What do readers think of Crooked Letter, Crooked Letter by Tom Franklin? Write your own review.

I thoroughly enjoyed this novel, and will be recommending it to my friends and bookclub. It captivated me immediately, and it is a page turner!
The characters are believable, and although it was predictable, I couldn't put it down. I have not read Franklin's earlier works, but will be doing so in the near future.

Great title, realistic, sympathetic characters, interesting plot, readable narrative style! In Crooked Letter, Crooked Letter, Tom Franklin has mastered well the ingredients of a memorable novel. Though some reviewers have hinted at predictable events, this is, nevertheless, a page turner and well worth the read.

This book grabbed my attention immediately. The story unfolds of two men, one African-American and one white, who meet as young boys. Their lives entwine and then diverge due to one being accused of a horrific crime. Through a series of flashbacks we learn how their friendship formed and how it fell apart. Now in a crucial moment of desperation, Larry Ott reaches out to his old friend Silas "32" Jones. It is a well told tale of relationships and betrayal. Franklin spoke to me on every page through his keen sense of verbal timing. I would highly recommend this book, especially to those who have reconnected with someone from their childhood.

The title puts us in the place. Who doesn't remember the way we were taught to spell Mississippi? The jacket then gives the reader an idea of what to expect, a mysterious disappearance and hidden secrets revealed. Immediately the reader is pulled into the story and learns about most of the events that transpired in 1970. When we are brought back to the town 20 years later, we do indeed start learning the secrets as they are revealed by the author bit by bit. After a young girl goes missing, everything changes for two young men. Their lives go in different directions until they meet again 20 years later.

That's all I will say about the plot. I know it's very little, but I would like other readers to discover the events the way I did, knowing very little. I love mysteries, and this is one of the best that I've read in a long time. Not only does the author peel away the layers of the story slowly, his characters develop very well. We learn in a very graphic way how events in our youth not only shape us but define the rest of our lives. The author, Tom Franklin, mentions Dennis Lehane in his acknowledgments. I can only say that whatever he learned from Lehane, he learned well. Franklin doesn't take a backseat to any mystery author. I'm on my way to the bookstore to choose one of his previous books....I loved it.

I greatly enjoyed this novel. I happened upon Tom Franklin's first novel, "Hell at the Breech", soon after it was released and absolutely loved. When "Smonk" came out, I snapped it up as well, but was disappointed-- I never felt compelled to force it upon my family members as Christmas/birthday gifts as I had with his first novel. However, with the release of "Crooked Letter, Crooked Letter", once again, all of my close family members will be getting copies of Franklin's work for upcoming holidays!

The characters in this book are very real. A strange friendship develops between a black boy and a white boy and continues into their adult years with serious consequences. This book held my attention from beginning to end and is certainly well worth reading.

I read this book for a book club - and I have been searching for a good way to describe it. The Library of Congress data calls it "psychological fiction". This is a good description.

The book includes a “who-dun-it” thread, but it is really a study of two men. If you are looking for a feel good book – this is not it. If you are looking for a book with depth, I think you may find it here.

One of the two men in the study is a person who appears to have overcome the odds of being a poor black kid raised by a single mother in the south; but, the truth is, this man is really a selfish and cowardly pretender. I can understand what drove him to cover up his involvement in an event that resulted in a life of isolation and abuse by the other man and I think he paid for what he did by the emotional guilt he felt during his life, but I am glad I am not faced with having decide whether to forgive him.

The other of the two men in the novel is considered by the community to have zero redeeming qualities but actually he is the one who stronger of the two. He wanted a friend so desperately but keeps getting knocked down so he lives a lonely life never really having a true friend or an understanding companion. I am left wondering if he ever realized what an admirable person he really was.

I think the author does a fantastic job of letting us experience the emotional trauma of both men.

I am glad I read this book, but will probably not read another book by Franklin because this is not the type of book that I prefer. I also feel compelled to say that the author’s transition from one time period to the other caused me momentary confusion at times and I would have preferred that he shorten some of his long, long, long sentences consisting of phrase after phrase after phrase.

My final comment is that the author masterfully held my attention from beginning to end – I guessed correctly who was the villain of the book, but I never anticipated the twists and turns in the route to the book’s conclusion

Tom Franklin’s 4th book, Crooked Letter, Crooked Letter, was engrossing. It was tedious at first, because the beginning chapters were vividly descriptive providing background information to set up the plot. It made the reader anxious to reach the meat and potatoes part of the novel, and move on from the background descriptions. It did not move fast enough for this reader.

Fortunately, then, the mystery of who killed whom began to unravel. Because of the ethnic juxtaposition of the book’s protagonist, I was captivated. However, the sordid supporting characters in the novel were most fascinating , as it is difficult to believe that those people actually exist. Interestingly, though, the denouement was
uplifting. I recommend reading the book, especially to Southerners.

One could compare it to Shirley Grau’s Pulitzer winner from 1965,
The Keepers of the House.