The Life We Bury

3.5 rounded up because I ❤️ THE ABI won't lie. I primarily got this because I enjoy a good audio and this one done by [a:Zach Villa 7463493 Zach Villa https://s.gr-assets.com/assets/nophoto/user/u_50x66-632230dc9882b4352d753eedf9396530.png] was pretty excellent. He kept my ears happy. The story itself? It's fine.Joe Talbert has been unlucky in the family department: a nightmare mother, a father he never knew, and the loss, at an early age of his grandfather, his only safety net in a chaotic world. His only bright spot is his autistic younger brother Jeremy. Through din't of hard work Joe has escaped to college, dreaming of a better, bigger life. An assignment in one of his classes is interviewing an older person and write their biography which leads him to a nursing home and Carl Iverson a convicted murderer whose been paroled to a sort of hospice care as he's dying of cancer. If you read, watch or listen to any kind of True Crime or Murder/Mystery/Suspense you know the drill. Carl claims innocence, Joe is scrappy and along with his neighbor (intended paramour) Lila digs up new evidence while dealing with family crisis. I'm not damning this with faint praise. It's good. I does it's job. The thing is that I don't think I'm the intended audience. This is decidedly more of an NA and thus (rightly so) many things that are old hat to me are “explained”. I wasn't annoyed but I could've done without it. Aside from a great audio my lure for reading this was Max Rupert, who I'm curious about, and is first introduced here. I'm sure you can go on to his books without reading this but why miss out on an excellent audio. Yes, I loved the audio. My other favorite thing? Jeremy. I think the author did a very good job of depicting someone on the spectrum without making him a savant or an object of pity.

Eskens is a great storywriter - I definitely felt the need to go on to the next chapter immediately after finishing one, which is ultimately what you want in a suspense novel such as The Life We Bury. This is not my favorite genre, but my book club will be able to meet the author this month, which is really awesome! I'm very much looking forward to meeting Eskens. Despite the need to keep turning the pages, I gave the book 3 stars because I felt that some of the details were just a little to easy and too predictable. The premise of the book is basically an investigation into a 30-year-old murder case, taken on by a college student. Without giving too much away, I felt like some of the clues he came upon were just a bit too convenient. All-in-all, though, I'd call this one a page-turner.

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Solid debut novel for Mr. Eskens. The mystery was not completely unfathomable (you figure out where he's going with it pretty quick if you're familiar with the mystery genre in the least), but the characters are likable, the action is swift, and you root for the protagonist because he's trying to rise above the station he was born into. I liked it.