REVIEW: The LIfe We Bury

The Life We Bury
Author: Allen Eskens

College Student Joe Talbert visits a nursing home to interview a senior citizen for a writing assignment. He's supposed to write a short biography on someone. A nurse at the facility says that most of their patients have dementia or other problems that would make them difficult to interview. One, however, is dying from cancer. His memory is fully intact. The nurse says that he might not be suitable.....the patient is a convicted child murderer, having raped and killed a 14-year old girl years before. Talbert decides that Carl Iverson is as good a subject as any for his class assignment. Iverson agrees to be interviewed. Little does Joe know that this meeting will change his life, leading him into danger to prove Iverson's innocence.

This story caught me by surprise. The book started off predictably......student meets killer, killer talks to student, student checks out killer's crime and is disgusted, killer opens up about his life and student asks questions about the murder.....the usual plot.  But this story didn't stick to the usual. This story veered off the trope path pretty quickly and morphed into something much more complex.....much more interesting. Every time I thought I knew where the plot was going, it veered off in another direction. Great suspense! Loved it!

I listened to the audiobook version of this story. The unabridged audio version (Tantor Media) is narrated by Zach Villa. He reads at a nice, even pace and he is easy to understand. I have partial hearing loss, but was able to easily hear and understand his reading. The audiobook is just shy of 8 1/2 hours long. I listened to it on New Year's Day while packing up Christmas decorations and cleaning the house after a busy holiday season.

For more information on this author and his books, check out his website: http://www.alleneskens.com/