Synopsis/blurb…….
College student Joe Talbert has the
modest goal of completing a writing assignment for an English class. His task
is to interview a stranger and write a brief biography of the person. With
deadlines looming, Joe heads to a nearby nursing home to find a willing
subject. There he meets Carl Iverson, and soon nothing in Joe's life is ever
the same.
Iverson is a dying Vietnam
veteran--and a convicted murderer. With only a few months to live, he has been
medically paroled to a nursing home, after spending thirty years in prison for
the crimes of rape and murder.
As Joe writes about Carl's life,
especially Carl's valor in Vietnam, he cannot reconcile the heroism of the
soldier with the despicable acts of the convict. Joe, along with his skeptical
female neighbor, throws himself into uncovering the truth, but he is hamstrung
in his efforts by having to deal with his dangerously dysfunctional mother, the
guilt of leaving his autistic brother vulnerable, and a haunting childhood
memory.
Thread by thread, Joe unravels the
tapestry of Carl’s conviction. But as he and Lila dig deeper into the
circumstances of the crime, the stakes grow higher. Will Joe discover the truth
before it’s too late to escape the fallout?
It’s not
particularly often that my wife reads and enjoys any of the books that cross my
path. Whilst I endeavour to read what she reads (eventually) she doesn’t feel
the same need to reciprocate, nor should she. Our last shared and loved book in
common was Jess Walter’s Beautiful Ruins
last year, until Eskens debut The Life We Bury fell into her hands
after mine.
Fair to say
we both loved it and it was fun checking in on her progress as she devoured it
knowing what was in store.
A college
assignment morphs into an investigation into a 30 year old murder mystery, that
touches on a lot of things…..family, relationships, affection, abuse,
parenting, autism, communication, guilt, loyalty, friendships, Vietnam, war,
death, alcohol abuse, cancer……….and a whole lot of other things besides.
Great story
line, superb characters that you care about, especially Joe and his neighbour Lila.
I think the family dynamics and the evolving relationship between Joe and Lila
and the part Jeremy unwittingly played was one of the most satisfying parts of
the book. A close second to that would be the developing friendship between our
murdering, cancer-stricken, veteran Carl and Joe.
I do like
the odd book where the investigation into the mystery is conducted by a non-professional
sleuth. It makes for a refreshing change from the police or more usually PI
books, I read. Eskens arranged an interesting puzzle, which I was keen to see
resolved, which it was.
 |
| Allen Eskens |
Intriguing,
entertaining, gripping and totally satisfying.
Definitely
recommended if you like your mysteries, on the whole fairly straightforward,
but with a lot of character and heart.
Debut
author Eskens has two new fans in
the UK!
5 from 5
Allen Eskens hails from the US. His website is
here.
The Life We Bury is on sale from October 14th,
2014. Many thanks to Seventh Street
Books for my copy. Their website is here.
Col - Oh, I was hoping you liked this one. I remember reading about it in your list of books you'd acquire and I wondered what you thought of it. This one really does sound right up my street. Not that my TBR thanks you ;-) , but I do.
ReplyDeleteMargot, I think you would really enjoy it. Time to dust off that credit card!
DeleteThis sounds excellent Col, definitely on the cusp where our tastes meet.
ReplyDeleteMoira, like Margot above. I think you would love it also. Not very often we all have our ducks in a row, better seize the moment!
DeleteCol, what are the odds of a college student solving a thirty-year old murder mystery on a college assignment? It looks like the writer has pulled off a convincing plot. Besides, the novel sounds like it is loaded with the goods.
ReplyDeletePrashant, on the face of it, is seems implausible but it really is a great book.
DeleteThis one sounds good. Really good. I don't usually like amateur detectives, but in a standalone it is OK. It is the continuing series where it seems really unbelievable to me. I will try this one sometime. Great review, very convincing.
ReplyDeleteI think you would enjoy it Tracy. The cover might grab Glen's attention - he likes his snow! Maybe one for both of you - how long until the book sale?
DeleteOnly four more days, Col. Starts on Friday. I am having problem with a knee now, so that may curtail how long I can stand and look at books but... that could be a good thing.
DeleteOh dear - sorry to hear that. Maybe it will have eased by the end of the week.
DeleteHi, I'm the author of The Life We Bury and I wanted to thank Col for his review. I also wanted to answer TracyK's question. Yes this is a stand alone. Future novels will have characters from The Life We Bury, but not Joe. Joe is a journalism major, so he may come back someday as a journalist, but not in the foreseeable future. I hope you enjoy reading The Life We Bury.
DeleteAllen
Allen, thanks for stopping by. Looking forward to reading much more from you in the future.
DeleteThanks to Allen for clearing that up. I like books that carry over some characters from a previous book.
DeleteThis is a great book. I believe that will perform the movie very soon of according to this page: http://www.iflist.com/stories/thelifewebury#
ReplyDeletePaty - thanks for the update. I'll have to keep an eye out for it. He has a second book out later this year - THE GUISE OF ANOTHER - due October!
Delete