The Life We Bury by Allen Eskens

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?

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.

I really enjoyed this book. The story was fast-paced and interesting. The characters were well drawn and fleshed out. I'm looking forward to the next one in the series. Highly Recommend!