The Life We Bury by Allen Eskens Series: Joe Talbert #1
Published by Simon and Schuster, Tantor on October 14, 2014
Genres: Fiction / Biographical & Autofiction, Fiction / Crime, Fiction / Psychological
Pages: 303
Format: Audiobook
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A USA Today bestseller and book club favorite!
College student Joe Talbert has the modest goal of completing a writing assignment for an English class. His task is to interview a stranger and write a brief biography of the person. With deadlines looming, Joe heads to a nearby nursing home to find a willing subject. There he meets Carl Iverson, and soon nothing in Joe's life is ever the same. Carl is a dying Vietnam veteran--and a convicted murderer. With only a few months to live, he has been medically paroled to a nursing home, after spending thirty years in prison for the crimes of rape and murder. As Joe writes about Carl's life, especially Carl's valor in Vietnam, he cannot reconcile the heroism of the soldier with the despicable acts of the convict. Joe, along with his skeptical female neighbor, throws himself into uncovering the truth, but he is hamstrung in his efforts by having to deal with his dangerously dysfunctional mother, the guilt of leaving his autistic brother vulnerable, and a haunting childhood memory. Thread by thread, Joe unravels the tapestry of Carl’s conviction. But as he and Lila dig deeper into the circumstances of the crime, the stakes grow higher. Will Joe discover the truth before it’s too late to escape the fallout?
The Life We Bury is one of the books for the February The Book Girls’ Guide In Case You Missed It (ICYMI) Reading Challenge: 2026 Edition. It’s one of three I chose to read in February (yes I know it’s March but trust me I listened to the audio book in February). Since this is a challenge I’m doing with my Bestie there are some scheduling things we have to work around. And while we are reading one book the same I did pick up some extras for me. OK, paperwork done.
The big picture is that I had a really hard time getting into this book. Part, I think was the deadpan of the narrator (that I grew to appreciate and actually like) and part as I didn’t get the deeper story. Why are you introducing me to your jacked up Mom and autistic brother? Why do I need to know about the neighbor? What on earth does any of this have to do with Carl’s story? Get to it. But then part way in (longer than it should have but sometimes I can be dense) it all clicked together. It’s not about Carl, well I mean it is totally about Carl, but it’s also about Joe and Lila. It’s about all of them and none of them. It’s about the life that happens along the way and the parts we choose to bury. The parts we choose not to publicize or share or wherever possible not to remember.
There’s a lot of triggers for folks in this book. We have the action of Vietnam, some not so Fizzified language, rape, murder, violence, and abuse. It’s not graphic and I know some readers are bothered my language but the context and way it was included was apt for the character and situation so it didn’t really bother me. It wasn’t language for the sake of language. But once you clear all of that it’s such a well developed story that weaves so much into such a short time. Facing the past, correcting the past, and then out of no where twists and turns that left me on edge wanting to listen faster to get there but then wanting to slow down to capture it all and try to get ahead. This book deserves the awards that it earned. Genre defying, I did struggle with it at points but honestly it was exactly the book it needed to be.
About Allen Eskens
Allen Eskens is the bestselling author of The Life We Bury, The Guise of Another, The Heavens May Fall, The Deep Dark Descending, The Shadows We Hide, Nothing More Dangerous, The Stolen Hours, Forsaken Country, Saving Emma, and his latest novel, The Quiet Librarian.
He is the recipient of the Barry Award, Minnesota Book Award, Left Coast Crime Award, and Silver Falchion Award and has been a finalist for the Edgar® Award, Thriller Award, Anthony Award and Nero Award. His books have been translated into 23 languages.
Allen has a journalism degree from the University of Minnesota and a law degree from Hamline University. After law school, he studied creative writing in the M.F.A. program at Minnesota State University-Mankato, as well as the Loft Literary Center and the Iowa Summer Writer’s Festival. Allen grew up in the hills of central Missouri. He now lives with his wife, Joely, in greater Minnesota where he recently retired after practicing criminal law for 25 years.
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