Customer Reviews

To Bury the Dead

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

For parents who love and cherish their children, it is the most horrific, middle-of-the-night, cold sweat of a nightmare imaginable. Craig Spector's tale of freefall helplessness, overwhelming grief, and seething rage is within a razor's edge of being too realistic to bear. The main character, Paul Kelly, is a career EMT-Fire Rescue professional accustomed to creeping through burning buildings to save lives. When incomprehensible tragedy strikes his family, Kelly finds his core self melted down by dual raging infernos of anger and anguish to the most base of primal instincts. When the justice system doesn't work, when what's "legal" isn't "right", then "illegal" no longer seems "wrong". TO BURY THE DEAD is raw, unnerving... and sucks a reader in like a vacuum and never lets go. Twists and turns through the plot's smoke-filled corridors will keep you from seeing what lies just ahead, yet drive you to flipping pages toward it. A breath-stopping, heart-thumping thriller of a novel. Must-read.

After reading the reviews of this book which went from loved it to hated it, I decided to give it a try. I have to say, I found it very compelling. The characters were very believeable and the author's ability to pace a story kept me turning the pages, which I always look for in a good thriller. I actually read it in one sitting.

The ending is somewhat oblique, and at first I wasn't sure I liked it, but then I realized that it's the kind of story that doesn't have a neat ending with all the loose ends tied, and perhaps that makes some readers uncomfortable. The story stayed in my mind long after I read it, which is more than I can say for many other books I've read.

I guess it's up to the individual to decide for themselves whether they like a story like this -- it's dark and hard-edged and feels very real, but it lingers in the imagination. It may make you mad. But it will not leave you untouched. Highly recommended.

In Glendon, New Jersey, Paul Kelly is a model citizen. He regularly risks his life as a firefighter-rescue worker helping to save total strangers. He has been happily married for almost two decades to schoolteacher Julie. The couple has one daughter, sixteen-year-old Kyra. To Paul, his world is near perfect even with his beloved child going through a rebellious stage.

While working a case involving a decaying corpse at a motel, Paul's partner receives the call that starts the end of Paul's life as he knows it. The victim becomes personal. An unknown assailant has brutally beaten Kyra. Paul arrives at the scene in time to enter the ambulance. In spite of his and the emergency crew on board, Kyra says a last word, "daddy," before dying. Unable to cope with the senseless death of his beloved child, Paul expects the police to catch a brutally vicious-looking monster. However his stereotype fails to prove true as the prime suspect seems more like an innocent looking teen. Paul needs to know why the kid resorted to violence.

TO BURY THE DEAD is every parent's worse nightmare because no one wants to believe that bad things happen to good people. The story line works because readers understand the needs and relationships of the Kelly family. Augmenting the gloom is the specter of the killer who should look like a deadly animal. This work offers no solace or LIGHT AT THE END of the nightmare. Readers, who want gripping, well-written authenticity in their suspense novels, will ghoulishly enjoy Craig Spector's in-close thriller.

Harriet Klausner

"To Bury the Dead" is the first fiction book I've read in 32 years. Following the murder of my mother in 1974, I found myself able to read only nonfiction because it was too difficult to conceive of letting go and imagining alongside reading a novel. My interest in writing about homicide led me to discover Craig Spector and several of his books, this being my first read. I was fascinated as I watched myself being drawn into both the characters and the story. Given my own experience with murder, as well as the fact that I worked in a hospital for many years, the story was real for me. Craig Spector's writing style offers more than the superficial interest and intrigue involved in a story like this. He creates an environment in which I could hear all the noise of the fire and the chaos in the background as the main character moved through the instant emergency of trying to save lives. There was absolutely constant and intelligible movement that not only kept me interested the entire time, but also kept me seated for 6 hours as I pursued the story because I couldn't put it down until I knew how the main character resolved his personal struggle with his daughter's killer. I highly recommend this book to anyone who is interested in a great read, in understanding how survivors deal with their own lives following the homicide of a loved one, and the aspect of its affect upon the community and the workplace as well. A thoroughly interesting book.

This thriller is truly worthy of the jump starts and hair pin turns that Spector is known for in his previous works. Though more psychological than his usual direct slasher style, he never-the-less probes the depths of violence and the borders of sanity in his new novel, 'To Bury the Dead'. This was a one night read for me that I coudn't put down til the end. It's not a novel that will gross you out- instead this one will make you nervous, wondering what YOU would do if it were YOUR child instead...A must read if you love Skipp and Spector- A must read if you don't.

We see violent crime everyday. In the papers, on the news, the movies, television. It's everywhere. We do seem to be desensitized to it, until we become victims of it. How do you handle losing someone you love in a violent manner? In TO BURY THE DEAD author Craig Spector does a brilliant job of exploring how personal horror and tragedy affect one man.

TO BURY THE DEAD will make your heart ache for Spector hits a little too close to home for comfort.

Paul Kelly is a firefighter. He considers himself to be a good man. He's seen his share of violence and horror but at the end of the day he has a nice home and his wife and daughter to return to.

Then in one disastrous moment it's all gone. His daughter violently murdered. The faith he puts in the justice system, betrayed. Disillusioned and overcome by grief, Paul soon becomes victim to something else, an all-consuming rage.

Like anything else, the life of a fire happens in stages. Spector compares Paul's grief and anger process to the stages of a fire. From "running hot" to "flashover" we go through this tragedy with Paul until we find ourselves at a resolution both unexpected but at the same time very satisfying.

When an average guy suffers an extreme loss, there's no telling what dark depths he's capable of reaching. Spector does a great job in documenting Paul Kelly's emotional destruction and twists to his perception of self and family. The symbology and chaos of Paul's worklife compared to how he perceives his homelife works on so many levels. The fragility of an individual's world is rendered here in such realistic detail that the relatively benign horrors (compared to the author's previous works) become more terrifying than what is delivered when buckets of gore or supernatural horror are utilized. Highly recommended.

I loved the books that Craig Spector wrote with his previous partner, but had only read one short story that he had written alone prior to this book. His previous books were a roller coaster ride of horror. This one had the same intensity and depth without the gore. He has proved here that he is as good a writer on his own as he was paired with Skipp. The characters were strong and well-delineated. The attachments to the other fire fighters and the interaction with his wife were all extremely realistic. The only problem I had was believing a guy as straight as Paul seemed to be could carry out the revenge as he did. I did expect it to be scarier, but that's wishful thinking, I guess. After all Craig was a zombie in "Night of the Living Dead".

Paul Kelly has the perfect life. He and his beautiful wife, Julie, are still very much in love after more than 16 years of marriage. Although his daughter Kyra is going through the typical changes of puberty, he adores her. His job as a firefighter is rough, but one he does with the utmost professionalism and care. He is respected and well-liked. Life is good.

When Kyra is suddenly murdered, Paul's world turns upside down. The press is hounding his home for quotes. The police are struggling to find the killer. And Paul is doing everything he can just to maintain his sanity in the face of such overwhelming grief.

Interspersed with Paul's story are some interesting documents -- the coroner's report on Kyra, background information on fires, even scientific manuals on pain and patience. These tend to break up the pace of the story a bit, while also giving some useful background information.

Paul is incredibly compelling. He's a man who deals with life and death on a daily basis, and is completely rocked when Kyra is killed. What he does after his daughter's death, and how he changes, is really the heart of this book. Agree with his actions, or disagree with how he handles his grief -- either way you'll still be forced to continue reading to find out what happens next.

Craig Spector's writing is fresh and strong. Other than his annoying habit of leaving foreboding clues at the end of just about every chapter, Spector knows how to pull a reader into his world and sympathize with the characters' actions.

"To Bury the Dead" works because of its surprises. It's infused with the fury of grief and the strength of fire, both of which act as wonderful descriptions for the pain a father goes through after losing his daughter in such a violent manner. The writing style is easy to absorb, and seems ideal for a future film adaptation.

Violent crime is something we see everyday. On the news, in the daily paper, the movies, television. It's hard to comprehend how a victim might react to such crime unless one has been a victim themself. In TO BURY THE DEAD author Craig Spector does a brilliant job of exploring the mind and mentality of a father left to pick up the pieces of his life when his teenage daughter is brutally murdered.

Paul Kelly is a firefighter. He's seen his share of violence, done his share of saving lives. He's a good man with a good life.

When all of this is suddenly yanked from under him and his faith in our system of justice is betrayed, a disillusioned Paul becomes overwhelmed with grief and a rage that all but consumes him.

Fires have lives of their own, however brief and like any life it takes place in stages. Spector compares Paul's process of grief and fury to the life and stages of a fire from "running hot" to "flashover". We feel and relate to Paul's pain as he goes from the grief-stricken father to the near-insane victim that's desperate for revenge and justice, all leading to an climax and resolution that is both unexpected and very satisfying.

TO BURY THE DEAD will make your heart ache. Spector hits a little too close to home for comfort but at the same time he makes you stop and think.

Craig Spector is the coeditor of the well known BOOK OF THE DEAD and STILL DEAD: BOOK OF THE DEAD 2 anthologies as well as coauthoring (with John Skipp) THE LIGHT AT THE END, THE CLEANUP, THE SCREAM, THE BRIDGE, DEAD LINES and ANIMALS. Originally published in paperback in December 2000 by HarperCollins, Stealth now offers TO BURY THE DEAD in a hardback edition. The best place to read information on Spector is at Stealth Press's web site: http://www.stealthpress.com