In Lies We Bury, Elle Marr (best-selling author of The Missing Sister) has brought a cleverly plotted and compelling new mystery with unique characters and truly surprising twists. This is a slow-burn thriller as the present-day murders happening in front of the main character are not the only mysterious secrets being dealt with by Marr.
This is the story of Claire, but Claire used to go by the name Marissa. Marissa spent the first part of her life in a basement with her sisters and their mothers, those mothers being young women kidnapped and held hostage by a man named Chet. It has now been twenty years since they fought together and managed to get free, but such a horrific early life obviously has long-term effects on each of them. Just getting the opportunity to live a “normal” life does not mean that any of them have been able to actually do so.
Now that Claire feels like she is starting to get her life in order, complete with a new job as a photographer for a local newspaper, there is suddenly a string of murders that have strange and unusual connections to her childhood in that underground room. It’s almost too late when Claire/Marissa finally starts to put the pieces together about just how these new murders relate to her and her past.
Marr takes the reader back to Claire/Marissa’s early life in that basement with a few chapters interspersed in among the current day narrative. With this story-telling technique, the reader gradually learns more and more about exactly what Claire has gone through, but also see exactly how some of those events continue to shape and affect her to this day.
With themes such as the danger of hidden secrets and the damage they can do, as well as an examination of the cost revenge, this is a deep and complex story that may weigh you down, but will also cause you to really think about the struggles of others, how none of us really have a “normal” childhood or life (because there really is no such thing as “normal”), and how high the cost of secrets—any kind of secrets—can be. This is not a quick read, but it is a deep, meaningful, and fascinating story that you will keep in your heart and your mind long after you have finished reading.
Lies We Bury is available from Amazon, Book Depository, and other good book retailers, like your local bookstore, as of April 1st 2021.
Will you be picking up Lies We Bury? Tell us in the comments below!
Synopsis | Goodreads
A novel about secrets and revenge by the number one Amazon Charts bestselling author of The Missing Sister. It’s only by confronting who she was then that she can understand who she is now.
I was born in captivity…
Two decades ago Marissa Mo escaped a basement prison—the only home she’d ever known. At twenty-seven, Marissa’s moved beyond the trauma and is working under a new name as a freelance photographer. But when she accepts a job covering a string of macabre murders in Portland, it’s impossible for Marissa not to remember.
Everything is eerily familiar. The same underground lairs. Sad trinkets and toys left behind, identical to those Marissa had as a child. And then there is the note meant just for her that freezes Marissa’s blood: See you soon, Missy.
To determine the killer’s next move, Marissa must retrieve her long-forgotten memories and return to a past she’s hidden away. But she won’t be facing her fears alone. Someone is waiting for her in the dark.
