Description

Letter to My Victims is a haunting and masterfully layered novel told through the final writings of João De Freitas, a powerful but disgraced apostle whose religious empire collapses under the weight of scandal. Diagnosed with terminal heart failure and facing a media firestorm over financial abuse and psychological manipulation, João retreats into seclusion. Instead of fighting back publicly, he begins to write a series of letters—to those he led, hurt, betrayed, and loved.

Through these letters, João oscillates between justification and veiled repentance. He addresses his closest associate who left the ministry, the pastors he exploited and discarded, his own wife and children, his congregation, and even his spiritual father. Each letter begins with an air of dignity and grace, but between the lines and in accompanying flashbacks, a much darker truth emerges—João has not truly changed. His "forgiveness" is performative, cloaking deep denial and a desperate grip on legacy.

The interludes between the letters expose the hypocrisy he refuses to admit: how he knowingly sent missionaries into poverty, demanded loyalty under threat of curses, and cast off followers when they were no longer useful. His internal conflict intensifies as his church publicly distances itself from him, and his daughter posts a brutal truth online: "He was never a man of God. Just a man who knew how to make people believe."

Ultimately, Letter to My Victims is not a story of repentance—but a chilling portrait of a religious leader unable to let go of control, even at the end. It is a cautionary tale about spiritual abuse, power, and the tragic cost of self-deception.