Buried Lives

by Nancy Star

"As the secrets of the past start to surface, the terror of the present begins...

The more she remembers, the closer she comes to the horrible secret in her past...and to the evil lurking in her future.

All Joy really knows about her past is that her beloved brother Buddy was kidnapped when they were both young. Now the terrifying truth is slowly creeping into Joy's seemingly perfect life. The questions about her childhood are starting to be answered. But the memories bring only fear-of what she has yet to discover.

As dark days follow eerie nights, Joy is swept back to a past more terrible than she had dared to imagine and plunged into an abyss of suffocating dread. She knows she has to escape somehow from this unnamed terror. But by the time she uncovers the deadly secret and recognizes the mortal evil that has invaded her home, it may be too late...."

Genres: Horror, Fiction, Adult, Thriller

217 pages, Hardcover

First published May 29, 1993

About the author

Nancy Star is the bestselling author of Sisters One, Two Three and five other novels including her latest, Rules For Moving, coming this Spring. Star’s novels have been translated into many languages, optioned for television, and chosen as Literary Guild and Mystery Guild Signature Series selections. In addition to her novels, Star’s essays have appeared in The New York Times, The Washington Post, and Family Circle, among other publications. Before turning to writing fiction full-time, Star worked for over a decade as an executive in the movie business. She now lives with her husband in New Jersey. Visit her website: nancystarauthor.com and follow her on twitter: @nancystarauthor and instagram: @nancystarauthor

Reviews

[Barbara Blindauer · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a creepy book about newlyweds whose marriage is based one lies and murder. Joy and Lanny and Joy’s twin brother, Buddy, were childhood friends when Buddy was kidnapped. Joy has no memory of what happened and that is what Lanny wants. When her memory starts coming back strange things begin to happen and people think she is going crazy. As the book continues you can figure things out.

[Lucy (The Countess of) Monte Cristo · Rating 1 out of 5]

I'll be fair and say this book deserves a 1.5. The characters really annoyed me, even Joy became irritating at times. In my opinion the story has a good plot, I just think some things could've been handled differently. For one, I knew early on in the story that Lanny was guilty. On page 15:

"Do you remember much about Buddy?"
"If we're going to spend any time together," he jumped in quickly, before she could ask more, "which I've always hoped we would, then we have to have an understanding. We have to promise each other that we'll forget about Buddy, about talking about what happened, about dwelling on that part of our lives. Otherwise, his ghost will drag us down."

I don't know about you but this sounds like a guilty conscience to me. And don't even get me started on the next door neighbors. The only character that I can honestly say that I liked is Molly. She wasn't like the rest of the neighborhood women; she was down to earth and through the end she remained a great friend to Joy. I really admired that.
One last thing that was mildly annoying was how the author kept mentioning Joy's pregnant stomach and misshaped body. Its like okay I get it, she's carrying twins.
I would say most of the story dragged until the ending. Out of this entire book my favorite pages are 209-210 because this is where Joy finally starts thinking for herself and realizes how deranged Lanny is. I love how she finally becomes strong enough to defeat the man who's been controlling her ever since they were kids. In the end she gets her freedom back that she didn't realize she had lost throughout the years.

The ending was amazing but I can't get pass how I felt in the beginning. I wish I could say I enjoyed this book, but I didn't.

[Lisa James · Rating 3 out of 5]

This exceedingly creepy book focuses on what at first seems to be an ideal marriage. We have a set of relative newlyweds moving into a brand new Victorian type home, & the she is about 6 months pregnant with twins. He is a high powered corporate lawyer, she is, appropriately enough, an artist for a publishing firm that does a lot of horror publication. She is not exactly the social type, & that gets her on the bad side of what she terms The Weird Sisters, 3 of the main neighbors' wives on the block. She also has memory blocks from her childhood, centering around her brother Buddy, who was kidnapped at the age of 13. When she moves into this house, the memories begin to come back in flashes, & then all sorts of nasty things happen in the neighborhood as well. It's a fast paced read, compelling, but not so hard that you can't take a break when your brain overloads.

[Tamara · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wow!! What a great book. Buried Lives by Nancy Star kept me on the edge of my seat from start to finish. I have never read any other books by this author but I know plan to find whatever I can written by her. A great story that takes place in a suburb of NY where a woman pregnant with twins moves to a new neighborhood. The home is beautiful but there is something about her new neighborhood that is just not right, and that is not all that is not right in this woman's life. A great story from start to finish.

[Stephanie Anderson · Rating 4 out of 5]

A surprisingly solid read although fairly short (it took me maybe 2 hours tops?), the mystery elements here are fairly spooky and effective. I do wish that it was longer, as the suspense and atmosphere it builds needs more time to be truly effective, which means it feels rushed. However, the book is still good and the slightly hectic tone of the writing works well in context to the confused nature of the actual story.

Joy has no memory of a good chunk of her childhood, and her mother and husband (childhood friend) aren't encouraging her to look into the holes in her memory. All she does know is that her twin brother was kidnapped and is now dead.
As her memories start to return, things start to get confused and unhappy for Joy and Lanny, and it becomes obvious that Joy is in danger. Can she get herself and her unborn children to safety?

A good quick read, although you'll wish it had more to it.

[cbdef · Rating 1 out of 5]

This book has been sitting on my shelf, probably since it was originally released in 1993. Perhaps if I had read it then, in the time period of which it was written I would have liked it better. But reading it in our current present, the story line was too contrived, too predictable and too unbelievable. It doesn't help that I just recently finished another book with the same plot line - a controlling, manipulative husband who convinces everyone that the woman is losing her mind, a danger to her children and herself. REALLY?? Does no one think for themselves anymore? Are there no intuitive people out there who see what is happening and make there own independent conclusions?
I suppose there are women who are alone and so completely cut off from others that it is possible, but in this case it was just a recycled theme that has grown tired.

[Lynette Lark · Rating 4 out of 5]

I expected not to like this book because suspense is not my genre. I prefer historical fiction. However, after a slow start, the pace picked up and what a ride! There was some minor sloppiness in the book like a doctor calling a male/female set of twins "identical," and, at the conclusion, I felt like there were still more questions than answers. But I recommend it as a fun read.

[Super Piss Baby · Rating 4 out of 5]

The absolute disrespect the main character is given by almost everyone in this book, including her mother had me going batshit. Okay book but it kind of feels rushed and not so well put together. The fact that the little justice we get for Joy is also fucked in the ass by losing a baby is just the turd on top of a shit Sunday

[Donna Blair · Rating 4 out of 5]

Intriguing storyline!

[Karen · Rating 3 out of 5]

Wasn’t going to finish this but I needed to know who survived

[Aneesa · Rating 3 out of 5]

Well that was interesting.

Joy is the main character and is pregnant with twins. She has the perfect husband and is just moving into a nice home in what appears to be a nice area. Everything seems perfect, but it is not. She has these blank spots in her memory and cannot recall much of her twin brother who has died many years earlier. She begins having dreams about her brother and is determined to find the missing pieces, however it appears her mother nor her husband are eager to help her.

This book is definitely a page turner and very hard to put down. Overall a good read. I give it 3 1/2 stars. I would have rated it higher, but I was left with some unanswered questions.

[Jazmine · Rating 3 out of 5]

I felt like the end of the book was a lot better than the beginning. I didn't like any of the characters, besides Joy and Molly. For whatever reason, I kept getting them confused. But Lanny also seemed abusive, so the plot twist that he wasn't a great guy wasn't shocking. Plus, he was missing most of the book except when he was revealed to be evil. I also believe I've heard a similar story about it being revealed that the brother was dead and hid under the porch. Also the plot with Molly's dog just ended and so did the plot with the squirrels and neither of them were resolved and the dog didn't impact the story.
(3.5/5)

[Linda · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read this book quite some time ago, but felt compelled to add my review because I remember how utterly suspenseful it was and how I flew through the book. I did not guess the ending, although the main male character was clearly quite creepy. I kept hoping that Nancy Star would write another suspense novel, but I don't think she ever did.

[Sheila Myers · Rating 5 out of 5]

A thrilling read. Many questions went through my mind as I read. Is Joy Bard crazy? Is someone trying to make her think she is? What happened during her childhood and who did what to her brother? All these questions are answered through the course of the story, but Nancy Star did a wonderful job of keeping many of the answers just out of reach until the end. Very suspenseful.

[Lisa Greer · Rating 3 out of 5]

This one is worth a read if you like horror. I rate it so/so. It was suspenseful for the first 125 pages or so. It is drraaagging to the end, though, because the author gave away all the secrets already.

[Nicole · Rating 2 out of 5]

It took me just a couple of hours to finish this barely 200 page book. While I can't say it was brimming with suspense, the book had some creepy moments. Perfect if you prefer a quick read and not a lot of complexities.

[Mary Anne · Rating 4 out of 5]

Pretty good book. I felt like I have read this book before.

[Toesnorth's mom]

fair

[Jessica Pasche · Rating 4 out of 5]

The style in which it was written was sub par but the story line was excellent!