This book had me enamored from the very first page! I loved this so much, and was in genuine shock when I started connecting the dots. The chapters were short that made this chunky book seem not as long! 4.5 rounded up!

4.5 rounded down. I absolutely loved this, hands down my favorite Ashley Winstead to date. Disclaimer that I knew basically nothing about the real life case this is based on going in, so for me this was fully a work of fiction. Jane's characterization and framing was so fascinating and made for a very layered commentary on the world of true crime. I was emotionally engaged in this from start to finish. Even now, 6 months after finishing this book, there are particular scenes and passages have still stuck with me.

This book was too long. I lost interest about a third of the way through. While I found the whole premise interesting, it ultimately felt overdrawn and like it was glorifying murder and the amateurs who "help." There was one plot twist I didn't see coming that I liked, but unfortunately, it didn't last long enough to hold my interest. I didn't like that Jane basically blamed her whole storyline on her father dying. I get trying ot find community after the death of a loved one, but online sleuthing with strangers on the internet with people double her age felt like the wrong way to go. It was also too graphic for me. There were so many gory descriptors. It felt like overkill. I've liked other books from this author, so I will definitely try another book by her, but this one just wasn't for me.

Jane Sharp struggles to fit in; she has one close friendship at college, which she deems a pity friendship of sorts. When Jane's father dies unexpectedly, Jane's world is turned upside down. Upon returning home, her struggle to fit in intensifies. Her father was her confidant and her hero, and he was taken away suddenly and Jane finds herself utterly lost and alone. Her mother gives Jane space, but urges her to return to college. Jane decides that she needs time, and will not return to college.

After days of being locked in her bedroom, mourning and avoiding the outside world, Jane stumbles upon an internet site filled with amatuer sleuths vyying for the opportunity to solve high profile crimes before law enforcement. Overnight, Jane becomes obsessed with the website, she has found a place where she is accepted and soon, she is invited to join an elite subgroup of sleuths who are immersed in a grisly crime where three college students were savagely murdered in their off-campus apartment in Delphine, Idaho,

***This story closely mirrors the Idaho College Murders. At times, this was very difficult to read. The author addresses this in the beginning of the book***

Jane finds friendship with her fellow sleuths; Lightly, a retired detective and the moral anchor of the story, Goku, the tech-savvy hacker, Citizen, a former Marine and a charismatic leader, and Mistress, the motherly, former librarian. As we move through the story, we see the impact of wrongful accusations, misplaced trust, and believing one is above the law.

As I reached the 75% mark, I realized who the killer was, however the final chapters were unexpected and show the true colors of some of our characters. This book forces you to analyze your own moral compass. I found it to be well written, albeit, long. Getting through the first 35% of the story was a struggle, however it picks up and you find yourself closing the book at the end while thinking "what the heck did I just read?!"

Many thanks to Sourcebooks Landmark, NetGalley, and the author for the ARC in exchange for my own opinion.

A chilling, compulsive story of five amateur sleuths, whose hunt for an elusive killer catapults them into danger as the world watches.

I love the internet sleuthing in this book. Armchair detectives have become huge, podcasters also. This seems to follow the Moscow Murders, and I was confused because I thought it was more fiction, but it is so similar, down to the state it happens in, to the sorority aspects of two best friends, down to the even ordering food literally just before the murders occur, to the boyfriend being the initial subject after having been telephoned multiple times the times the night the murders occur and even to the lone survivor seeing someone dressed all in black and walking down the hallway! To the small town police force, to people protesting to destroy the 3-level house it takes place in, to the TA in criminology being suspected. This was just not okay with me at all. I do not think this is fair to the families of the survivors of the Moscow Murders. The book diverges to the role of crime sleuths and their interactions in helping law enforcement, but at that point I didn't really care because this case is still so active and was so horrific. Thank you to NetGalley for the ebook to preview.

I love Ashley Winstead and this book didn’t disappoint. It kept me on the edge of my seat and I really enjoyed it!

When Janeway's father dies of a heart attack, she joins a true crime forum to feel less lonely and help the families of victims get the answers she can't have about her father. When three sorority sisters in Delphine, Idaho are murdered in their house, she and four other sleuths track down the elusive killer.

This story does a great job showing how grief is manifested. Janeway ignores her responsibilities to spend the majority of her time in these forums to escape her reality and gain a sense of belonging. Winstead also draws attention to how members of the true crime community can become obsessive to the point of disregarding the feelings of victims' loved ones.

Janeway and her fellow detectives take questionable risks during their investigation that make them targets. This book is Janeway's account of the events. She hopes to convince the public that she and her friends are not the bad guys, but how well does she know these people? As the body count rises, her team must move quick before one of them becomes the next victim.

This read is a bit long and could have done without the little bit of romance, but even after sussing out who the killer is before things take a turn, I was unable to put it down. I was anxious and excited to see when they would figure it out. After finishing the book, I went to Goodreads to see what other people are saying. Disclaimer: Some reviewers are upset that Winstead used brutal details from the real Idaho murders, which I admit I hadn't been following. If that doesn't bother you, I recommend.


TW: death of a parent, extreme violence, murder, gore, discussions about weight

This thriller kept me on the edge of my seat. It was so good! This is an auto-read, auto-buy author for me! Highly recommend for the twists and turns.

WOW! This book was crazy, in the best way. I have been captivated by the Idaho Student Murders and the author clearly drew inspiration from that case here. This opened my eyes to how harmful internet sleuthing can be in cases like these that get so much media attention. If you are also captivated by this case or just need a fast paced thriller to pass the time, I highly recommend this one!

This was a good solid read. Not my favorite but it wasn’t bad! I enjoyed it. There were parts to me that didn’t feel right, I don’t know how to explain it. It wasn’t my favorite of hers but truly still enjoyed and would recommend it!

Thanks to Sourcebooks & NetGalley for providing a digital ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Somehow, this one wasn't top of mind until I went on vacation and started looking for my backlog of ebooks, and that was an error on my part! This book is worth your time - especially as we learn more information about the Idaho Four Murders, which serve as the inspiration for this plot (maybe a little too much).

Janeway Sharp has just lost her dad suddenly and unexpectedly, and he was the center of her world. She comes home from college to help bury him and support her mom, but Jane is a mess. She eventually stumbles upon an online crime solvers group and starts taking initiative with real cases as a way to deal with her grief, which leads to her being invited to a more exclusive, smaller upper echelon of crime solvers across the US. They're good at what they do, and no one has ever really indicated to Jane that she was smart (apparently, not even her dad? Hmm). Jane feels accepted in a way she hasn't for a long while.

Then the Delphine Murders happen, and all hell breaks loose. These are the murders based on the Idaho university killings, and Winstead presents a deft treatment and character studies of the victims - it's pretty fascinating, and it was easy to get caught up in the sleuthing.

So, there are some pros and cons:

PRO:
well written, Winstead provides good dialogue and interesting characters (even if her MC is a bit of a dishrag).
Although it was longish, it didn't feel too repetitive.
By the time I read it, Bryan Kohberger had pled guilty, so I felt less icky about how closely the fictionalized account mirrored the real case.

CON:
I mean, the similarity was such that the fictionalized account was almost identical to the real case (aside from whodunnit). Kind of in bad taste, and I gather that Winstead has taken a fair bit of flak for that.
MC is not very compelling or interesting, kind of personality-free.
The bits about the "competing" publication lend some verisimilitude, but ultimately fall flat.
Probably could have cut 50-100 pages out and it would have been a sleeker, more dynamic read. Winstead gets caught up in her MC's grief-brain, and it drags the plot. I believe she lost her own dad under similar circumstances, so I assume that was part of her own grieving process, but a good editor should've handled that shit.
Ending is entertaining, but ridiculous.

Overall, a good read. 3.5 stars rounded up to 4 rather than a solid 4, mostly due to creepy similarity to the Moscow, ID murder case.

I knew little about the Idaho murders, so I still am not sure how much of this was based on real events, but it was riveting and dark. I mostly listening to it--great on audio. I loved the amateur sleuths and how in to the case they get. There were many surprises and it kept the pages turning.

I would prefer not to sugarcoat this, this book was such a deep disappointment. I went into this blind. I love Ashley Winstead's writing and have loved every single novel she's written up til now. Let me start by saying - the writing? Phenomenal as always. Ashley is a gifted writer and I will still continue to pick up her work despite this. Now let me explain why I will dissuade absolutely everyone I know from reading this. This book was 100% inspired by the Idaho 4 murders. This was so so so so so unnecessary. The story had so much potential and she could have written a fake "true crime" story into this book instead of capitalizing off of something so fresh. I don't know if the story ends the same way that this actual crime played out, and I don't care to know. I have DNF'd this book at 36% as it simply felt too gross for me to keep going. I get what she was doing with this but she really shouldn't have. Thank you, Netgalley, for the gifted copy of this book.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC.

Unfortunately this book was not at all for me. Jane was a completely unlikable and frankly, kind of pathetic character. I spent the entire book being surprised by all the absolutely dumb choices she made while also being grossed out by the fact that she was “doing all of this” for her dead father?

Not to mention the fact that this was essentially based off of a horrible crime that at the time of publishing hadn’t even gone to trial yet. Even with the authors note at the beginning of the book it still felt icky.

I'm just going to start off by saying that I DEVOURED this book.

After the death of her father, Jane feels a need to find something to distract her. And she finds it online, with a group of armchair detectives. I LOVED the idea of this book. As someone who discovered the internet at a young age, this book almost felt nostalgic at first in the way that Jane finds her group online. The fact that she and her group figure out cases that even the police can't, I was excited (heck, I'm a crime junkie, I can't help myself).

This book takes you on some MIGHTY twists and turns, and although I sort of figured out the end, it didn't matter. The cast of characters is fabulous and Jane was an excellent main character. I found myself rooting for her and feeling sad for her and I just did not want this book to end.

This is the kind of book that stays with you long after it's gone. If you love true crime (and especially if you fancy yourself an armchair detective), this is for you.

A high-profile serial killer case isn't adding up so a group of armchair detectives decide to put boots on the ground to solve it. As they get deeper into the case, they become more tangled within it, potentially to the point of no return. A year later, one of the amateur detectives is telling her story, but the truth may bury her.

A dark, propulsive thriller in the vein of Winstead's previous work, this book is nearly impossible to put down from the start. The story includes a found family trope in a way that isn't typical of the genre, but it really works and helps raise the stakes as well as push character development. The story is loosely based on recent true events but I think it's done well and has a trigger warning at the beginning in case that specific true crime case hits too close to home.

This Book Will Bury Me was a raw, powerful, and unforgettable memoir that deeply moved me. Ashley Winstead’s honest storytelling and vivid descriptions brought her journey to life with emotional intensity. The book sheds light on resilience, survival, and the complexities of the justice system in a way that felt both personal and eye-opening. It was a gripping and important read that stayed with me long after I finished.

This book was loosely inspired by a very public recent crime but I felt it explored the crime while still being respectful to the fact it was still "new." A well-done amateur detective book.

Jane is reeling from her fathers unexpected death and in that process discovers her love for murder mystery cases and the suspense of unsolved murders. Suddenly three girls are murdered and Jane decides to embark on a trek with her friends to find out what really happened. As they start to investigate there is lots of questions and things start to feel very fishy. There are missing parts of the story, police are being cagey, and weird things start to happen around Jane. As Jane gets more into the case she starts to realize that her own situation is more precarious and the previous life she had is about to me exposed.

This put me on a roller coaster full of twist and turns that I did not want to get off of. I thoroughly enjoyed every moment of this book and the journey it took me on. Jane was kind of a quirky character but fit well into the story. I thought this book was going to be challenge to finish because it was long but I sped through it quicker than expected. Another win for Ashley Winstead! I would highly recommend!!!