Something about writing a book about a very recent crime that has yet to be punished in a court of law…just feels wrong. I realize that half of the crime has been changed to fit the book but all the other matching details felt gross to me. The book was creepy-weird and I was cringing for the main character the entire book. What a mess. The twist was so predictable it didn’t even feel like a payoff. The ending was not great either. This just wasn’t a book I enjoyed. Too bad because I love most of her other books!

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for an advance copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are mine alone.

I am a fan of Ashley Winstead’s earlier thriller novels, so I was looking forward to this one as well. This book did not disappoint. This book is a quick read with short chapters, including text messages that read quickly. The story is told from the main character's perspective.
Jane Sharp is a college student when her dad suddenly dies. She is left grief-stricken and decides to leave college and head back home to mourn. She discovers much about her father that she did not know when he was still alive. She is both angry at her dad for not improving his health through diet and medication and also sad that she wanted to know so much more about his life growing up.
During this difficult and sad time for Jane, she comes across a group of internet sleuths that are discovering a recent and shocking new story of three college students in Delphine, Idaho that were brutally stabbed. No forensics were found at the scene. Jane, looking for a distraction following her father’s death, joins this group of armchair detectives working out of their own residences. They are determined to work together to find the killer of these three girls.
The story of the brutal slaying of these three college sorority girls is very similar to the real life killing of the four University of Idaho girls in 2022. The author includes an author’s note discussing the subject matter and its similarities and differences to the real slaying of three college students.
If you are a true crime junkie, one that often listens to true crime podcasts, then this is definitely the book for you. I loved the relationships between the characters, showing their strengths and weaknesses in their investigative work. Originally strangers to each other, they come together to fight crime. Sometimes they get it right and sometimes they don’t which leads them into trouble with the police. This book is both creepy and shocking at times, with a big twist at the end.
Triggers for true-crime events and loss of a family member.

Many thanks to NetGalley and Sourcebooks Landmark for allowing me to read the digital ARC in exchange for an honest review. Published on March 25, 2025

thank you to netgalley for the e-arc. i DNF'd at 30%. once i realized how closely this compared to a real life murder, i was out. there must be enough things the author was imagine and put to a page instead of ripping off real people's tragedies.

I hate to give bad ratings to books, but I just could not get through this one. I DNF at 54% unfortunately. This book was just so long and it dragged for me. There was too much filler and not enough of the actual mystery being solved.

*This Book Will Bury Me* by Ashley Winstead is a dark, thrilling ride that captivated me from start to finish. After the unexpected death of her father, college student Jane Sharp becomes obsessed with true crime, joining an online community of armchair detectives. When three college girls are murdered in Delphine, Idaho, Jane and her new friends race to solve the case before anyone else. But as they dig deeper, they discover the case is far stranger than they anticipated, with more questions than answers and a killer who may be smarter than any of them.

Told a year after the shocking events, Jane finally reveals the truth behind the Delphine Massacres, and her confession will leave even the most seasoned true crime fans speechless. The plot is full of twists and turns, with the slow burn of suspense keeping you hooked throughout. While the middle of the book slows down a bit, the storytelling remains engaging and full of surprises.

I loved the characters, especially Jane, who, despite being a novice, proves herself an integral part of the sleuthing group. The dynamics between Jane and the five FBI consultants in her group were fascinating, adding depth to the story. The cliffhanger endings at the end of many chapters kept me eagerly turning the pages, desperate to know what would happen next.

If you’re a true crime fan looking for a dark, disturbing, and thrilling read, *This Book Will Bury Me* is a must-read. Winstead’s unique storytelling and complex characters make this a page-turner you won’t want to put down.

While this wasn’t my favorite of Sdhley’s books, it was definitely enjoyable! I As someone who has lost their father, her grief was gut wrenching and highly relatable so I could totally understand why Jane was sucked into this world as a coping mechanism. I loved the found family/friendships of the book. The mystery was great. I think the hardest part for me was that I don’t really like true crime (too real!) and this one was almost exactly like the reality of the Idaho 4 and that case isn’t solved. I think more distinction to give respect for the family members and friends would have worked better for me.

💭 Thoughts & Feels
Self proclaimed Court TV obsessed over here so there was pretty much no way I wasn’t going to love this book. In My Dreams I Hold a Knife is one of my all time favs and this felt like Winstead brought those vibes back in a new and super current way. I was instantly sucked into this book and wanted to solve the crime just like the web sleuths in this book. I do feel like I would make a good team member for these sleuths because I kind of figured out one of the twists pretty early on but I still needed to see how this one played out. Short chapters helped the pacing on this one. I just kept turning those pages! I also loved the format with the story being told as a tell all book from one of the main characters and I loved the addition of the footnotes (little difficult on the Kindle but would be even more amazing in a physical copy). If you’re a thriller or Winstead fan, you’re definitely going to want to read this one!

🔍What to expect
▫️found family
▫️true crime podcast/documentary style
▫️tell all book
▫️academic setting
▫️web sleuths

👯‍♀️ Read-Alikes
▪️The Night Swim
▪️Listen for the Lie
▪️Things We Do in the Dark

I picked this one up, not really having read the synopsis, only because I liked the author’s last book. This one wasn’t quite as thrilling, but I still binged it in less than two days. As a true crime lover, I liked the plot line and understood all the references made to real cases. I did guess the main twist by halfway through the book, however, so I think I would have liked to be a little more surprised. Also would have heard more about the narrator’s decision to write the book (and how exactly it buried her?), since it was alluded multiple times what a bad person she and her friends were, yet she writes herself as mostly blameless in what happened.

Still a dark, bingeale book and I will definitely continue to read the author’s books in the future!

Thanks to Netgalley and SOURCEBOOKS Landmark for the chance to read this book!

I actually expected to have some trouble getting into this book, not really a true crime type of person but this book had me hooked from page one! I was so deeply engorged in this story, and the stories of the victims that I felt like i was a part of the forums reading about it in real life live. This is just all around a great book and I loved every word of it! Still not 100% sure what i felt about the ending, He was one of my favorite characters the entire way through!

I really enjoyed this book! The plot was really well thought out and I enjoyed having it from the perspective of the internet sleuths versus the typical detective pov. It made me think about how the true crime world could be a little detrimental to the cases they "work on". I really enjoyed all of the characters. My only qualm is that there was a big focus on Jane's father, which I understand he was the catalyst for her getting into the true crime world, but her dedication to him at the end seemed very off putting. Finally, coming from someone who typically guesses the ending correctly, I was speechless! It made me feel like I was part of the team and learning all of this information with them. Great read overall!

Solid new thriller from Ashely Winstead with this one! I truly did enjoy the true crime aspect of it and all of the quirky characters in this one, especially Lightly and Mistress.
It was a longer read, but honestly, I felt like that was appropriate to detail the character's past, development, and to loop you into the different crime scenes/victims included in everything.
Overall, I will be telling my friends about this recent read!

I really like Ashley Winstead’s writing and the format of this book, it’s a story within a story. I was engrossed, but there were definitely lulls, it could have been a little shorter and not lost any meat of the story. It was captivating and heavy but I loved the found family aspect. Jane was needing connection and she found it in this group. If you are a true crime/thriller reader, you can probably guess the twist, but it was still a fun ride watching it all unfold.

Jane Sharpway suddenly loses her father, drops out of college, and needing a break from the grief, finds a community in a true crime forum online. Helping some amateur sleuths solve a local crime, Jane becomes engrossed in the true crime world and joins a group of 5 armchair detectives that are determined to solve one of the biggest crimes in the country, the murder of 3 college girls. The group of friends move from behind the screen to meet in real life to solve the Delphine, Idaho murders. But, details aren’t adding up, the media surrounding this case is getting crazy, and every time they seem to answer one question, more pop up. Will Jane and her friends solve the case?

Thank you to @netgalley & @sourcebooks for an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

The long story short is; this book wasn't for me. It read very young and explores my least favorite part of the internet, not the true crime part, but the toxic assumptions by people on the internet. Ruining reputations based on a hunch, etc. I think this book will find it's audience, it is well written and the plot is great, I just couldn't connect on how young everyone sounded and acted. So I'm sure others will enjoy it.

Some things I didn't care for:

the blame put on the father for not taking his medicine, what exactly happens inside a body when somebody is having a heart attack.
Hiding food from the mom so she wouldn't upset her, the mom insinuating that all they were going to eat is fruit for dinner.
I understand those are personal triggers of mine so I didn't include them in any of my written reviews. My family suffers from hear conditions, but eat healthy and are very fit. Heart attacks not only happen because of obesity or poor diet. So I felt a little uncomfortable around that talk.
And the hiding food, and restriction of foods because of my personal eating disorder. I just wanted to mention it, I understand is a valid statement made in the book but still.

Goodreads review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/7013784665
Here is my reading vlog: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OigiMg1JiWg&t=936s

This book was faced paced and engaging and I couldn’t put it down. The twist definitely took me by surprise, though I had to started to put pieces together here and there. However, this fell a little bit flat for me. I liked the way the author set up the exploration of the ethics of internet and tik tok sleuthing and the popularity of true crime as entertainment, but it didn’t feel like she was able to go deep on this topic or share meaningful takeaways that I was hoping to come away with.

I loved everything about this book. I am a true crime web sleuth was so excited to read this one. The character building of the web sleuths was very well rounded. The ending was predictable but i still enjoyed it. This will be a great book club book. I would love to hear all of the different views of this book.

It's the most famous crime in modern history. But only she knows the true story.

After the unexpected death of her father, college student Jane Sharp longs for a distraction from her grief. She becomes obsessed with true crime, befriending armchair detectives who teach her how to hunt killers from afar. In this morbid internet underground, Jane finds friendship, purpose, and even glory...

I do agree with a lot of other reviews that say this was slow to start, but a good slow burn is usually always worth it.

I really enjoyed the true crime/Reddit sleuth plot even though I am not a Reddit user (it intimidates me).

read if you like: true crime books, serial killer tropes, murder mystery plots

Thank you to NetGalley & SOURCEBOOKS Landmark | Sourcebooks Landmark for my ARC in exchange for my honest review.

Most of Ashley Winsteads books were 5 stars for me, I’m so impressed by her ability to write thriller and romance well. This one wasn’t it though. Loosely based on the Idaho murders, it just didn’t wow me.

This is a slow-burn mystery about "the crime of the century" told from the view of an amateur sleuth who belongs to the true crime community.

Because I went in completely blind, I was lost as the book didn't seem to have any straightforward story. It seemed to me more about a grieving woman than about any plot. I felt it was slow moving but once it found its groove, I was hooked.

I had fun exploring the case along with our protagonists. I think that serial killer stories are rarely done well because they're usually done as heavy police procedurals, but this was a fresh take on the sub-genre. I felt like we were going through an actual case even though there are some unbelievable parts to the story,

I was surprised by the twists and felt that it was a good read. I'd recommend it to all thriller fans.

Thanks to Netgalley & Sourcebooks Landmark for the e-copy!

3.5/5

I always look forward to Ashley Winstead books, but "This Book Will Bury Me" exceeded all expectations, soaring to the top as my favorite of her books. Thus, I was kind of surprised to see on Goodreads that the ratings mean score didn't necessarily reflect my enthusiasm. It came down to this. The story is inspired by the sad murders of the four college students in Idaho a couple of years ago. Some people took great offense to this. I too believe victims should be honored and their memory carefully handled.

However, writers have always gotten inspiration from the world around them. Two books I've read recently were of a similar vein. "Bright Young Women" by Jessica Knoll brilliantly takes a different spin on the Ted Bundy murders. Derva McTiernan wrote a gripping book, "What Happened To Nina", based on the Gabby Petito tragedy. What Winstead has done is no different here. I heard she gives an explanation in the beginning of the book, but I listened to an audio version and it did not include that. The story does not dwell specifically on the murdered victims, but on a group of five online crime fighters who come together to solve the case.

This story is so well written and the action moves forward so fluidly, I could not put it down. This book takes a little over thirteen hours to listen to, and I finished it in a little over one day if that tells you anything! I loved the way Jane's story unfolded. There was a framework around which the story starts and ends. Jane tragically loses her father, and cannot come to terms with the death, and all the unknowns she had about her quiet steady father. Looking for a distraction, she gets involved in an online murder case. She plays a big part in successfully solving this case, which leads her to become part of an elite group of online sleuths. I loved this band of misfits who called themselves family, especially the older woman who goes by the handle Mistress. I loved watching Jane come out of her shell as she finds out that she is really good at this crime solving.

I'm not going to go into the whole plot, but if you are at all interested in online chats where people band together, crime podcasts, or anything in that vein, you should love this book! It is definitely one of my favorite books I've read this year!

Thank you to NetGalley, Ashley Winstead, and Sourcebook Landmark for allowing me to read this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I did end up finishing this one after thinking it would be a DNF. I ended up enjoying it although it was different than I thought