My Review
Once again, I have gotten the chance to read an author that I have never read before thanks to the short stories in Hush, a collection of thrillers and mysteries from Amazon Original Stories. This is the fourth book in the Hush collection, and follows other reads, such as Snowflakes by Ruth Ware and Slow Burner by Laura Lippman.
“Recklessness Times 7 Mean Mayhem That
We Overcome
Figure it out, save the victim.
XO, the Gravedigger”
Buried begins by introducing us to the main character, Edward Fitzhugh, or Fitz, as he is known among his colleagues. Fitz is an old-fashioned journalist working for a newspaper – old fashioned in the way that he does not like the idea of online publication taking over the print industry, coupled with the fact that he believes that instead of doing your typical internet sleuthing, he prefers to get out and about trying to get to the bottom of the stories that he reports. However, it seems that online publication is taking over the print world, and Fitz is not too happy – he is determined to keep digging up information the old fashioned way, no matter what.
However, when a kidnapper/murderer known as The Gravedigger strikes, taking their victims and burying them in strange places underground, Fitz is forced to explore more than just the traditional channels to try and get the answer to the riddles that The Gravedigger leaves behind.
The answers to the riddles, of course, will save the victims.
“There once was a man with a car.
Whose trip didn’t get very far.
Not one single mile,
Oh, my what a trial!
He’s trapped somewhere under
the bar.
Figure it out, save the victim…
XO, the Gravedigger”
So Fitz sets out to try and save the most recent victim, but he knows that they have a very limited amount of time before the victim’s fresh air runs out, killing them.
So he has to do what he swore he never would – turn to less traditional means to help solve the riddle – including speaking to his coworkers in the online publication department, in order to get the riddle to reach millions of readers, as opposed to the select few who still receive the print version of the newspaper.
Together, Fitz and his coworker need to work together in order to try and solve it, as well as the figure out the identity of the Gravedigger, before it’s too late.
While Buried wasn’t my favorite in the series, it was an interesting read, and one of the longer ones in the short story collections. It is a great mystery for those who enjoy detective mysteries and crime novels. Since this isn’t really me, I wasn’t able to relate to the characters or the story – although to be fair, it was definitely one that would probably be really exciting to those who are fans of that kind of thing.
I didn’t feel that the characters were really fleshed out – and while it’s understandable since it’s a short story, I have read some stories from Amazon Original Stories that are less than half the length of this one, and I still thought the characters were fleshed out a lot more. I really am a fan of character development in a story or novel, so I was kind of disappointed that I wasn’t really able to connect with them in Buried.
The ending of Buried was not at all what I was expecting, and I was kind of bummed about it. Normally I don’t mind a twist at the end, but this felt a bit forced. Then again, I’m not a person who typically reads these kinds of stories or novels (I’m not a fan of detective or crime novels), so I don’t know if that’s something that happens often or not.
I did find the story interesting, especially when it came to the parts that were told from the victim’s point of view. It was really interesting to see how the victim reacted after being kidnapped by the gravedigger and put underground somewhere. And the riddles were really interesting to solve. I found myself reading the riddles in the story and trying to see if I could solve them, too.
All in all, Buried is an interesting story that will appeal to fans of detective stories, mysteries, and crime thrillers.
