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

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.

Two boys, one black and one white, are friends for a brief time in rural Mississippi. A few years later, the white boy is suspected of killing a girl, and although there is not enough evidence to prosecute him, he is marked forever by suspicion. The black boy goes to college and returns to the area as a constable, and the lives of the two boys - now men - intersect again in the investigation of another murder. But as the story unfolds, there are revelations and discoveries that put long-ago events into new light. The past is never really past because it has shaped everything that has happened since. The suspense is mild, the mysteries transparent, the ending too glib, but it's a good story about truth and redemption, with complex and interesting characters.

This is a great story, but I saw what was coming so there wasn't any surprise for me. I really enjoyed the story, reading it in two days. The author has a gift for making you want to know what will happen next. I could see where the book was heading and wish there had been a bit more mystery. Despite that, it was a great book.