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Gemma Amor

Dear Laura Kindle Edition

by Gemma Amor (Author) Format: Kindle Edition

571 ratings

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Every year, on her birthday, Laura gets a letter from a stranger. That stranger claims to know the whereabouts of her missing friend Bobby, but there’s a catch: he’ll only tell her what he knows in exchange for something...personal.So begins Laura’s sordid relationship with her new penpal, built on a foundation of quid pro quo. Her quest for closure will push her to bizarre acts of humiliation and harm, yet no matter how hard she tries, she cannot escape her correspondent’s demands. The letters keep coming, and as time passes, they have a profound effect on Laura.From the author of Cruel Works of Nature comes a dark and twisted tale about obsession, guilt, and how far a person will go to put her ghosts to bed.

Print length

121 pages
Language

English
Publication date

July 2, 2019
File size

932 KB
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Product details

ASIN ‏ : ‎ B07TSDR7NH
Publication date ‏ : ‎ July 2, 2019
Language ‏ : ‎ English
File size ‏ : ‎ 932 KB
Text-to-Speech ‏ : ‎ Enabled
Screen Reader ‏ : ‎ Supported
Enhanced typesetting ‏ : ‎ Enabled
X-Ray ‏ : ‎ Not Enabled
Word Wise ‏ : ‎ Enabled
Print length ‏ : ‎ 121 pages
Lending ‏ : ‎ Enabled

Best Sellers Rank: #110,120 in Kindle Store (See Top 100 in Kindle Store)
- #4,006 in Horror (Kindle Store)
- #6,015 in Horror Literature & Fiction
- #35,663 in Literature & Fiction (Kindle Store)

Customer Reviews:
571 ratings

About the author

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Gemma Amor

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Gemma Amor is the Bram Stoker Award nominated author of DEAR LAURA, CRUEL WORKS OF NATURE, TILL THE SCORE IS PAID and WHITE PINES.

She is also a podcaster, illustrator and voice actor, and is based in Bristol, in the U.K.

Many of her stories have been adapted into audio dramas by the wildly popular NoSleep Podcast, and her work also features on shows like Shadows at the Door, Creepy, and The Grey Rooms.

She is the co-creator, writer and voice actor for horror-comedy podcast 'Calling Darkness', which also stars TV and film actress Kate Siegel.

Heavily influenced by classical literature, Gothic romance, tragedy and heroism, she is most at home in front of a fire with a single malt and a dog-eared copy of anything by Angela Carter.

Customer reviews

5 star		46%
4 star		33%
3 star		16%
2 star		4%
1 star		1%

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Sadie Hartmann

A binge-worthy, unputdownable story of one woman's horrible connection to a killer

Reviewed in the United States on August 15, 2019

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And this is where I stand up on a soapbox and preach about indie/self-published horror fiction.
I don't know how I came to know about Gemma, I believe she submitted her collection, CRUEL WORKS OF NATURE to me for a review and I was very attracted to the grisly cover so I said, "YES PLEASE" and I also asked if she would send her book to our Night Worms crew of reviewers as well. She obliged.
That collection is AMAZING. I am forever singing its praises. Gemma Amor is so insanely talented. Not only does she write what I want to read but she's also an accomplished illustrator--each story has a companion illustration to go with it. So before I even go into DEAR LAURA, know that her other published work is 100% worthy of retail space in your horror collection, the time it takes to ravage it and the money required to buy it (support indie authors!!) I'm fairly certain all 6 of the other Night Worm reviewers also loved that collection.
Now for this novella, DEAR LAURA.
Holy Hell.
I binged this one in two sittings and the only reason it wasn't in one sitting is that my family was hungry and I had to make them dinner.
Where did Gemma get the idea for the book?? It's so compelling! It's so dangerously terrifying and engaging and realistic!
So our protagonist is best friends with a boy who becomes her boyfriend when they are about 13 or 14 years old.
They are neighbors, they ride the school bus together and their parents are friends.
One day, Bobby gets into a van with a strange man and never comes back.
The rest of this story is for YOU to discover for yourself.
I devoured this little, dark, twisted book.
I ate up the words like a starving thief in the night raiding the fridge.
I could read Gemma's words forever and ever and evermore. I can't wait for a full novel!! Give me a full novel GEMMA!!
Hahaha if you can't tell, I loved this story. It's gripping, it's haunting, it's horribly creepy and unsettling and filled with anxiety and tension and an overwhelming compulsive need to know what will happen. I dare you to not finish this in one sitting.

10 people found this helpful

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VICKI HERBERT

X marks the cardboard spot...

Reviewed in the United States on October 5, 2020

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No spoilers (yet) but I will give ample warning when you're reaching spoiler territory...

I gave this novella 2 stars for the idea... as far as execution I would suggest the author spend some time interviewing a homicide detective...

The characters sorely needed some development to give this story a little umph!... also, what was the reason the victim Bobby got in the killers vehicle?...

... the answer might have helped readers care about Bobby and inject some much needed fear and empathy into the plot...

It was really a stretch to ask us to believe that a 14 year old girl would try to meet with a killer who sent her pictures of the boy's body without at least telling her parents...

... much less give him a tooth in exchange for a dead body's location...

...and to carry on this behavior into adulthood was something I just didn't buy into. The story was extremely rudimentary and I don't understand the 5 star ratings.

SPOILER ALERT AT THIS POINT: When Laura goes on trial for killing the child killer she is convicted of second degree murder and the jury and judge are unhappy about the verdict... well, if THEY were unhappy, WHO CONVICTED HER?? It's little details like that that can ruin a story for me. It's like expecting me to suspend reality and logic.

WHITE PINES by this author is a much better novel.

5 people found this helpful

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shay sez

So disappointed.

Reviewed in the United States on May 23, 2021

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I have read each one of these authors works. This is yet another that is so far-fetched and disappointing to me.
SPOILERS FOLLOW;
The fact that she got convicted for second-degree murder is so absurd that I couldn’t even for a moment wrap my head around it. This woman was tormented by this man since the age of 14. There is absolutely no way that a jury would find her guilty. First of all the charge would not have been second degree murder. From his standing as a pedophile, her wounds and high fever and claim of his attack, it would’ve been written off as self-defense easily. This is backed up by case after case after case of similar criminal investigations. The thought that a person could be stalked, humiliated, degraded, tortured and abused their entire life by someone, then spend The remainder of their life in jail after a confrontation is absurd. I noticed that this is a common theme with this authors books. Her supposed heroines often do things with no rhyme or reason. Committing acts that make no sense and leave you feeling frustrated and confused.

One person found this helpful

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Top reviews from other countries

Ross Jeffery

Shocking but horrifically beautiful!

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on April 21, 2020

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Dear Laura is one of the finest novella’s that I have read, the stylistic qualities on show are sublime, the prose is taut as if at any moment it’ll snap and whip the reader – maiming them at any given moment. The uniqueness of the story is another masterstroke with Amor dropping us right into the middle of this perpetual nightmare and with a flashback narrative Amor drops in the detail on a need to know basis which engage the reader further in the discovery of this monstrous tale.

Every year, on her birthday, Laura gets a letter from a stranger. That stranger claims to know the whereabouts of her missing friend Bobby, but there’s a catch: he’ll only tell her what he knows in exchange for something…personal.
I recently read Chuck Palahniuk’s ‘Consider This‘ a memoir / writing craft book and within it Palahniuk details Chekhov’s Gun – a process / dramatic principle that the whole story hangs on, a trimming of the fat that makes every element necessary – this tool can also help to build tension (if you’re given a timeline or a count down – chapters counting down or moving us towards the end of the initial timeline given at the start), a slow burning at the edges of the story that build unconsciously in the readers mind from the subtle hints laid out from the first act and before you know it you are in the midst of a raging fire.

Amor delivers this with a deft touch, her narrative focuses on our protagonist Laura as she is walking towards a destination (which we are introduced to in act one), a destination that she has a time limit to get to, and with each passing chapter, each flashback – once we are returned to the forest and her walk, we are reintroduced again to Chekhov’s Gun as it were, as we move closer to the showdown that must happen. The elements that Amor has sewn delicately into her prose begin to build in a way that we see all the pieces at the right time (for example what is it that she has wrapped in a towel in her backpack). It’s a delightful tool that Amor wields with a master touch and pulls the reader in and her prose with an energy that never lets up, so by the stories conclusion we are panting with exhaustion and desperate for the nightmare to end – much like her protagonist.

What I loved about Dear Laura is that although it’s a peculiar tale, many moving parts, unspeakable acts and with monster which was brilliantly envisioned by Amor (X) – I never once doubted her story, it was believable and I was fully invested, I didn’t question anything. From the initial abduction of her boyfriend, the letters she receives, to the acts she has to perform – I was pulled into the story like a willing passenger into a head on collision. I couldn’t escape even if I wanted to, so I just sat there, buckled in and had a front row seat to the carnage that was taking place before me.

The moments of horror are delicately handled but have a visceral impact on the reader as we witness what someone is capable of to get closure – that someone would willingly break themselves apart to make others whole, that in the midst of despair there is quite possibly healing – but at what cost.

The character of X is another tremendous creation by Amor and although we only really get an understanding of him through letters, its enough to make you marrow turn cold. X is a character that has many layers and Amor does a fabulous job at revealing this, one layer at a time, like a rotten onion, with each peeling back of the skin we discover that the rot is all the way to the core and the closer we get to the centre, its heart – the more pungent and disgusting it becomes. X is a character to hate and I enjoyed hating him – and that shows the writing calibre of Amor, to move her reader in total disdain and disgust of a fictional character is phenomenal, my hate was almost palpable – and for this I applaud Amor!

Dear Laura is fabulous and I can’t praise this book or Gemma Amor enough – if you are after something that is both shocking and horrifically beautiful then take a journey and discover this little atrocity for yourself – where guilt and grief are the tools for the ultimate manipulation of character and spirit.

3 people found this helpful

R.H.Hale

Read entirely in one sitting. Only stopped for loo breaks! Unputdownable and painfully disturbing.

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on October 19, 2019

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Well... That was one of, if not the most, intense, powerful, infuriating, shocking books I’ve ever read!
I started it shortly before bedtime. Hours later at 3.30am I’m still awake, having finished it, writing this review.
I kept telling myself I really should turn off the light and get to bed now, eyes dry, head heavy, but every sentence in this book commands the reader keep turning the pages and press onward. Not entirely as unpersuasive as the twisted antagonist of this novel was with its heroin, Laura.

The storytelling is expertly framed in the present and flashbacks, which ties the plot together very well and packs a tighter punch. One the many genius things about Amor’s writing is that you hate, loathe and despise the antagonist, ‘X’, with every fibre of your being without really seeing him throughout most of the story. Instead we are truly alarmed by his sickening letters, requests, manipulation and terrifying stalking skills, even managing to enter her home while she sleeps. Amor’s narrative is perfectly worded to not only strike every single alarm button in your head, but you feel like you’re watching a movie as well as reading a book.
I was shocked, pissed off, saddened and, if I’m honest, more often than once frustrated at Laura’s subservience, almost to the point of not finding her character believable. But this is a character who has been manipulated and conditioned from a very young age through her exploited trauma. The book is so powerful that Laura’s prolonged mental torture rubs off on the reader as well. Rarely have I ever read such a monster as ‘X’ in fiction.

The most frightening thing of all is that none of this is potentially unrealistic: there ARE psychological and violent predators like ‘X’ out there, some who may successfully stay hidden under the radar all their lives, never caught, and meanwhile many missing persons cases remain unsolved. That was another one of the most disturbing things in this book, and I’m sad to say echoes too starkly in reality: the bodies of children missing for years still buried somewhere, who may never get justice. It curdles my stomach to think.

This book twists, coils and tightens every notch in your brain. Just wow, what an unforgettable read. It won’t brighten your day, but if anything, it’s taught me to be even wearier of - and angrier at! - virtually any kind of sociopath out there.

This is the first, and won’t be the last, work I’ll read from Gemma Amor. A million bravos!

One person found this helpful

Trudy Mylum

Need I say ‘Amor’?!

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on February 4, 2022

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Gemma Amor is an author I have followed in awe of for some time now, not only due to her work ethic as she propels herself higher up the ladder of horror, immersing her fingers deep within the fillings of many pies but her metaphorically masterful writing style is descriptively second to none as she geniusly nails it every time.
Yes this book enters into customarily unwritten, taboo territory but Gemma dares to walk the line and does so with such a furious audacity, infusing a deserved anger within the reader through the eyes of the main character as they outlive the fearful child cast in the beginning chapters and grow to absorb the burning retaliation of the adult in the concluding stages of this novella.
The only downfall in my opinion is that the ending demands a tad more mind messing vulgarity as seen throughout the rest of the book but Amors solid writing skills does more than consolidate for this.
Gemma Amor is a strong, female, British author earning respect wherever and whenever the opportunity arises delivering many a finely tuned narrative, penned in concrete!

Dale

What would you do?

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on April 7, 2020

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Wow - i wasnt sure what to expect from this but knew it was highly recommended. I can't see why!

I became emotionally attached to Laura - her fear, her anger, her anxiety. I felt like i was on the journey with her, which i suppose i was in a way, being the reader. But i felt it was ME who had lost Bobby. I wanted a resolution for everyone's sake.

I really liked the chopping of the timelines between chapters and felt it enhanced the story, all that until the emotional ending. The writing was also very good.

30 years of life - waiting, wondering what had happened to her best friend. Poor Laura.

Personally i would have liked more answers to what EXACTLY happened, but the breadcrumbs are there for your imagination to follow, which is good. Im just a sucker for gruesome details.

Great story. Would HIGHLY recommend

2 people found this helpful

Andy C

Did I miss something? No spoilers.

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on February 28, 2022

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I almost feel like I've read a different book to everyone else here.
It wasn't bad, but it wasn't good either. I've come away with so many questions, but not in a suspenseful way, more that I feel things were completely unexplained or glossed over. I was expecting to be shocked and horrified, I wanted to be, but it just didn't happen.
It has potential, but it is SO SHORT. I love the idea, but I think it could be done better.
It's not written badly, however, and I would read the same author again.

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