The Life We Bury is my July book club read.  It is a fast moving, enticing novel which keeps the reader guessing through the twists and turns in the tale.  It was a refreshing read after the more serious books, They Left Us Everything and The Amazing Absorbing Boy.

Joe has escaped his alcoholic mother and responsibility for his brother with autism by going away to college.  He receives an assignment to write a biography and meets Carl, a patient of a nursing home who is dying of pancreatic cancer with numbered days.  Carl has an interesting pas including 30 years incarcerated for the rape and murder of his 14 year old neighbour contrasted with his bravery that was rewarded in Vietnam.  Carl agrees to share his story which includes both murder and killing and Joe becomes committed to clearing his name before he dies.

Carl shares his story when he is feeling up to it while Joe juggles this assignment with his own issues.  His mother is an alcoholic who neglects his younger brother subjecting him to abuse.   He struggles to pay the bills, support himself through college and bail out his mother.  He is interested in the neighbour that lives down the hall yet she has been quite cool to him yet begins helping solve the mystery.

The story is full of intrigue and danger.  I think that the book club will enjoy the quick pace of the novel and am looking forward to our discussion.  Using his background in journalism and law, Eskens has written a follow up story called The Guise of Another which I will add to my growing TBR pile!