The Life We Bury – Review

My rating: 3 of 5 stars

The Life We Bury is a simple detective story about a college kid who increasingly finds himself deeply entangled (and forcibly invested) in a convicted murderer. Simple, because though it contains morsels of mystery and suspense, Eskens doesn’t knead them together into a perfect doughy glob you might later use to bake an Arthur-Conan-Doyle-sized pizza. But simple does not always mean you get that infamous cardboard taste. And it’s not like Eskens was trying to write a truedetective (not the TV show) story to begin with.

Actually, I don’t know what the author was trying to do with this book. But I do know the plot is a bit overdone—the usual rape/murder scenario with a troubled household twist. In addition, some of the backstory is obviously contrived to give the protagonist a reason to push forward. But despite these shortcomings, the story has its moments, especially when life and death are concerned.

It might have been unfair to compare this book with the franchise that is Sherlock Holmes. As a whole, it still makes for a satisfying pie, though I probably won’t visit it or the author again. The Life We Bury is a simple detective story that I enjoyed casually reading as a distraction from the life I live.