked double shifts.
- Ava finds another letter and brings it to Kent to open together.
- Third letter: Credit statements in Lucia, Hailey, and Beth’s names showing $40,000 in debt each.
- Kent admits he lost their savings to gambling and took out loans in the children’s names to cover his debts.
- Ava storms out of the cabin.
- Kent chases her, and when he catches up, she stabs him in the chest with a knife.
- Ava throws the fourth letter onto Kent as he lies dying.
- Ava cuts her palm with the knife, then pours bear and coyote attractant on Kent’s body.
- Someone hears her screaming and takes her to their truck to get help.
- The person who picks her up is Garrett.
- This was Ava and Garrett’s plan all along to punish Kent for hurting Ava and the girls; Ava already knew about the affair and the debt.
- Ava plans to claim self defense, saying Kent raped her, slashed the car tires, and chased her into the woods with a knife when she tried to run.
- Fourth letter: Ava took out a $1,000,000 life insurance policy on Kent.
This short book is incredibly fast-paced, and I found myself very invested in Ava and Kent and seeing how things would play out for them as the tension escalated. It is a compelling psychological thriller that manages to pack a significant emotional punch and a sense of urgency into a concise narrative. I easily flew through this story in one sitting because I simply had to know what the letters said!
This book is not available for purchase. A copy can be obtained via the author’s website: https://ziarayyan.com.
- Infidelity
- Murder
- Mention of rape
ASIN: B0FSJXV4DN
Publication Date: August 21, 2025
Note: Details are for the original edition. Other formats, editions, and audiobook versions may be available.
