Kayln just moved back to Samsboro, Kentucky - the town where her Dad went to jail for killing another boy back in high school. Even with her fake persona, "Rose", Kayln makes friends with Gus, a boy with cerebral palsy, and the son of the boy her dad killed all those years ago. As their friendship grows, so do the facts of the murder that happened almost two decades ago. Wild and Crooked is a heartfelt mystery that really comes down to family - rather it's blood or the one you make, and what one will do for the ones they love.

I enjoyed the writing that Leah Thomas created for this book - it's witty and seems to really capture the voice of the three teenagers (Kayln and Gus being the two main ones, but Phil, Gus' best friend, also has a few chapters as well). Kayln Spence always seems to have a chip on her shoulder, because honestly, what teenager doesn't, but when the entire town despises anyone who's a Spence, that chip becomes a hard boulder and Kayln carries that around with teeth baring. Gus, who has cerebral palsy, doesn't let that stop him either and fights for what he wants and what he thinks is right no matter what. Phil, who has antisocial personality disorder, tries to push Gus away, but Gus won't have that either.

I will admit it took me a few chapters before I really got into this book, but after those first chapters and I figured out what was really going on and the weird connections I couldn't put it down. It was really a "who done it" type of mystery and you really want to know what exactly happened and why it took this long for the truth to come to the surface. The story unfolds in such a way that I knew something wasn't right with the murder, but I didn't have time to speculate what it was because the story just kept twisting and turning. I wanted to know what happened.

I recommend this to anyone who craves a mystery filled with a wide array of odd and interesting characters. This read really stood out to me and will be one that I carry with me in the back of my mind for a long time. ( )

Literary Merit: Great
Characterization: Great
Recommended: yes
Level: High School or above

Wild and Crooked is narrated through multiple perspectives set in a small Kentucky town. Kalyn Spence is a fierce soul who fights for her family, and is a lesbian.
Gus Peake is pansexual and has cerebral palsy. Gus is a social outcast at school because his father was murdered and his motor functions are slow due to cerebral palsy. Gus has one friend named Phil before he meets Kalyn. Phil ended up being my favorite character. Phil suffered a head injury as a child and has antisocial personality disorder. Despite that, Gus still loves Phil both as a friend and romantically.

The first part of the book is about Kalyn and Gus's unlikely friendship. Kalyn’s dad is in prison for murdering Gus’s father. Despite that, they are drawn to each other like magnets.
The second part of the books reveal that Kalyn’s dad may be innocent! The three young adults attempt to discover the truth. Along the way they learn deep dark secrets, what divides their community, and how to be there for each other. Captivating story! However, I do not think many teens will pick up the book due to its length. ( )

Very complex, very satisfying story. The mystery of who shot Gus' dad is really secondary to the struggles of everyone else. Some are struggling to be seen for who they truly are, others to be loved, still others to be left alone with their secrets. No matter what the struggle, it's gratifying and seductive to read how everyone manages to break out of their miniature prisons, mostly of the emotional kind, and start to be okay in their skin. ( )

Kalyn Spenser has a secret. Eighteen years ago, her father confessed to murdering a schoolmate, James Ellis. Moving back to the small town of Sunsboro, KY, everyone at school would know who she is if she used her real last name, so instead she uses her grandmother's maiden name.

Gus Ellis has no secret. Everyone knows he's the fatherless boy with a disability.

So, it's inevitable that Gus' and Kalyn's paths should cross. What is unexpected, is that they become friends and remain so even after the revelation of who they are dawns on them. When the possibility that Kalyn's father will get a new trial becomes known, the town is in an uproar. Especially when the kids start investigating and material questions arise.

Wild (Kalyn) and Crooked (Gus) is a heartfelt story about people and how they might be different but still be friends.It's a tough book to put down. Enjoy. ( )

When Kalyn’s grandmother has a stroke, she and her unstable mother must move back to the small town Kalyn was born in. Due to circumstances, Kalyn enrolls into high school under an assumed name, Rose. Her last name, Spence, is dirt in this town; her teenaged father killed another teen, the high school hero, and has been in jail ever since.

Kalyn also takes on an assumed personality; normally foul mouthed and in your face, she now braids her wild hair and becomes a total sweetie pie, a girl acceptable to all, including the ‘cool’ girls. But she soon becomes best friends with Gus, a young man with cerebral palsy which gives him hemiplegia and a speech impediment. These two couldn’t be any different; Kalyn’s mother doesn’t care about her, while Gus’s mother is over protective, constantly treated Gus as fragile and younger than he really is. And, worst of all, Gus’s late father was the person Kalyn’s father killed. Gus’s mother keeps the house decorated as a shrine to the man. But to everyone’s surprise, when the truth comes out and they realize who the other is, they stay friends. Then there is Phil, Gus’s best friend, who is a self-declared sociopath. These three take turns narrating, as they find out that there is a chance that Kalyn’s father didn’t kill Gus’s dad, and seek to prove it. Like many small towns, this one has a story that it has hidden for years.

The first part is extremely slow as we get to know Gus and Kalyn. The story is almost totally character driven. There is a lot of queer representation, with Kalyn being gay, Gus being pan, and Gus’s mother married to a woman, but that is not the focus of the story, any more than Gus’s CP is. They are simply traits of the characters, as it is in real life. What is an important part of the story is classism: Kalyn’s father was poor, his family owning and living at the town junkyard, while the boy he killed was the town’s golden boy: well to do, football star, headed for college. The town closed ranks against any effort to find the truth about the murder. For once, the boy-girl relationship was strictly friendship, which I found very refreshing. I really liked the writing style, other than the slowness. Four stars. ( )