Crooked Letter, Crooked Letter

Monday Night Book Discussions

"CROOKED LETTER, CROOKED LETTER"
(written by Tom Franklin)

Salina Public Library

Salina, KS

© Lydia Lowe  3/11/2013

     I love a good mystery.  Add in "The South" as the primary setting of the book and I am hooked.  Needless to say, I loved this book.  I found it a bit predictable but I think that was more because I read a lot of mystery’s so I know the formula and not because the writer gave away too much too quickly.  There are a lot of secrets hiding in Mississippi and one that's revealed that the reader will never see coming.

     One of the techniques that the author used was a flashback to an earlier time.  He drifts back and forth between when Larry Ott and Silas “32” Jones were children, finding their way through life, to the present day and similar circumstances reminiscent of the past.  The author does a superb job with this technique as he moves the story forward and yet doesn’t lose the reader in the process. 

     As he tells the story, the writer develops the characters and it's hard to see the two main characters painted in the light that he's placed on them.  Both characters have more going on than the writer see's and it's left to the reader to figure this out.  The reader comes to feel deeply for the characters, sharing their highs and lows as they go through their lives.  Well developed characters with real flaws will do that for the reader, as will well developed settings, believable dialogue, and realistic action.  Race is also discussed at length within the context of the story.  This is also seen via flashback with comparison and contrast from earlier years to the present day.

    If you’re looking for an easy to read, fast paced story that will hold your interest to the very end, this is the book for you.