Katch reviewed The Life We Bury by Allen Eskens
A Little Literary & A Little Thriller
The book kicked off like a somewhat run-of-the-mill literary novel about a young man dealing with a hard life. His mom has a drinking problem, his brother is autistic, and he's trying to escape through college. But when it seems like this bit of narrative won't be able to carry the story, it piggybacks onto a mystery/thriller. It's an interesting combination of those two elements, and at the very moment it started to drag & I thought I'd figured everything out, it took another turn. It was an enjoyable read, though I would warn anyone interested it does involve murder, sexual assault, and child abuse among its subject matter. The story has a bit of a true crime vibe, albeit fiction, that worked quite well for me; if you're a fan of that genre, you may enjoy this.