Lies We Bury

I think the most important thing I carried away from Lies We Bury is the impact a traumatic experience like Marissa's can have on a person's entire life and the monumental effort it takes to overcome it all. As Marissa investigates the crime scenes she's been hired to photograph, readers see a true amateur sleuth. She has no real clue how to investigate, she's easily distracted and prone to run off on tangents.

The author has created a layered portrait of Marissa's life, including a few interesting tidbits of Portland history as well as the memories of the people who survived that basement prison with her. When readers finally get to meet the man who kept these women and children locked in his basement for years, his beliefs as to what show more he can achieve if he's released from prison are mind-boggling.

Lies We Bury is well-paced and engrossing, but it's not the type of book readers can easily fall in love with. It's edgy and unsettling with uncomfortable subject matter. For me, it boiled down to my uneven track record with unreliable narrators. Marissa is a sympathetic character whom readers learn cannot be entirely trusted. How well you relate to her will have a great deal to do with how much you like the book. show less

#FirstLine ~ Secrets never stay buried for long.

Intense and original this book is not to be missed. You will be swept up in the amazing story. I loved that this book was unsettling and you were made aware how fragile and powerful the human mind can be and how memories are triggers to the past. A slow burn and a fun and chilling read!

This book is "A novel about secrets and revenge...". The style is a 'now alternating with flashbacks to 20 years ago.' The basic story is that three young girls were held hostage in a basement and escaped when the main character, Claire, was 7. In the "now" chapters, Claire is a newspaper photographer in Portland, and gets drawn into photographing the crime scenes of a streak of murders that also have some clues to her past. It is a tense and page turning novel that ended in a way I appreciated. It was a very good read with and I wish I had set enough time aside to read it in one setting.

As expected, one should be cautioned that there are graphic descriptions descriptions of abuse, murder scenes, and intense struggles.

It was good enough for a thriller, though a little slow. I kinda of had a good idea from early on who the killer was but the twist, was interesting if not a little vague.

Edge of my seat thriller.