Review: Burial, by Neil Cross

Author: Neil Cross

Audience: Adult

First Impression: The words I recall using at the outset were: 'what the hell has this guy done?', and those are pretty much the same words I used later during the read as well. Burial is a disturbing page-turner chronicling the psyche of getting away with murder.

Plot/Style/Voice/Characters: The chapters of Burial, forty in all, go quick. Neil Cross uses a wealth of dialogue to help keep the pacing tight and brisk.

The characters are a bit flat, though the closer I came to the end the more I decided there may be a reason for my thinking so. Most readers enjoy a book for a few reasons, one of which is typically due to the characterization created by the author. Let's face it, we all enjoy characters we love to love or love to hate. Characters who read flat on the page, however, generally leave we readers feeling cheated or flat as well. Right? I am more apt now to think Cross purposely left his character, Nathan, flat. It rather added to the disturbing nature of the story...at least in this readers view.

Best Part: This is a tough one to nail down, certainly without giving away too much detail. When Nathan makes a decision to meet the local estate agent (real estate agent if you're American rather than English), and the events that follow definitely rank as a "good part". At the same time, however, the second to the final chapter also had it merits and ranks high on my "good part" list. In truth, I couldn't help but shake my head while reading this chapter, so perhaps I would list it as the best.

Irritations: Funny, my irritation would also, in honesty, have to come from the same second-to-the-last chapter. I found myself flummoxed, and a little let down, by what takes place.

Wrap-Up Reaction:Burial was a good book, though I hesitate to say it was very good. It was, but wasn't at the same time. Disturbing is the best possible word to describe the book in its entirety. Period. It's worth the read, but not a book I would likely read again in the future or purchase for my personal bookshelf here at home.