The Life We Bury

Outstanding story with engaging characters you can't help but love and root for. Beautfiul writing and an addictive pace that keeps you wanting to keep reading. Can't wait to read more by this author.

The Life We Bury – Allen Eskens I have discovered a new author that I hold in high esteem upon reading Allen Eskens’ The Life We Bury. I definitely hope to read more Eskens’ work before class dismisses. He is a joy to read, whom heavily engages his plot to serve up the reader a very well-thought, credible, wonderful story. Please put a very heavy emphasis on “wonderful story.” If the reader is looking for a bang-bang, shoot-them-up, high body count, in contention with the next Marvel Super-hero movie, The Life We Bury will not be their cup of energy drink. This guy has game to spare. The book is written with the thoroughness of a thesis paper and Eskens dots all of the I’s and crosses all of the T’s, and then he carefully thinks what could happen, what should happen, what would happen and then derives at the actual theme and what will happen. Wow, what a story, wow what a plot, and wow what a good book is The Life We Bury. Off the record, I should also mention that I had no idea at the wealth of great authors hailing from the Minnesota-Wisconsin-Iowa triangle of the United States. It must have something to do with the weather. This book received great reviews and was in the running for better than five hefty awards. The University of Minnesota, College student Joe Talbot is assigned a brief biography for an English class. Joe must write a brief biography on someone whom is a complete stranger to him. Procrastinating somewhat, Joe finally drums up the idea of going to a nursing home to see what kind of folks are currently in-residence there. So, Joe goes to a nearby nursing home to chat with some of the nurses and aides to see what he can come up with. Joe was not sure what to expect but after some talking back and forth Joe decides on a Vietnam Vet who served a sentence for murder and rape and is dying of cancer. Moreover, the person, Carl Iverson also agrees to this arrangement. Carl has two reasons – he wishes to clear his conscience, and he is innocent. Say what? However, Carl’s time remaining is measured, so Joe needs to get busy on this project. So, thus, with the above situation laid before the reader, Eskens spins out a luscious and wonderful tale. Joe’s neighbor, Lila, gets wind of the assignment and she anxiously wants to be on board with Joe. Joe and Lila team up as two of the most unlikely protagonists imaginable, but it folds together nicely. Unrelated background material of the past, and family, and work also are very interesting reading. Lila tells Joe how to lay claim to the court files of Carl Iverson’s case since they are Carl’s property. Joe acquires these files and he and Lila hungrily delve through these during Joe’s somewhat busy life. Armed with knowledge, Joe and Lila visit Minneapolis Cold Case detective, Max Rupert. He is intrigued but with a heavy backlog, he needs a bit more evidence and information to move this case to the top. He refers them to a Professor Sanden, and things start to happen. The case is re-opened. The interviews with Carl prove to be very worthwhile and interesting. Joe meets Virgil, an old army friend of Carl’s, and really the only living friend that Carl has, and even more leads and information surfaces. By now, Carl definitely appears to be innocent. The only questions are who did murder and rape 14-year old Crystal and will the case be solved before Carl passes? Of course, by this time, Rupert and the Minneapolis police want Joe and Lila to cease all involvement, but of course this falls on deaf ears. I was very impressed with The Life We Bury. Allen Eskens has written a fine book here. I believe that anyone who likes to read this type of a mystery will be delighted with the book, too. Eskens gets an easy 4-1/2 stars on this one, an unusually high rating from me. Thank you, Mr. Eskens.

Enjoyed this book. Look forward to reading more by this author. Suspense, romance and a clever plot twist that was totally unpredictable

3.5 stars. Nicely paced first outing from Mr. Eskens. The premise unwinds quite well as we learn about Joe, who, for an English assignment, decides to write a biography on someone close to their death. He lands on Carl Iverson a convicted rapist and murderer. Carl is out on parole at a nursing home waiting to die of cancer. As Joe interviews Carl, Joe becomes more and more convinced of Carl's innocence. Joe sets out to get Carl exonerated prior to Carl's impending death. Not a bad plot. Eskens' writing style is relaxed with no apparent overthought or agonizing over each written word which makes the writing flow easily. As each character is introduced there's some coloring in which helps to shape the character and help the reader understand their motivation. I particularly liked the autistic character, Jesse, who is Joe's brother. His helping with the investigation without him even knowing struck a chord with me. Joe's irresponsible mom was more a distraction but not too much. I never quite reconciled Joe's personality with his bouncer job and his ability to physically disarm people easily. I always had him more of a scholarly type buried in books and constantly pushing his glasses back up his nose while gulping down cereal for all meals. If anything we were shown too many sides of Joe via his mom, mom's "friends", brother, employment and girlfriend. His character ended up a little too washed out and became more of the Lifetime Movie hero. Lila, the initially reluctant girlfriend, was somewhat predictable with a past of her own. Staunch anti-Iverson at first, Joe won her over to his side and Lila became pro-Iverson and involved with the investigation. The bad guy in the whole thing was a little tepid. One thing that struck me was how easily Joe convinced total strangers, including crusty old detectives, to trust him and gain their help. It all came off a little tongue in cheek. OK, so, despite all my griping, I really enjoyed the book. I zipped through it in a day or two and never begrudged the time spent reading it. Summary. Great first outing from Allen Eskens. Intriguing plot, Nicely done characters in a mid-western setting. If anything, a little too "Lifetimey" but Mr. Eskens has the talent to rectify that as he becomes more seasoned. I understand he has a new book coming out in Fall of 2015. I will be picking that up anticipating great things.

Incredible story and perseverance and determination. Pulls you in and keeps you reading…wanting more. Negative experiences in one’s personal childhood can spark a desire in their adult life to do better; to set things right. The main character’s resilience is outstanding.

This book kept you on the edge of your seat. Stumbled across this author by chance and glad I did. Now on to my second book of his.

Um suspense de alto nível. O personagem principal , Joe Talbert , um estudante iniciando a faculdade , tem que fazer trabalho biográfico. Por um acaso do destino , o entrevistado é Carl Iverson, veterano do Vietnam, que cumpria pena de 30 anos por assassinato. Ao longo das conversas entre os dois , e através de pesquisas do estudante , muita coisa é descoberta e com isto a história vai se modificando . O autor tem um estilo muito interessante. Procura não cair no lugar comum . O livro prende o leitor . Ótima leitura e distração para os que gostam do tema .

Great story, great grammar, story flows nicely, creditable storyline. Highly recommend. Really couldn't put book down. Thoroughly enjoyed this book.

The book came on time and was in very good condition (new), but I guess it won't stay long this way because it belongs to the kind of books who want to read and re-read. Although the whole plot was not really original (you can quicly guess what's going to happen), the characters that are depicted are really realistic and go under your skin. The hero is not a good-looking guy, Mr. perfect, but he is not a bad-boyish "ugly duckling" either. He is just someone who struggles a lot but try to keep its shit together. He has envy, he can be jealous of his autistic brother, just because he has better looks. And yes, he wants to impress the girl, living next door, who has quite a story herself too. She is not that pretty cheerleader, but she is not that dark lost soul either. She is just someone who had a hard time, but does not blame the world for it. And she has brains too. In all, without saying too much: alone for the main character's backstories, you should definitely buy this book. I di not say on purpose too much, to not spoil the story. But there is way more behind this two persons. The author knows the human nature as it really is (far away from clichés) and knows how to write a good story.