I just finished listening to Allen Eskens' "The Life We Bury". Wow! It turned out to be so much more than I thought it would be. Definitely recommend for those looking for something to fill the gaps. Apparently Allen Eskens was a criminal defence attorney!
In The Life We Bury, Joe Talbert, a college student, is given an assignment to write a story about an older person. He's told to try at a local nursing home, where Joe meets Carl Iverson, a decorated Vietnam Vet, and a convicted pedofile and killer. Joe has no idea what he is in for. Carl has been released from prison as he has a diagnosis of Pancreatic Cancer, with only a few short weeks, or maybe a month or two to live. Joe takes the assignment very seriously, and the more he meets with Carl, the more he learns and becomes convinced that Carl actually committed the crime for which he was convicted. And then this story took some turns I definitely did not expect. Excellent book!
I have read all of Allen Eskens’ books and they are all fantastic. They are not a series as such because the same characters appear in some and not in others.
I read this one a year or two ago and loved it. Which others of Allen Eskens’ books would you recommend most?
It’s been awhile since I read them. The most recent one I’ve read is Saving Emma. If you want to follow a certain character: Joe Talbert is in The Life We Bury, The Shadows We Hide and The Stolen Hours; Lila Nash is in The Life We Bury, The Heavens May Fall, The Shadows We Hide and The Stolen Hours; Boady Sanden is in The Life We Bury, The Heavens May Fall, Nothing More Dangerous and Saving Emma; Max Rupert is in The Guise of Another, The Heavens May Fall, The Deep Dark Descending and Forsaken Country. Another book/author that you might like is When Ghosts Come Home by Wiley Cash, a story of a father and daughter, crime and forgiveness, race and memory. He has several others before this which is the newest. I believe they take place in the southeastern US, maybe the Carolinas
Interesting that his books aren’t a series, but feature the same characters. Do the books featuring any particular character need to be read in a specific order? What do you love most about Eskens’ books? I’m definitely going to add one to my reading list if you think they’re all fantastic! Thanks for the recommendation!
I love his writing style and the suspense; his characters are very human. All of his books have been nominated for various awards. He is from Missouri and attended school in Iowa and Minnesota, so I guess there is a comfortable Midwest feel about the writing and the characters. Each book has a character as a focal point with other secondary characters. I read them in order as they came out. The author is the one who says they are not a series, but the characters are interrelated with info about them expanded in subsequent books, like LP. What I posted above about the various characters indicates that that character is the focal one in the titles following the character’s name. Joe Talbert is a reporter; Boady Sanden is a lawyer; Max Rupert is a detective and Lila Nash is Joe Talbert’s girlfriend. Definitely start with The Life We Bury. I would probably read them in the order they were published or according to the order of the titles following each character.
Thank you!!! This is helpful!
Thanks very much Nancy! I didn’t realize the threads between the books and the characters. I will definitely be looking to read another book of his in the future.
Thank you for the recommendation Susan, Emma and Nancy. I’ll add it to my 2025 “to read” list.