Bury This

by Andrea Portes

If twenty-five years can discover the internet, the cell phone, this thing called the iPod, can twenty-five years discover the secret of a girl murdered, abandoned, by the side of the road?That is the haunting premise of Bury This, an impressionistic literary thriller about the murder of a young girl in small-town Michigan in 1979. Beth Krause was by all intents a good little girl – member of the church choir, beloved daughter of doting parents, friend to the downtrodden. But dig a little deeper into any small town, and conflicts and jealousies begin to appear. And somewhere is that heady mix lies the answer to what really happened to Beth Krause.Her unsolved murder becomes the stuff of town legend, and twenty-five years later the case is re-ignited when a group of film students start making a documentary on Beth’s fateful life. The town has never fully healed over the loss of Beth, and the new investigation calls into light several key her father, a WWII vet; her mother, once the toast of Manhattan; her best friend, abandoned by her mother and left to fend for herself against an abusive father; and the detective, just a rookie when the case broke, haunted by his inability to bring Beth’s murderer to justice. All of these passions will collide once the identity of Beth’s murderer is revealed, proving once again that some secrets can never stay buried.

Genres: Mystery, Fiction, Thriller, Mystery Thriller, Book Club, Crime, Suspense

264 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 2013

About the author

Andrea Portes is a bestselling American novelist.

Her novels include HICK, BURY THIS, ANATOMY OF A MISFIT, and THE FALL OF BUTTERFLIES. Portes is also the author of the upcoming LIBERTY book series and the upcoming HENRY & EVA book series. She also published the SUPER RAD graphic novel series for Dark Matter Comics.

Portes was raised in rural Nebraska, outside of Lincoln. She attended Bryn Mawr College on full scholarship and later received her MFA from University of California, San Diego. After graduation, Portes moved to the neighborhood of Echo Park in Los Angeles.

In 2007, Portes published her debut novel HICK that was an instant bestseller. After the book's huge success, the movie adaptation of HICK went into production in 2011. The film, starring Chloë Grace Moretz, Alec Baldwin, Eddie Redmayne, Juliette Lewis, and Blake Lively premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival in 2011.

Portes's second novel, BURY THIS, was published in January 2014 by Counterpoint Press's imprint Soft Skull Press to critical acclaim.

In 2012, she wrote SUPER RAD, a sci-fi series for Dark Matter Press.

Portes' third novel, ANATOMY OF A MISFIT, was published in September 2014 by HarperCollins. In July 2014, the book was optioned in a pre-emptive deal by Paramount Pictures, with Allison Shearmur (THE HUNGER GAMES, CINDERELLA) producing.

In Winter 2015, Portes spy thriller series LIBERTY was bought in a three-book deal by HarperCollins. Twentieth Century Fox-Fox 2000 acquired the rights to LIBERTY and will be producing the series with Wyck Godfrey (TWILIGHT, THE FAULT IN OUR STARS).

Her fourth book, THE FALL OF BUTTERFLIES will be out in May 2016 published by HarperCollins.

Portes also chose HarperCollins to publish HENRY & EVA AND THE CASTLE ON THE CLIFF, the first in a middle reader series of HENRY & EVA books. The second release in the series will be HENRY & EVA AND THE FAMOUS PEOPLE GHOSTS.

Portes is currently working on THEY WERE LIKE WOLVES, a work of literary fiction.

Reviews

[Paul Bryant · Rating 1 out of 5]

I thought I’d read this. I’d seen one of those, what do you call them. Reviews, that’s it. Turns out that Andrea Portes never saw a sentence. That she didn’t. Want to break. Into several pieces. It’s a style. And I was on board. Thought it was cool. Allusive. Hey, a ten dollar word. Allu. Sive. That's better, two five dollar words.

So there was a dead girl. There always is. Sang in the choir. Voice of an angel. Murder was unsolved. You know. 25 years later there’s some goofy students. Doing a film & tv course. Get assigned to do a documentary. That’s right. You guessed. What is this, Donna Tartt meets Blair Witch Project? But hey. I was still on board. But then, this.

She was not pretty, nor sweet, nor cute. She was, quite simply, a drop-dead, stop-traffic gorgeous, ink-haired, green-eyed beauty with alabaster skin and bone structure Veronica Lake would envy. And those lips, almost obscene. Sweetheart lips. Kill-you lips. That girl knew how to pout.

I also know how to pout. And pout I did. You know how to pout don't you? You just put your lips together and squeeze. A couple of pages later there’s a guy with sky-blue eyes and blond crewcut hair. What does he do?

He went up to the drop-dead girl at the bar, a girl with pitch black hair and ghost skin, and said, “I’m going to marry you and take you back with me to Michigan.”

The person found dead in the snow early on in this novel was not the editor of Bury This. But it should have been.

[Charlene · Rating 2 out of 5]

It was only okay. The teaser on the back of the book sounded really good. Unfortunately, I did not enjoy the author's writing style. I like a more straightforward approach to the telling of a story. I think the author might have been aiming for a poetic approach to her writing, but it just left me irritated that she didn't just get to the point. So, the sky was gray. Done. I get it, I do not need an entire paragraph to let me know that the winter sky in Michigan is gray and gloomy. Got it the first time, thanks! She also eluded to things at the end of the book, but never wrapped them up leaving the reader feeling unfinished. I pushed myself to finish it, and I guess I am glad I did, but I would not read it again.

[Sheila Guevin · Rating 1 out of 5]

The premise on the jacket is of a teenage girl's unsolved 1979 murder being revisted today. How different the story of her life seems when new facts come to life. With the line, "some secrets can never stay buried" it feels like a true crime cold case tv show.

I thought the book would be a change of pace. Though the writer was unknown to me, Portes attended Bryn Mawr and has an MFA from UC San Diego.

So why the lonely one star?

The story line itself is fine. The writing a bit jumpy and a tad too poetic. However, the one star is for this. Everyone swears. Well for most of them it isn't outloud, it is in their head. For a small town, it seems like they are all sharing the same thoughts and that thought mostly starts or ends with the "f" word.

The problem with this writer is that she doesn't have a grasp of each character having a unique voice. They have unique physical characteristics. Unique back stories. Unique experiences. But in the voice, from the pearl wearing beautiful and aging Lt. Colonel's wife to the town police officer to the drifter derelict at the bar to the life handed me a bad hand fat girl, in their own minds, they all swear. This is not only distracting, at times it makes it difficult to tell who is speaking.

I like to give my books away, but I cannot think of one person I know who would truly enjoy reading this book. So if you are reading this review and have run out of reading material or are in need of paper to kindle a fire, let me know.

If I don't hear from any of my friends by next week, I expect this book will soon be the creative subject of a camera shoot.

[Jennifererisman · Rating 5 out of 5]

A RUTHLESS MASTERPIECE

If Joyce Carol Oates and Charles Bukowski had a literary baby, it would be Andrea Portes.

That probably sounds like HUGE hyperbole but read this novel and tell me different. Words can hardly express how traumatized I am by this beautiful, poetic, stunning piece of fiction. I think I might have underestimated this author, actually, as I loved HICK but didn't really see this coming. This novel BLINDSIDES you. The characters are following me around, particularly Shauna Boggs. There is such pathos there.

I'm really intrigued by her male characters. This novel's Jeff Cody is as exquisitely flawed as the Eddie Kreezer character in HICK. Her male characters are broken in such fascinating ways that even when they do horrible things it's impossible to abandon them.

A lot of times second novels really are a make or break thing. With BURY THIS, Andrea Portes shows she is no lightweight and is, indeed, a singular voice for her generation. Where others go snarky or ironic, she goes right in with humanity, beauty, poetry and a kind of ruthlessness as astonishing as it is beautiful.

I am now a huge fan and will be following this author with a keen interest. HICK was great, and I adored it. But this is haunting me in a way I would never have foreseen.

[Amber · Rating 2 out of 5]

2/5, just OK. Interesting premise - 25 years after a girl's body is found dumped at the side of a road, a group of students reignite interest in the case when they make a documentary about her murder. Sounds good, right?

Well, the students take up maybe two chapters and all we know about the documentary is that it was made... After that the entire plot point is dropped. The story is mainly told from a few different perspectives from the time before Beth was killed but they ALL have the same "stream of consciousness" narrative style, and all of the narratives sound exactly the same. The author should have picked one character to tell the story so the narrative style would make sense.

Plus, I was not a fan of her writing 'flair.' For example, "the snow drifted, drifted, drifted down" or "the clack, clack of the stair" --- Why the repetition? It kept taking me out, out, out of the story.

[Alycia Garcia · Rating 1 out of 5]

I really could not get into this book. Took everything I had to finish it. The first few chapters were VERY confusing. It’s like the author just rambled on, and half the time it didn’t say who the chapter was about.

[Katie Long · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a book for real readers. The story structure is brilliant but it's sophisticated. It's not like... this happened and then this happened and then this...

There's a lot of moving around from POV to POV, which sounds weird but is actually really fascinating. You are experiencing the world in everyone's different heads, and each of these people is filled with their own insecurities and fears. It's like a love song to humanity, in a way.

I, also, am really impressed with how this author lands her chapters. You'll be going along, living in someone's head and then BOOM, she will land it with a real quick right hook. It's really kind of arresting.

I absolutely adored this book but it is not for a simple-minded reader or anyone of the feint of heart. It's dazzling, dark, gritty, poetic reading and I am going to have to read HICK now, because I am obsessed with the author.

[Icy_Space_Cobwebs · Rating 5 out of 5]

A deeply-imagined and heart-wrenching mystery, with closure but no happy endings. It's a sad story for all; I found myself grieving for all the lost and ruined lives, all the cycles of generations of wrong acts and decisions.

[Freddywebre13 · Rating 5 out of 5]

Dark and beautiful. Truly a page-turner. I heart this book.

[AMANDA · Rating 5 out of 5]

This read like a cheesy Lifetime movie whose screenplay was written by a disgruntled Sylvia Plath. And I don't mean that as an insult.

[Sarah McMullan · Rating 2 out of 5]

Disappointing

Incredibly disappointing.
I knew who was ultimately responsible within the first 50? Pages.
Unoriginal. Elizabeth is a caricature - most of the characters are; with detail given to her parents that make them far more interesting than anyone else in the story.
Some holes in the plot or just lazy writing.
Meh.

[Heather Anne · Rating 4 out of 5]

Beautifully written prose, excellent but sad story, wonderful suspense. I think it might be the most beautifully written thriller I've read; I didn't expect that!

[Therese Thompson · Rating 2 out of 5]

I was intensely interested in reading this novel. It is a fictionalized version of the Janet Chandler murder. This horrible crime happened back in 1979, when a young woman’s badly beaten and abused body was discovered by a plow truck driver who was working during a snow storm in 1979 in Michigan. The case went cold and was resurrected after some Hope College journalism students created a documentary on this heinous murder and a special unit was established by area law enforcement to reopen the investigation into this young women’s horrible death. Janet, a beloved daughter, member of her church choir and student at Hope University, was an employee of a local hotel hosting some seedy characters. She disappeared the night of an apparent robbery while working the front desk, to be discovered several days later buried in a snow bank.

My interest stemmed from a little personal knowledge of the case through a friend who worked it for years after it was reopened because of the student’s documentary. Worked it really hard. I was told Janet’s parents are very good people, still grieving their lost child. And it was an unusually hideous crime. (Dateline cuts its story, because it was too gruesome to fully report.) The assigned detectives traveled all over the country to locate and interview suspects, even using their own money to continue the hunt when funds got low. They broke the case though-a conspiracy of silence and intimidation that had lasted decades, with six men and women arrested and convicted. And it all begun because some idealistic young college students from the murdered woman’s college had put together a documentary that brought attention to the case and got it reopened.

A lot of hard work and dedication by so many good people had to happen to bring justice to some very evil people and peace to the family of victim Janet Chandler. I guess that was the story I wanted to read about. But, those aspects were a side note to a fantasized tale of what may have been happening in the heads of the killers and the victim, written in an impressionistic, choppy stream of consciousness style that may put off many readers.

I once asked my friend if any of his team would ever consider writing a book about this complex inquiry that took so much effort, by so many different people, to bring this pack of killers to justice. He said no. He (and his co-workers) respected and liked her parents very much and would never consider it, out of consideration for them. But, writing a book on working cold cases to assist law enforcement investigators in searching out criminals-maybe one day. I think the real and the valuable story is there and I hope to read that one day. ~Therese@Carpe Librum on fb

[AJourneyWithoutMap · Rating 4 out of 5]

If you loved Hick, the debut novel of Andrea Portes, you will fall in love with her new book Bury This, which is immensely enjoyable and absorbing. While poetic at the core of the heart, Bury This is not supposed to be witty yet it is, stunning, and it is almost flawless in its execution.

Bury This follows the mystery surrounding the murder of Beth Krause in a small-town in Michigan in 1979, and the unraveling of the murderer 25 years later by accident. I have reasons to believe her writing is the product of her rural upbringing, wherein she paints stark and sharp pictures which are truly impressive. Bury This is deep and dark, and it has the merciless power to return to haunt you long after you close the book.

Hick was a biographical novel. It was good. Bury This is an impressionistic literary thriller. And it is as good as Hick, if not better.

[Jerry Robinson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Don't be jealous, but I believe we get to talk to the author this month for our book-club: all about connections/

It took me a bit to get accustomed too the writing. Once that took place, I fell under her spell.

It's dark, tragic, enlightening, spellbinding
And riveting: Three days after completing the book, I find myself still thinking about it

[Libby · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very odd. Writing style. Abrupt. Cool. Peculiar.

[Renita D'Silva · Rating 3 out of 5]

Quirky writing style. Great story.

[Chelsea · Rating 3 out of 5]

"[...] and these things could never happen 'cause if they could then what would be the point of storming the beaches of Normandy, what would be the point of praying to Jesus, what would be the point of singing the soprano part of "Ave Maria," if these things could be happening?"

A heartbreaking unsolved cold case file on the 1979 death of Elizabeth Krause, found broken and battered in a snowbank in Michigan by a snow plow operator, gets resurrected and investigated using modern technology thanks to a documentary that some local youth decide to film in 2002. This novel takes you back and forth in time, from periods ranging from 1940 all the way up until the present. You get snapshots of Elizabeth's life, her parents' life, the lives of the people around her, both past and current. The premise was interesting, but I don't think the writing style will be for everyone - it is poetic, choppy, run-on, follows real time inner dialogue, and is mostly in the present tense. The story is a sad one, but what murder mystery isn't? I'd try another by Portes if they wrote a similar novel.

[Megan Black · Rating 1 out of 5]

Oh my god, I can't believe I wasted my day reading this book. The writing was not great-- each chapter is presented as the internal dialogue of a character's, but all of the characters sound exactly the same, so I had no clue who was narrating. The plot was interesting at first, but then became extremely predictable and I hoped for a twist but didn't get one. Beth, whose murder in the 70s was never solved, was featured in a documentary produced by local college students that ultimately reopened her cold case. However, the author only provides glimpses at these college students like twice throughout the book, and then drops their plotline entirely. Ugh. Really though, I just do not suggest picking this up.

[Alicia Gard · Rating 1 out of 5]

I don't even know what to say. This book isn't especially well written, with its "phrase as a sentence " style. I could have somewhat tolerated that if there was a real story here, a plot or characters that were developed at all. But none of those things exist on these pages. A bunch a characters are basically listed chapter by chapter in a small town somewhere (Michigan? Minnesota?) and one of them gets murdered. We never learn enough about any of them to care much about any of them. I guess I kept reading to see what would actually happen. And the answer is....not much.

[Richard · Rating 5 out of 5]

An absolutely fascinating fictional account of an unsolved murder that, during the course of the novel, will reveal its secrets. Those secrets come out through the first person accounts and inner thoughts of the people involved, including the murder victim. Portes is superb at bringing to life the inner monologues that we all have in our own heads but in her hands define and explicate the lives of her characters. A terrific book.

[Tammytam · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is one of the most beautiful books I have ever read. It's no small wonder the NY Times gave it such a rave review. If you are a fan of beautiful prose and cruel landscapes, this is the novel for you. I read this book after reading HICK, which I really loved. I actually think Bury This is even better! I cannot wait forthe next literary fiction from this author. The prose and characters is what sets this one apart.

[Kathleen Finney · Rating 2 out of 5]

The writing style is so contrived as to be actually irritating. The characters do not rise above one dimensionality. None has a unique voice; they are barely distinguishable from each other. Certainly none come across as genuine human beings with personalities.

As a rule, I finish every book that I start. The detailed description of the final seconds of the "Ice Bowl" toward the end of this book nearly forced me to break my streak.

[Grace · Rating 1 out of 5]

Sorry but this is the worst book I’ve ever read. The writing style sucks and it’s confusing. I probably stated “this is terrible” a hundred times throughout the novel. I wanted to finish it as soon as possible so I could never look at it again. I usually like books like this but the ending was so predictable and everything was a mess sooo....😣😒

[Melissa · Rating 3 out of 5]

An interesting mystery with unreliable characters. Lots of beautiful prose, but that also made the lines jump around at times. Harsh, almost crass, imagery. Definitely an adult book. I read it in one sitting.

[Joe Bathelt · Rating 4 out of 5]

“Bury This” follows the events that lead to the disappearance of a girl in a small town in rural America from the perspective of the current day and twenty years in the past. The most striking aspect of the book is the writing style. The prose conveys the perspective of each character capturing their innermost feelings, their self-deception, their aspirations, and the darkest corners of their sole. The perspective often shifts within the same chapter flipping between the view of one character to that of another, which lets the reader re-evaluate what is happening. The style is overall extremely dark and gritty, reminiscent of Chuck Palahniuk. It’s a gripping book that leaves a lasting impression, but it’s certainly not for the faint-hearted.

[Jenni · Rating 5 out of 5]

The writing style may not be for everyone, but I really enjoyed it. It was a sad story beautifully written.

[Candida · Rating 3 out of 5]

Really unusual writing style - I enjoyed the story, it kept me interested throughout.

[Frank Ogden · Rating 1 out of 5]

Did not like this storyline

[Marnie Z · Rating 2 out of 5]

Didn't finish..