At age twenty-seven, this single and very troubled young lady has been desperately trying to remake her life and get away from her past as the infamous Marissa Mo. The only problem is that Claire Lou is not who she claims to be. Claire accepts and negotiates a deal for $100/hour for this more dangerous work. Her editor is so impressed, and coincidentally in need of a photographer due to a temporary opening on her staff, that she assigns her to the crime beat. She takes on an assignment for the Portland Post in Oregon initially earning one dollar per photo for a local parade she covers. The camera lens never lies, and freelance photojournalist Claire Lou is well aware of this. Secrets never stay buried for long and no one appreciates that sentiment more than a photographer. They are buried alive and will come forth later in uglier ways.” Marr opens things up with a terrific quote from Sigmund Freud which becomes quite telling: “Unexpressed emotions will never die. In fact, the trauma she underwent twenty years prior to the action in Elle Marr’s terrific new novel Lies We Bury makes her the ideal unreliable narrator because we may not know what is going on in her PTSD-addled mind. Marissa Mo who is one of the more troubled narrators you will come across. These thoughts are from the mind of protagonist Claire Lou a.k.a. “The lies we tell ourselves during stable hours-like I’m a good person or I don’t deserve this- become the lies we bury deep down, too far to access, in times of pain.” ^ 'Minnesota Book Award Winner for Genre Fiction'.^ '2015 Left Coast Crime Award Winners'.'BookExpo 2017: Seventh Street Books Marks Fifth Anniversary'.

^ a b c d Patrick, Diane (June 1, 2017).^ 'How I Fell in with the Criminal Element'.Left Coast Crime Award for Best First Novel Awards and honors Awards for Esken's writing Īside from writing, Eskens works as a criminal defense attorney. In addition to official degree programs, he has attended the Iowa Summer Writing Festival and The Loft Literary Center in Minneapolis. He also has a degree in journalism from the University of Minnesota and a Juris Doctor degree from Hamline University School of Law. He received a Master of Fine Arts degree from Minnesota State University. Barry Award for Best Paperback Original (2015, 2018)Īllen Eskens is an American defense attorney who writes mystery, thriller, and suspense novels.Įskens grew up in Missouri and now lives in Minnesota.

The life we bury series