Allen Eskens

"An ordinary writing assignment for a college English class brings Joe face-to-face with a dying Vietnam veteran, who is also a convicted murderer."--

The life we bury

I sorta enjoyed this, but there were a few things that bugged me about it.  I'll give the next book in the series a shot with the hope that the writer gets a little better.

G. Jason Head

Melissa Palmer

Book #84 Read in 2016
The Life We Bury by Allen Eskens

Joe has to write a biography for a college class. He picks Carl, a man dying from cancer who was paroled from jail to a nursing home. Carl was convicted of raping and murdering a teenage girl years ago. But is he innocent of that crime? Joe begins to delve into the evidence from the trial and begins his own investigation--risking his own life. This bogged down a bit in the middle for me but the last third of the book was unputdownable. I recommend it.

Denaiir

Joe is a likable character from the start and his back story was compelling, I loved his relationship with Jeremy. His mother is a horrible human being, argh, but the tension in all their interactions added a lot of substance to the story.

Carl's story and especially the parts about Vietnam were amazing, and of course I enjoyed the mystery as well. 

The audio version was fantastic, the narrator was the perfect choice to narrate Joe's story.

Kelsey at

I enjoyed this book. It drew me in to the story and I never really lost interest. While I wouldn’t rate it as one of my favorites, I would recommend it to someone looking for a short, story-driven mystery novel. 

It reminded me a bit of Scooby-Doo, with some meddling kids out solving a mystery. In a good way! 

Tace

I enjoyed this book. It drew me in to the story and I never really lost interest. While I wouldn’t rate it as one of my favorites, I would recommend it to someone looking for a short, story-driven mystery novel. 

It reminded me a bit of Scooby-Doo, with some meddling kids out solving a mystery. In a good way! 




Summer Stanley

Exactly what you want from a thriller/mystery book. The young "crime solvers" were atypical and delightful. Great plot twists and turns. Kept you on the edge of your seat and wildly hopeful.

As seen on Caity Reads.

Trigger warnings for description of rape, war, murder, and violence.

I went into The Life We Bury with fairly low expectations. It had been awhile since I had last read an adult mystery, and for anyone who reads them knows, they can get pretty crazy at times. I seemed to have forgotten this, because I spent a good portion of the surprising bits with this face: O_O. Now, I should mention that the reason I even picked this book up was because my coworker (who also happened to be my fourth grade teacher once upon a time) told me it was really good. And she lent me her copy of the book.

This book had a lot going for it, and a lot happened within the 300 pages. This was a solid debut novel that was part mystery and part crime. I really enjoyed that it had a rapid moving plot, and that the character relationships seemed fairly realistic. The addition of an autistic character was interesting and enjoyable. It also added an element of family and Joe's overwhelming need to protect his little brother.

I really enjoyed this novel, but I did have a few small issues with this novel. The first of which was the character Lila; at the beginning of the novel I found her a little frustrating and annoying. Some of the wrap up at the end seemed a little too easy, while other parts of it seemed a little out there. Again, I hadn't read an adult mystery in awhile and forgot how crazy they can be.

Overall, I would recommend this to anyone who enjoys adult mysteries. It was a solid novel, and I'm glad I took the chance and picked it up when my coworker told me to.

Zita Azlina

Megan

Lisa Lindquist 

Sarah Richardson

René Buchholdt

Shay

Rebecca Shaffer

A USA Today bestseller and book club favorite! 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. Carl 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?

The life we bury

Reviews