Holiday Sale! Get an annual membership for 20% off!

Read advance reader review of Crooked Letter, Crooked Letter by Tom Franklin

Summary | Reviews | More Information | More Books

Crooked Letter, Crooked Letter by Tom Franklin

Crooked Letter, Crooked Letter

A Novel

by Tom Franklin

  • Critics' Consensus:
  • Published:
  • Oct 2010, 288 pages
  • Rate this book

About this book

Reviews


Page 1 of 4
There are currently 24 member reviews
for Crooked Letter, Crooked Letter
Order Reviews by:
  • Lisa H. (Salisbury, MD)
    Ssss....Crooked Letter, Crooked Letter Slithers Up On the Reader Like a Snake in the Grass
    Crooked Letter, Crooked Letter slithers up on the reader like a snake in the grass or in the deep, dark woods of Mississippi. The story uncoils itself in alternating turns from past to present through the voices and memories of former childhood friends, Silas and Larry. The setting and dialogue are deeply evocative of the rural south, and the racial relationships are finely drawn. There are some surprising twists and turns along the way, which will cause the reader to question what they think they know. Hmmm, who's the bad guy? Is it black on yellow, or yellow on black? An excellent mystery, but an even better character study!
  • Pamela B. (Monona, WI, WI)
    Crooked Letter, Crooked Letter
    Tom Franklin's book draws the reader in from the very first sentence. Is the monster real, or a manifestation of the evil within? The present and the past draw together to answer this question. An enjoyable read, filled with memorable characters, and real feel for small town life in rural Mississippi.
  • Carm D. (Omaha, NE)
    Crooked Letter, Crooked Letter
    I really enjoyed this book. Great story, much suspense and edge of your seat situations.
    I would recommend this to anyone who loves mystery or detective novels, you won't be disappointed. I'm looking forward to reading Mr. Franklin's other novels.
  • Patricia M. (San Jose, CA)
    Crooked Letter, Crooked Letter
    I requested this book based on my enjoyment of Franklin's previous book "Hell at the Breech". I was not in the least disappointed. This is a fine mystery with well developed characters, and a sense of time and place that is perfect. Set in the Mississippi of the 70's, 80's, and the present, the two main characters, one white and one black, deal with their families and their social standing in ways that touch the heart. Part mystery and part family drama, this is a page turner and is highly recommended.
  • Carol T. (Ankeny, Iowa)
    Exceedingly readable -- a page turner
    Hard to put down, even on the weariest of evenings! I'll read this author's work again.
  • Juli S. (Portland, OR)
    The kind of writing I'll reread
    This is not a fast paced book that I wanted to read as quickly as possible to get to the resolution of the crime story. It's a book that I wanted to read slowly and savor the words and images that Franklin paints with them. It's a thoughtful, slowly building story that shifts back and forth between the present day and flashbacks to Larry and Silas as teenagers and how their friendship developed and then broke apart. While it is partly a crime story it’s even more the story of both Larry and Silas.

    The descriptions and imagery are the kind of writing that makes me stop on a regular basis and reread a paragraph just for the words. It's heavy with atmosphere and the tension that gradually builds makes it a quiet thriller. While by the time the investigation is resolved it’s not any surprise the other parts of the story remain enough to keep the interest level high and the story moving along.

    The writing had the same magic for me as Franklin's first novel "Hell at the Breech" without being quite as brutal.
  • Eileen L. (Danvers, MA)
    Never a dull moment
    This is a page turner! Not the genre I typically go for I so was pleasantly and wonderfully surprised. From page one this story grabs you and does not let go. The characters are so carefully constructed and yet they, and the book, flow seamlessly. This book will appeal to so many readers - mystery lovers as well as anyone who loves a well developed, mature story. The theme of living with our pasts that are sometimes distorted and coming to terms with our history is poignant. The underlying mystery makes this book a true page turner.

More Information

Read-Alikes

Top Picks

  • Book Jacket: The Demon of Unrest
    The Demon of Unrest
    by Erik Larson
    In the aftermath of the 1860 presidential election, the divided United States began to collapse as ...
  • Book Jacket: Daughters of Shandong
    Daughters of Shandong
    by Eve J. Chung
    Daughters of Shandong is the debut novel of Eve J. Chung, a human rights lawyer living in New York. ...
  • Book Jacket
    The Avian Hourglass
    by Lindsey Drager
    It would be easy to describe The Avian Hourglass as "haunting" or even "dystopian," but neither of ...
  • Book Jacket: Roman Year
    Roman Year
    by Andre Aciman
    In this memoir, author André Aciman recounts his family's resettlement for a year in Rome due ...

BookBrowse Book Club

Book Jacket
The Berry Pickers
by Amanda Peters
A four-year-old Mi'kmaq girl disappears, leaving a mystery unsolved for fifty years.
Who Said...

A book is one of the most patient of all man's inventions.

Click Here to find out who said this, as well as discovering other famous literary quotes!

Wordplay

Solve this clue:

F the M

and be entered to win..

Your guide toexceptional          books

BookBrowse seeks out and recommends the best in contemporary fiction and nonfiction—books that not only engage and entertain but also deepen our understanding of ourselves and the world around us.