Community Reviews
The Life We Bury by Allen Eskens
This was full of suspense that kept the pages turning!
Joe Talbert, a struggling college student has an intriguing writing assignment with a looming deadline. He has been tasked with writing a biography and with few subjects available, he treks to the local nursing home to find a candidate. There he encounters Carl Iverson, a dying Vietnam veteran. Carl’s been in prison for thirty years, locked away for rape and murder. He’s been paroled due to his medical condition.
It hard for Joe to reconcile the life Carl led as a decorated war hero and that of a convicted killer. The despicable acts he was charged with don’t add up. Joe gets help from his neighbor Lila, also a student, and the two dive into a full investigation.
Joe struggles as he deals with his brother with autism and his dysfunctional mother. As the history of the case unravels, the truth puts them in danger and they race the clock to clear Carl’s name and escape the consequences.
This was full of suspense and I had to keep reading to know what happened next. I read it in one sitting. I really enjoyed this one! The plot was complex and layered between the past and present. 9/10⭐️
In his debut novel, author Allen Eskins has crafted a story that is deeply moving and thought-provoking, populated with compelling and empathetic characters, but also a fast-paced mystery. The Life We Bury is replete with surprising plot twists and long-held secrets, as well as pulse-pounding danger.
Joe Talbot grew up in Minnesota with no father, an equally fatherless autistic brother, and an alcoholic bipolar mother. When Joe's maternal grandfather was alive, he brought stability to the family. Joe recalls him as "a quiet man who could command attention with a simple glance or nod, a man who possessed equal parts strength and gentleness and wore them not in layers, but blended like fine leather." However, his grandfather died tragically when Joe was just and since then, Joe's mother has been spiraling further out of control.
Through hard work, hiding some of his earnings from his mother, and determination, Joe completed community college and has transferred to the University of Minnesota as a junior. As the story opens, Joe, 21 years old, is working as a bouncer and living in a small apartment with a bathroom across the hall as he pursues his studies. He needs to complete an assignment for his English class: write a biography about an elderly individual. So he proceeds to a senior center in search of a willing participant where the director steers him to Carl Iverson, a convicted murderer dying of pancreatic cancer.
Eskins immediately draws his readers into the complexities of Joe's life. No sooner does Joe seem ready to launch into the project for his English class than he's sucked back into the life he left two hours away when his mother is arrested and demands that Joe bail her out. Because she left eighteen-year-old Jeremy home alone, Joe must race back to his mother's apartment to ensure Jeremy is safe. With no alternative arrangements available, Joe takes Jeremy back to his apartment with him and contemplates how he will juggle all of the demands upon him.
Of course, Iverson is not an easy person to get to know. Aside from his debilitated physical condition, he was incarcerated for 30 years and is not eager to unburden himself by confessing his crimes to Joe. Joe is naive when he first meets Iverson and immediately gets the sense that there is much to learn about what really happened all those years ago, especially when Iverson cryptically declares that there is a difference between killing and murdering. "I've done both. I've killed . . . and I've murdered. . . . It's the difference between hoping that the sun rises and hoping that it doesn't."
Eskins deftly guides readers through Joe's voyage of discovering the truth about Iverson's past, including his service in Vietnam, and how he came to be charged and convicted of murder. In the process, Joe also discovers much about himself, his relationships with his mother and brother, and his own strength and resilience. His is a dangerous journey to the truth and Eskins expertly keeps the action moving at a relentless pace that is all-the-more fraught because he has already made his readers care deeply about Joe, the truth, and his future.
The Life We Bury is a beautifully crafted exploration of forgiveness, redemption, and the high price they often extract. Since he is a lawyer, Eskins get the legal and investigative details just right. But Eskins also proves himself an elegant writer, capable of exploring his characters' emotions and inner turmoil in a deeply effective, but never over wrought manner.
The Life We Bury is an impressive and promising debut novel. And fortunately, Joe's story continues in the sequel, The Shadows We Hide.
Joe Talbot grew up in Minnesota with no father, an equally fatherless autistic brother, and an alcoholic bipolar mother. When Joe's maternal grandfather was alive, he brought stability to the family. Joe recalls him as "a quiet man who could command attention with a simple glance or nod, a man who possessed equal parts strength and gentleness and wore them not in layers, but blended like fine leather." However, his grandfather died tragically when Joe was just and since then, Joe's mother has been spiraling further out of control.
Through hard work, hiding some of his earnings from his mother, and determination, Joe completed community college and has transferred to the University of Minnesota as a junior. As the story opens, Joe, 21 years old, is working as a bouncer and living in a small apartment with a bathroom across the hall as he pursues his studies. He needs to complete an assignment for his English class: write a biography about an elderly individual. So he proceeds to a senior center in search of a willing participant where the director steers him to Carl Iverson, a convicted murderer dying of pancreatic cancer.
Eskins immediately draws his readers into the complexities of Joe's life. No sooner does Joe seem ready to launch into the project for his English class than he's sucked back into the life he left two hours away when his mother is arrested and demands that Joe bail her out. Because she left eighteen-year-old Jeremy home alone, Joe must race back to his mother's apartment to ensure Jeremy is safe. With no alternative arrangements available, Joe takes Jeremy back to his apartment with him and contemplates how he will juggle all of the demands upon him.
Of course, Iverson is not an easy person to get to know. Aside from his debilitated physical condition, he was incarcerated for 30 years and is not eager to unburden himself by confessing his crimes to Joe. Joe is naive when he first meets Iverson and immediately gets the sense that there is much to learn about what really happened all those years ago, especially when Iverson cryptically declares that there is a difference between killing and murdering. "I've done both. I've killed . . . and I've murdered. . . . It's the difference between hoping that the sun rises and hoping that it doesn't."
Eskins deftly guides readers through Joe's voyage of discovering the truth about Iverson's past, including his service in Vietnam, and how he came to be charged and convicted of murder. In the process, Joe also discovers much about himself, his relationships with his mother and brother, and his own strength and resilience. His is a dangerous journey to the truth and Eskins expertly keeps the action moving at a relentless pace that is all-the-more fraught because he has already made his readers care deeply about Joe, the truth, and his future.
The Life We Bury is a beautifully crafted exploration of forgiveness, redemption, and the high price they often extract. Since he is a lawyer, Eskins get the legal and investigative details just right. But Eskins also proves himself an elegant writer, capable of exploring his characters' emotions and inner turmoil in a deeply effective, but never over wrought manner.
The Life We Bury is an impressive and promising debut novel. And fortunately, Joe's story continues in the sequel, The Shadows We Hide.
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