Reviews tagging 'Death'

The Life We Bury by Allen Eskens

14 reviews

sofiam19's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.0

Really enjoyed the first half but then it felt like a different book altogether. Slightly rushed, the writing of Lila felt hollow, and it just seemed very out there for what happens to Joe. It would’ve been at least a 4 if the author was consistent with the writing in the first half. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Sexual assault, and Rape

Moderate: War, Alcoholism, Incest, Death, Pedophilia, and Confinement

erinwea's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Body horror, Death, Blood, Physical abuse, Rape, War, Adult/minor relationship, Alcohol, Cancer, Child abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Kidnapping, Mental illness, Murder, Pedophilia, Sexual assault, Terminal illness, and Violence

gigi43's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional informative mysterious sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, War, Terminal illness, Grief, Torture, Suicidal thoughts, Mental illness, Alcoholism, Domestic abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Rape, Murder, Physical abuse, Emotional abuse, and Death

mhandlin's review

adventurous medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.75

The first half of this book drew me in with it's complicated story line and compelling characters. The second half was something I wasn't expecting based on the books description, filled with twists and turns that kept my attention. I really enjoyed the characters and the way the author made you really think about morals and humanity in its darkest moments.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death and Murder

Moderate: Pedophilia, Rape, and Sexual assault

kccool12255's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional inspiring mysterious reflective sad tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

OH MY GOSH. THIS IS SUCH A GOOD BOOK. I LOVE IT. 

I feel like I've found my good murder mystery author. I haven't dived fully into the genre yet, and I've wanted to for a good while now. Allen Eskens writes an action-packed narrative that is FILLED TO THE BRIM with interesting characters and a compelling story. This book is so easy to read, it goes by so fast, and I really appreciate finally reading a fast-paced book for the first time in a while. Joe, despite his ordinary name, is a really diverse and interesting character that you can really connect with after hearing his past life experiences. You can understand his feelings with his psychotic mother, his autistic brother, and even his relationship with Carl.

It's so wholesome and precious, Carl helps him to appreciate life more, and Joe gives Carl peace before he dies. I ALMOST CRIED, IT'S SO SWEET.

I also love Lila Nash as a character, at first she's very stoic and just a blank slate, but then she opens up to Joe and you can understand her completely, as she's also been through a lot.

I wasn't a big fan of their relationship at first, since I didn't see a lot of chemistry between the two, but they really work well together in the investigation, and they're just so cute, since they can be so open with each other. Lila's relationship with Jeremy is also very wholesome, it's so cute how she's so sweet to him.

Carl is such a good character as well, just having undergone these horrible things in Vietnam.

,and is such a sweet guy, and everyone thinks he raped and murdered this girl. *sob* Carl needs JUSTICE for those years spent in prison. It's also a great commentary on the duality of people, since Carl isn't all good. He's killed and he's murdered people before, and his intentions have not always been honorable. But even though he doesn't believe it, he has the heart of a hero. Beautiful.

WHEN I TELL YOU FOR THE SECOND TIME IN A ROW, I FIGURED OUT EVERYTHING BUT THE ACTUAL IDENTITY OF THE KILLER. I'm so good at picking up the clues, I'm just not good at CONNECTING them. GAH.

I mean, decoding the numbers was NOT my doing, and neither was all the DJ stuff...BUT HEY, I GOT MOST OF IT. I DID predict a twist at the end, which there was, and of course it was the stepbrother. OF COURSE. The stepfather was just too obvious, although it was starting to make me believe that he was actually the killer. But no, he's just a dick. Lovely.

 

What I DIDN'T expect in this book was all the ACTION.

We got Joe getting KIDNAPPED and almost MURDERED, Lila almost gets raped and murdered along with Joe in the climax, at which point I was internally screaming, "NO! NOT LILA! SHE'S ALREADY TRAUMATIZED FROM THAT!" Like, I was not expecting all this ACTION.

It was a nice surprise, though. 

Joe and Lila bond over their trauma :) (not that I'm romanticizing it IN ANY WAY, it's just very heartwarming and sweet how they bond). 

I got nothing more to say, really. This book is PHENOMENAL and I really enjoyed it, I will definitely be trying to read more by Allen Eskens in the future. 5 STARS!!!!!!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Murder, Violence, Cursing, Toxic relationship, Blood, Injury/Injury detail, Death, Domestic abuse, and War

Moderate: Sexual violence, Rape, Sexual content, Pedophilia, Incest, and Kidnapping

Minor: Self harm

fluture's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

An enjoyable book to be read if you are looking for a light mystery and thriller without plot twists. I love how intense every chapter is, the author knows how to make us feel intrigued to continue reading it in one sit. Each character was described in a way where we were expected to understand why they acted that way now. Although it has predictable plot, it is still worth the read.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Colonisation, Domestic abuse, Fire/Fire injury, War, Rape, Death, Violence, Murder, and Sexual assault

Moderate: Suicide attempt, Alcohol, Child abuse, Gaslighting, Pedophilia, Self harm, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Blood, Gun violence, Emotional abuse, and Mental illness

Minor: Chronic illness, Sexism, Stalking, Xenophobia, Cursing, Grief, Homophobia, Kidnapping, Misogyny, Physical abuse, and Alcoholism

The ending is very much predictable and satisfying. Looks a lot like average thriller movies.

blackferrum's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional lighthearted mysterious sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

A. Must. Read. Thriller.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Rape, Fire/Fire injury, Cancer, Chronic illness, Gaslighting, Kidnapping, Emotional abuse, and Death

Moderate: War and Suicidal thoughts

friends2lovers's review against another edition

mysterious sad tense fast-paced

1.5

I'm trying to read more of my owned books in 2023 and this is one of many audiobooks I've had in my Audible library for years and never listened to.  When I was scrolling through my audible app, the wintery cover caught my eye, and that's pretty much how I came to finally listen to this.  Mysteries and thrillers are not usually my genre, so I'm not sure why I bought this in the first place.  Maybe it was a daily deal?  Anyway, I did like the narrator, Zach Villa.  He kind of sounded like a young Armie Hammer.  The story was decent, but a little predictable.  I didn't connect with any of the characters enough to want to read more of Esken's novels, which are apparently all set in the same Minnesota town.  Overall, it was okay/fine.  Mostly I'm just glad to finally mark this as read and move on to another book.

Series: On his website, Esken says, "My books are not a series, but rather character arcs that revolve around a small community."   

Genres: Mystery, Thriller

Tags: winter, amateur detective, college-age MC

Setting: Minnesota, in late fall and early winter

Protagonist: Joe Talbert 

Point-of-View: 1st person, past tense

Length: 8h 24m, 333 pages, 90k words (novel)

Format: audiobook from Audible

Narrator: Zach Villa

Read Date: 08 Jan 2023

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Death, and Violence

Moderate: Rape, Fire/Fire injury, Suicide attempt, Gun violence, Ableism, War, Suicidal thoughts, Domestic abuse, and Sexual assault

Minor: Abandonment, Sexual content, Cancer, Mental illness, Self harm, Alcoholism, and Addiction

ana_reads's review against another edition

dark mysterious fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Fire/Fire injury, Murder, Child death, and Death

debimorton's review

adventurous challenging dark mysterious reflective tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

College student, Convicted murderer, autistic brother, terrible mother, neighbor girl. Convict dying of cancer in nursing home. First person narrative. Joe, Lila, Carl, Jeremy

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Murder, Grief, Addiction, Alcoholism, Cancer, Death, and Terminal illness

Minor: Rape and Sexual violence