Lies we bury / Elle Marr.

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Title:

Author:

Marr, Elle

ISBN:

9781542026192

Publication Information:

Seattle, WA : Thomas & Mercer, 2021.

Physical Description:

286 p.

Abstract:

I was born in captivity. Two decades ago Marissa Mo escaped a basement prison, the only home she'd ever known. At 27, 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.

Subject Term:

Photographers -- Fiction.

Serial murder investigation -- Fiction.

Kidnapping victims -- Fiction.

Murder -- Fiction.

Victims -- Fiction.

Geographic Term:

Portland (Or.) -- Fiction.

Genre:

Suspense fiction.

Detective and mystery stories.

Available:*

Library	Material Type	Item Barcode	Shelf Number	Status
Searching... Avon-Washington Township Public Library	Adult Mystery Fiction Book Paperback	120791002865296	M MAR	Searching... Unknown

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Summary

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.

Reviews (3)

Publisher's Weekly Review

When Claire Lou, the narrator of this unsettling psychological thriller from Marr (The Missing Sister), was seven, she escaped with her mother and two sisters from Chet Granger, who had held them in the basement of his Portland, Ore., house since before she was born. Now, 20 years later, shortly after Claire accepts a freelance gig as a photographer with the Portland Post, she spots a stuffed animal propped up outside a brewery that looks just like one she had as a little girl. On impulse, she goes inside the brewery and takes pictures. The next day, she learns that someone was murdered at the brewery after her visit. More murders follow, and each crime scene includes a memento from Claire's childhood, though she's reluctant to tell the police for fear of becoming a suspect. With Chet about to be paroled from prison, Clair feels added urgency to find the killer before she becomes the next victim. The suspenseful plot is matched by the convincing portrayal of the vulnerable Claire, who just wants to lead a normal life. Marr is a writer to watch. Agent: Jill Marr, Sandra Dijkstra Literary. (Mar.)

Kirkus Review

Twenty years after escaping a hyperextended childhood trauma, a peripatetic photographer touches down in Portland to find even grimmer nightmares awaiting her. Marissa Mo was born into captivity. Her mother, Rosemary, had been kidnapped and impregnated by Chet Granger, and she gave birth to Marissa in the basement where she was kept. A few months later, another of his prisoners gave birth to Jenessa, and a third captive died four years later giving birth to Lily. Eventually Rosemary and the three girls escaped, but not really. Neither Chet's imprisonment nor the cash settlement they'd received restored them to normalcy, and they've all, in their different ways and largely isolated from each other, been living on the brink ever since. Marissa, who's taken the name Claire Lou, has decided to settle in the Oregon city that's home to Jenessa and their two mothers. She quickly snags piecemeal work with the Portland Post and then a full-time job on the basis of pictures she's snapped at the Four Alarm Brewery, which suddenly turn into pictures of possible suspects when the police find the body of a strip-club dancer in a tunnel beneath the pub hours later. A cryptic note reveals that Claire is being watched by someone who knows her horrifying past, someone who's taunting her to be the first on the scene of subsequent tunnel murders. "This isn't my first stalker," she reflects; she's been fleeing the spotlight ever since her escape from Chet. Now Marr presents the cherry on the sundae: Claire learns that Chet's about to be paroled, and he wants to see her and become every inch the father he should've been back then. A deep, deep dive into unspeakable memories and their unimaginably shocking legacy. Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

Booklist Review

Claire Lou is restarting her life in Portland, Oregon, where she's managed to find a new apartment (never mind the money she still owes on the security deposit) and she's even gotten herself hired as the Portland Post's photographer. Her mother is just two hours away, her older sister is local to Portland, and their younger sister has just returned from Switzerland. But as Marr's (The Missing Sister, 2020) sophomore novel opens, "Secrets never stay buried for long." Once upon a time, Claire was Missy Mo, born in captivity in a basement in which Chet Granger systematically raped and impregnated three kidnapped women. At seven, Missy escaped with her mother and sisters. Twenty years have passed since Chet was imprisoned, but now he's about to get out. Somehow his evil seems to be on replay. Bodies are turning up in cellars and tunnels as Claire discovers murderous notes promising "see you soon, Missy." Somehow, she's got to make the nightmare end before she becomes the next corpse. Marr's #OwnVoices, trust-no-one thriller unravels with horrifying "THEN" interruptions, producing a jolting creepfest of twisted revenge.