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The Things We Bury
The job was supposed to be simple: get in, retrieve the bag, and get out. But after a botched attempt that leaves a man dead, Fenton Marciano is forced to hold up in a middle-of-the-nowhere motel, where he meets a young woman who is all too eager to fall in love. With heat coming down on him from his boss and dealing with a past that just won't quit, Fenton must ride it out while staving off his own ghosts - and to make matters more complicated, the insatiable impulse to give in to a woman who could be the salvation he needs, or the final ruin he's been searching for. Writer, Poet and Photographer, Philip LoPresti, delivers a haunting portrayal of a criminal on the run, seduction of the soul, and the loss of one's self in a misanthropic miasma. Prepare to give up the ghost in this sad, yet personal endeavor into pure American crime, straight from the guts, with all the heart and hurt still intact.
- GenresFiction
116 pages, Paperback
First published February 12, 2020
1 person is currently reading
2330 people want to read
About the author
Philip LoPresti
22 books76 followersPhilip LoPresti is an author and photographer living in upstate New York. His work is often overtly emotional and thick with themes such as loss, redemption, mental illness, death, grief, and existentialism. When he's not writing or photographing everything he's usually obsessively reading Cormac McCarthy novels, hanging out with his dog and girlfriend, and watching horror, crime, and western films.
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Displaying 1 - 15 of 15 reviews
March 17, 2022
Beautiful and dark. I was happy to get my hands on this book. I loved the story, the feel while reading, and the detail that makes you feel like you're in Fenton's mind and hurt - it made me ache and made me smile. It even made me tear up a little bit. LoPresti is an incredibly talented writer and I am always impressed with what he does with words.
May 30, 2020
The Things We Bury is a firmly gritty and morose read that I thoroughly enjoyed. The relatability of Fenton’s character is impressive and I was captivated from the first page. There is so much beauty within the darkness. Having followed LoPresti from his unforgettable transgressive poetry to this book, the journey has been a great one. I am looking forward to what is yet to come.
February 1, 2023
If, like me, you find a lot of newer noirs have lost their edge or commitment to bleak fatalism, this one’s for you.
Not a moment’s peace, but many of poetry from within the more.
Not a moment’s peace, but many of poetry from within the more.
March 14, 2020
LoPresti crime noir takes a character I could see being played by Michael Madsen if a film adaption was made. The Things We Bury is recommending read for sure. AND WHO THE HELL BROUGHT THE ROOSTER?
April 20, 2023
This was emotional depth and trauma at a whole new level! LoPresti puts you right in the protagonist’s head where you can feel the alternating pain and numbness right along with him with beautiful prose depicting terrible things.
*If you’re deep in a grieving process, I’d recommend waiting on this one.*
The imagery was gorgeous and disturbing in its detail and the characters’ conversations get deep in a way you wouldn’t expect from near strangers, but it feels right for them and flows as freely as the blood and cigarette smoke.
It’s gritty. It’s raw. It’s real. So much of the horror I read is bizarro or splatter punk, but the fact that everything in this novella is plausible makes it all the more terrifying.
Easy 5 stars!
*If you’re deep in a grieving process, I’d recommend waiting on this one.*
The imagery was gorgeous and disturbing in its detail and the characters’ conversations get deep in a way you wouldn’t expect from near strangers, but it feels right for them and flows as freely as the blood and cigarette smoke.
It’s gritty. It’s raw. It’s real. So much of the horror I read is bizarro or splatter punk, but the fact that everything in this novella is plausible makes it all the more terrifying.
Easy 5 stars!
January 8, 2023
*I'm not going to give you the 'what this book is about' blurb - you can read that elsewhere.
1. I read this on a recommendation from a friend. A 'run screaming into my inbox you MUST READ THIS NOW' type of recommendation. I was not disappointed.
2. This book absolutely wrecked me. The number of highlights I have is astronomical.
3. LoPresti is good at foreshadowing, therefore there were a number of things I was able to predict would happen, but just not the 'how' they happened. I love good foreshadowing and it didn't ruin the plot for me at all. When it was all said and done there were also some hints I missed; I enjoy going back and finding those afterward.
4. Analise - what a complex character. I definitely had mixed feelings, a real love/hate type of thing, but I also just felt terribly bad for her. Without spoilers- she pines for something throughout the book and when she finally gets it, it doesn't mean at all what she was hoping and that is part of what wrecked me.
5. The MC deals with a lot of self-hatred and depression throughout the book which was so engaging. Anyone who has ever been in that state of mind will relate deeply to this character. While I'm at a much better point in my life currently, I do enjoy a book that reminds me of how far I've come mentally, and this book allowed me a short vacation at 'this is how it used to be for you' which I found refreshing.
6. This will emotionally destroy you in the best way possible.
1. I read this on a recommendation from a friend. A 'run screaming into my inbox you MUST READ THIS NOW' type of recommendation. I was not disappointed.
2. This book absolutely wrecked me. The number of highlights I have is astronomical.
3. LoPresti is good at foreshadowing, therefore there were a number of things I was able to predict would happen, but just not the 'how' they happened. I love good foreshadowing and it didn't ruin the plot for me at all. When it was all said and done there were also some hints I missed; I enjoy going back and finding those afterward.
4. Analise - what a complex character. I definitely had mixed feelings, a real love/hate type of thing, but I also just felt terribly bad for her. Without spoilers- she pines for something throughout the book and when she finally gets it, it doesn't mean at all what she was hoping and that is part of what wrecked me.
5. The MC deals with a lot of self-hatred and depression throughout the book which was so engaging. Anyone who has ever been in that state of mind will relate deeply to this character. While I'm at a much better point in my life currently, I do enjoy a book that reminds me of how far I've come mentally, and this book allowed me a short vacation at 'this is how it used to be for you' which I found refreshing.
6. This will emotionally destroy you in the best way possible.
February 21, 2020
Once again, delightfully dark & morose!!! A brilliant reach into the recesses of inner consciousness & conflict. Relatable, even lovable, characters thrown together & intertwined into a gregarious tapestry of cobwebs. Once again illuminating the dark pathways of the human condition & allowing me to travel along with you. Your sense of scenery & depiction of place draws one in & folds around you as if divulging long hidden memories. Thank you to the author for once again sharing a shadowy glimpse into the mind. Loved the book & look forward to your next brilliant work!!!
July 15, 2022
I received a signed advance copy of this book via Goodreads Giveaways, thank you for the opportunity to read this book!
This isn't the kind of book I'd normally pick up, but I'm so glad I did. It was dark and gritty while also hauntingly beautiful. The rich, detailed writing fully immerses you into Fenton's world. Highly recommend!
This isn't the kind of book I'd normally pick up, but I'm so glad I did. It was dark and gritty while also hauntingly beautiful. The rich, detailed writing fully immerses you into Fenton's world. Highly recommend!
March 22, 2020
Another great read. Dark, moody and genuinely awesome. Love the feel of being in Fenton's head... descriptive and darkly beautiful.
March 10, 2020
This book is an easier read than its subject matter has any right to be. In the guise of a crime story, a noir really, LoPresti gives us a grippingly honest and relatable meditation on the question, “Why live?”
Our lead, holed up in an out-of-the-way, 1-star motel after a job gone wrong, must navigate his grief over his dead wife and his responsibility toward his living daughter; his impulses toward self-harm and suicide; a suspiciously available beauty; and the bad guys he works for as well as bad guys he doesn’t work for. LoPresti masterfully balances the inner and outer catastrophes, the tensions and realizations, the mysteries and the reveals. Overall it is a thoughtful and well-crafted book.
Our lead, holed up in an out-of-the-way, 1-star motel after a job gone wrong, must navigate his grief over his dead wife and his responsibility toward his living daughter; his impulses toward self-harm and suicide; a suspiciously available beauty; and the bad guys he works for as well as bad guys he doesn’t work for. LoPresti masterfully balances the inner and outer catastrophes, the tensions and realizations, the mysteries and the reveals. Overall it is a thoughtful and well-crafted book.
November 18, 2024
The Things We Bury is a neo-noir that is also retro in its own special way. It is claustrophobic, dizzying, harrowing and bleak. Yet, there are small slivers of hope that shine through like sunlight through knife wounds. There are some majorly poetic passages that read more like street poetry than flights of fancy by many a balladeer. It almost feels like a Townes Van Zandt song or a song that was recorded during the Nebraska sessions by Bruce Springsteen.
This is a dark, dirty and gritty book that fans of crime thrillers, noir and transgressive fiction should definitely pick up and read!
In this novel, we follow Fenton Marciano. He is a man on the run from a lot of things: his criminal past, his dead wife, his child left in the charge of elderly, ailing parents, and his suicidal ideations. He committed a robbery and succeeded, despite a grave error that left a man dead, so his boss (the enigmatic Corsetti) instructs him to hole up in a motel and await further instructions. He does so, already feeling the itch of the possible pests and diseases that fester in the walls of his fleabag motel. While waiting for the unknown, he encounters a mysterious woman named Analise who reminds him vaguely of his deceased wife. Will she be his salvation from the revenants of his past or will she be the shepherd of his damnation amongst the ruins of what he himself destroyed?
This book hits like a gut punch with brass knuckles and the after-effects are like the internal bleeding you'll experience. This is a light read in length only. It is heavy, morose, unrepentant and yet somehow so captivating. It makes you want to read more, even if it means Fenton takes more beatings from life. Despite the horrible things Fenton did before the book begins, you kind of find yourself rooting for him and hoping he finds the release from his personal hell he is constantly seeking. Everything he did, he did so with his wife and daughter in mind (a small consolation, but...).
I'm giving this book a much deserved 🔪(knife wounds)x5!
This is a dark, dirty and gritty book that fans of crime thrillers, noir and transgressive fiction should definitely pick up and read!
In this novel, we follow Fenton Marciano. He is a man on the run from a lot of things: his criminal past, his dead wife, his child left in the charge of elderly, ailing parents, and his suicidal ideations. He committed a robbery and succeeded, despite a grave error that left a man dead, so his boss (the enigmatic Corsetti) instructs him to hole up in a motel and await further instructions. He does so, already feeling the itch of the possible pests and diseases that fester in the walls of his fleabag motel. While waiting for the unknown, he encounters a mysterious woman named Analise who reminds him vaguely of his deceased wife. Will she be his salvation from the revenants of his past or will she be the shepherd of his damnation amongst the ruins of what he himself destroyed?
This book hits like a gut punch with brass knuckles and the after-effects are like the internal bleeding you'll experience. This is a light read in length only. It is heavy, morose, unrepentant and yet somehow so captivating. It makes you want to read more, even if it means Fenton takes more beatings from life. Despite the horrible things Fenton did before the book begins, you kind of find yourself rooting for him and hoping he finds the release from his personal hell he is constantly seeking. Everything he did, he did so with his wife and daughter in mind (a small consolation, but...).
I'm giving this book a much deserved 🔪(knife wounds)x5!
May 11, 2025
“Nothing is forever and people are the biggest gamble. When you first meet someone, you never think, I’m just borrowing them, but that’s exactly what it comes down to.”
Lopresti sucks the reader in and delivers gut punch after gut punch. He can tell a hell of a story in a way that puts you through all the feels. His prose, tone and vibe are unmatched. The character development is fantastic. This is an author that deserves way more eyes on their work, and should be someone to look out for. I was first introduced to their work when someone recommended A God Of Flies Among Them, and I was instantly a huge fan.
This story is heavy. Very heavy. It deals with hard topics of loss/grief. It has a lot of transgressive elements and a descent into madness. It’s bleak. It’s poetic. It emotionally wrecked my entire being. But it is done beautifully. Lopresti has a way with words that very few authors possess and it’s something that makes him a standout writer to me.
This story will easily end up on my top favorite reads of 2025. Easiest five stars I could give along with the highest of recommendations.
Lopresti sucks the reader in and delivers gut punch after gut punch. He can tell a hell of a story in a way that puts you through all the feels. His prose, tone and vibe are unmatched. The character development is fantastic. This is an author that deserves way more eyes on their work, and should be someone to look out for. I was first introduced to their work when someone recommended A God Of Flies Among Them, and I was instantly a huge fan.
This story is heavy. Very heavy. It deals with hard topics of loss/grief. It has a lot of transgressive elements and a descent into madness. It’s bleak. It’s poetic. It emotionally wrecked my entire being. But it is done beautifully. Lopresti has a way with words that very few authors possess and it’s something that makes him a standout writer to me.
This story will easily end up on my top favorite reads of 2025. Easiest five stars I could give along with the highest of recommendations.
July 13, 2020
An intense read that operates as an existentialist musing as well as a 'crime gone wrong' thriller. Filled with dirt, despair and an impending sense of doom, it epitomises the "hamster wheel to hell" image made famous by David Ervine.
November 20, 2020
Ugh! What a waste of time and money. Depressing protagonist, and gross sex scenes with a pick up at a seedy hotel.
May 4, 2024
This book was incredibly thought provoking. I was on the edge of my seat for the ending!
Displaying 1 - 15 of 15 reviews