I’m pretty sure I’m in the minority here, but I did not like this book. 😬
It was 480 and I felt every single one of them.
I liked the premise but i felt like 200 pages of nothing could have been cut out of this book.
I thought Jane’s Dad was a weird plot point that wasn’t needed and didn’t really lead to anything.
I did appreciate the plot twist but it took way too long to get there and it felt a little bit like the real life Idaho murders which I didn’t think worked.
2 stars.
I like this author and will definitely try her next book, but this was a miss for me.
Thank you netgalley and Sourcebooks for the opportunity to read and review this book.

Not really for me! I think that this definitely has its audience and there are going to be people who love it

Wow! I absolutely loved this one!!!! Maybe it’s because I’m a true crime junkie but I found this book captivating from page 1. I loved the format of the plot with the internet crime sleuths and the storyline of the active crimes interspersed throughout. I found the characters to be complex and flawed in their own way and the interplay of their personalities was an amazing dynamic.

I read the prologue where the author explained that this was book was inspired by true events and I understand that going in, I did not think it was offensive- if anything it was a testament to the injustice of the situation and brought awareness to the intricacies of police investigations and the power of the people.

Ashley Winstead is an excellent author and she showcases this in this novel! The way I literally devoured this one. I read 3 of her books and this one is by far my favorite!

Thank you to Sourcebooks Landmark, NetGalley and Ashley Winstead for an advanced readers copy of this e-book in exchange for an honest review.

I loved the premise of this book, all of the text exchanges and forum posts throughout, and the way it all came together. I, also, am delusional enough to believe that I could solve crimes if given the opportunity so this gave me even more hope of that! I felt like it was a little drawn out and making it quicker would have made those twists way more jaw dropping!!

Updated Review March 25th 2o25 (Pub Day)

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the arc/alc.

I must say that I am a bit conflicted on how to rate/review this book. First off, I want to address the controversy around this book and the author using a real life true crime story as inspiration (or potentially ripping off) the true crime story. That part makes me feel a little sick. I don't necessarily condone it.

Next I have to say this book was addictive. I first picked it up and started to devour it. I got the first 30% of the book finished then. I then proceeded to get bored of the story for whatever reason and so I put the book down.

In March 2024, I picked the book back up again and read it from 30% on. I was also granted access to the audiobook around this time. I must say that Leslie Howard did a great job with the narration of the audiobook and I thought she was the perfect narrator for this book. I would've finished the book in one sitting if I didn't need sleep

With all of that being said, I think this book is a little creepy. So I would not recoommend reading it too late at night. I also don't think it is as creepy as All Good People Here by Ashley Flowers, which I found really creepy.

I apologize if this review is all over the place. I suppose my rating/opinion of this book is also all over this place. I would like to close by saying that Ashley Winstead is a very creative author and I would consider reading more by her in the future!





Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for granting an arc in exchange for my honest review.

If I am being completely honest, I am pretty conflicted on how to rate this book. I started out really liking the story, but I then discovered that this book is "based upon" or "inspired" by what appears to be an ongoing case. This is quite disrepectful and insensitive to do, when the victims of these criimes are still waiting to receive justice. Therefore, I would say I liked about the first 30-40% of the story, and the rest just felt "rocky" to me, I guess. It really is a shame though as this was one of my most anticipated thrillers of 2025. Perhaps I will pick up this book again once the real life case has beem resolved, but even that seems disrespectful to the families of the victims.

Thanks again to NetGalley and the publisher for granting access to this book in exchange for my honest review.

This was a wild ride. I need to read up on what it’s inspired by/based on. I do wish she talked a little less about her dad but overall, wow. Kept me hooked and the ending was very shocking.

“I suspect I was born to fall into rabbit holes.”

Ashley Winstead once described herself as a mood writer and it’s my favorite way to describe her—especially since everything she writes is gold.

This Book Will Bury Me is no exception—utterly captivating from the very first page, I was mesmerized by Ashley’s ability to not only capture the impact of amateur sleuths on true crime cases, but also the behind-the-scenes elements of what drives people to want to solve cases from their couch.

At the heart of this story is grief, community, a search for answers, and a desire to belong. It’s about love, loss, and finding our purpose in life. It’s about giving back when we’re no longer sure what we have to offer.

“Sometimes the joy of being human lies in the things we cannot describe.”

I love how Ashley portrayed this story. Sharing the events that transpired a year ago, a fictional portrayal woven with very real cases, with regular breaks of the fourth wall as Jane Sharp shares her hindsight with her readers. A book within a book, a multitude of stories, and the coming together and falling apart of many lives.

“It’s what we will never know about the ones we love that binds us to them.”

In a time where so many of us form relationships online, it felt particularly striking how at the very heart of this book is just how much we can trust those online. How much can we trust them to solve a crime? How much can we trust them to take care of us? How much can we trust them to not steer us wrong?

I have recommended this book to countless people and I will likely never stop. Written in such a unique manner, I cannot get over Ashley’s ability to morph her writing style into whatever her story needs in order to thrive.

Make sure to pick this one up if you enjoy:
- True crime
- Online communities
- Found family
- Unique and unputdownable thriller
- Serial killer stories
- Epistolary story

While I haven’t followed the tragedy in Idaho carefully so don’t know many details, this book seemed like it was definitely based off of that story which made me slightly uncomfortable. I mean, maybe if it had been any other setting I wouldn’t have been thinking about the Moscow situation the whole time I was reading this.

However, as is always the case with Winstead’s writing, it was superb, sucking the reader in and not letting go until the last page, therefore I still very much enjoyed reading this. Her ability to make me want to keep reading even when I shouldn't be is a gift, truly. I find her thriller books to be cerebral and not fluff, making one think or want to do a deep dive into whatever it is she's talking about, fictional or not. This book just happened to make me now want to watch and read everything about the Idaho murders.

This was my 3rd book by Ashley Winstead and I am not mad at this one butttt again it didn’t tickle my fancy like other thrillers. It was predicable, way too long, and some aspects felt a bit forced. The ending felt more of a cop out more than anything. I wish it was a bit different. This book seems to be based off the 2022 Idaho murders which left a bad taste in my mouth. I don’t know if many people want that.

If you are new to thrillers, this is a good starter outer book.

I can't lie and say I wasn't intrigued to see where this one was going. Unfortunately, it's VERY predictable and a little bit off-the-wall by the end.
I enjoy Winstead's thrillers, it's easy reading and there are always entertaining little nuggets sprinkled in her writing. I think she's always had great ideas and I was looking forward to reading a thriller from an "armchair detective" perspective. She sort of explores the pros & cons of these internet amateur sleuths but we don't really get a final verdict on whether this kind of obsession is exploitative or necessary for the future of solving crimes.
Maybe there is no answer - but I found the main characters' actions wildly inappropriate at times and it made it hard to root for them even though I was a fan of their ragtag remote assemble. It was when they got together in person - at the scene of the murders like some weird vacay, yikes - that I really began to feel weird.
Add that to the fact that this murder is very much so inspired by the Idaho 4 - which sounded familiar enough that I did some deep dive research in the middle of this book and YEAH they are way closely related, and that is still an ongoing investigation/not even to trial yet.
I don't know, it's got me feeling kind of icky, especially with how much time is spent to profiling the murderers and detailing violence against women, crime scene photos, etc...
Just not enough time spent researching the victims, especially for internet sleuths who are interested in "finding answers and justice."
Side note, I'm undecided about the breaking-the-4th-wall aspect of this book. It was very cheeky with no deeper reflection since it was clearly written by the main character in past tense. There's some quality stuff about grief and the weight of trying to immortalize your parents as you grapple with life moving on. But it gets lost in the weird fatphobic and trauma-dumping of the other adults in her father's life. It felt kind of out of place with the story but I recognize it as a kind of catalyst for the main character's actions.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publishers for this advanced copy!

BOOK: This Book Will Bury Me
AUTHOR: Ashley Winstead
PUB DATE: March 25, 2025, by @bookmarked
PAGES: 480
RATING: 5 stars (infinity)!
GENRE: Suspense/Thriller/Mystery/Crime

A H U G E Thank You to @netgalley, @bookmarked and the author for gifting me an advanced digital in exchange for my honest review!

QUICK & SPOILER-FREE REVIEW: More like, This Book Had Me in a Chokehold! Let me start off by saying this had EVERYTHING I want in suspense and thriller! As I continued reading chapter after chapter, it drew me in deeper and had me up late flipping pages until the very end. I had a hunch who the “killer” was about 60% in, but it was questionable and full of twists and turns! Hang on to your seats with this one! And that ending!! I’d love to discuss this book with anyone that has read it. This was my first book to read by this author, and I am super excited to read her others that have been on my TBR!
RUN, don’t walk, to read this one that’s out TODAY!!!

#ThisBookWillBuryMe #AshleyWinsteadBooks #AshleyWinstead #Mystery #Crime #Suspense #Thriller

What a wild ride. I love how she sprinkled in enough clues that we could figure things out but the reveal still came as a shock! This is my first @ashleywinsteadbooks book & I love her style! I’ll definitely read more things by her!

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/7412738623Basically, once I started This Book Will Bury Me, I was useless until I finished it. This hooked me right from the start, and if some of the broader plot points ended up being predictable, there were enough twists, turns, and red herrings that genuinely surprised me.

This novel falls into the ever-expanding repertoire of works that set out to examine and critique true crime culture by focusing on the role that internet sleuths play in both helping and hindering crime solving. Told from Jane's point of view, this story centers on how she finds herself playing a direct role in a spate of recent murders after getting involved in an online group of true crime amateur detectives.

While many of the story beats are familiar to any mystery reader, I loved the first-person narration and how brazen Jane and her group of internet crime solvers were. I personally don't like to engage with true crime and instead like thinking about the broader popularity of this genre through fiction like this. This novel honestly made me quite uncomfortable at times as it raised some questions about why and how outsiders can become involved in the justice process for better or worse.

After her father's sudden passing, Jane Sharp returns home from college and needs to fill a father-sized hole in her life—enter true crime and the world of armchair detectives. By befriending a core group of amateur sleuths, she exchanges her grief for a newfound love of investigating murder cases. Jane's participation borders on obsession and only becomes more pathological once the Delphine Massacre enters the news cycle. Jane and her band of snoops venture into the heart of an active crime scene in Delphine, Idaho, undeterred by the danger of a killer on the loose, all in pursuit of their mission—to solve the murder.

"This Book Will Bury Me" is an entertaining and nail-biting ride from cover to cover. Jane Sharp’s journey through grief is deeply relatable as she clings to anything that can distract her from the pain of losing her father. But in the distraction lies her newfound online family—Citizen, Lightly, Goku, and Mistress—each as endearing and eccentric as the next. This family helps her crawl out of the darkness and find a purpose in the sadness. You find yourself loving these characters, willing them to succeed, and finding out each sleuth's deeply personal reasons that led them here. Everyone has a reason for entering this world.

TBWBM will suck you in and before you know it, you're deep-diving Reddit trying to become an amateur sleuth yourself. Just kidding. Or am I? Either way, much like Jane, I guarantee you will become obsessive and crave the answers of who is responsible for the Delphine murders. Time to grab this book and put on your investigator cap because we've got some crimes to solve.

Thank you to NetGalley, Sourcebooks Landmark, & Ashley Winstead for the ARC in exchange for my authentic review.

5 STARS

Murder mystery, tell-all memoir narrative, sleuthing, found family, twists and turns, secret identity

Janeway Sharp is a 24 year old college student who has just been through an unimaginable ordeal, she lost her best friend and father. In the midst of her grief, she receives a calling and is thrust into the world of true-crime. Along with four other sleuths she meets online, she helped solve a huge high-profile case. Shortly after riding the wave of fame, she and her group of friends find themselves tracking down an elusive serial killer.

This story was so unique and unlike anything I’ve ever read. The main character is walking us through her story as an Internet sleuth/detective. It’s written in the form of a tell-all memoir after a huge, high-profile serial killer case. There were footnotes on the pages, which made it very unique. They contributed well to the story. There are so many mysteries for the reader laid out. The format and structure was entertaining and told the story well! I loved the characters, and I resonated deeply with Jane as she tried to cope with her loss. The found family between these characters was heart warming in the middle of the book. I loved Ashley Winstead’s writing style. I learned a lot about true-crime forums and internet sleuths. Although I was able to predict part of the ending, my jaw still dropped during that last 2%. There are still many parts of this book that surprised me. The twists and turns were great. I definitely recommend this book to anyone who enjoys true-crime thrillers and mysteries.

There is an author note in the beginning regarding the events, cases, killers, and murders referenced in this book that details Winstead’s inspiration for the storyline. I highly recommend you read this and look into the trigger warnings as well.

This is an HONEST review, and all opinions are my own. Thank you NetGalley and Ashley Winstead for the opportunity to read this book prior to its release date. This was my first book by this author, and I fully intend on reading more after this one.

I have kind of a love-hate relationship with true crime….while I enjoy listening to podcasts while I walk I don’t read it, normally choosing mysteries and police procedurals. This fictional story based on a college student who becomes obsessed with true crime as a way to distract herself after her father’s unexpected death was a great way for me to bridge the two, especially since this echos a current actual criminal case. Jane Sharp’s character is well written, I could feel her heartbreak and was drawn in as her obsession with solving murders grows, her new found family taking her in. The twists and turns that are revealed as Jane decides to tell all a year after the crime kept me on the edge of my seat. I did take one star off as I had a small part of my brain telling me this story is ‘too soon’, but it certainly didn’t stop me from reading.
Thanks to NetGalley and Sourcebooks Landmark for the ARC, true crime fans will be swept up into the story.

Alright first thing’s first. Yes, this book is long. Too long for a thriller, in my opinion. And I absolutely think it could’ve been at least 100 pages shorter. But I would read it anyway.

Heavy on the true crime, this thriller involves amateur sleuths, crime podcasts, subthreads and conversations, and the justice system itself. I enjoyed this aspect so much. Clues are provided so subtly, and little foreshadowing at the end of some chapters keeps you invested to keep reading. I loved the way the book was written, telling the story one year after the events, so you get both a retelling as well as the narrator’s benefit of hindsight.

I did guess the twist just before it happened, but that didn’t make it any less shocking or immersing.

I also loved the found family aspect of this book, the glimmers of faith in humanity, and the insightful prose interlaced into the book.

I was pleasantly surprised by this book, and it’s my favorite of hers so far.

[There are several TWs, so be sure to check those if you need to]

Thank you Sourcebooks and NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Thank you to Sourcebooks Landmark for the ARC!

“I’ve come to think fate is a trap we set for ourselves…”

Ironically, this book found me as my family was processing the decline in my mother-in-law’s health. Since I finished reading, she has passed and that has made this book that much more poignant for me. I can fully relate to Jane, our FMC, in how she immersed herself in something as she processed the death of her father. Grief can be all-consuming, and I can understand the allure of something that completely distracts you. In Jane’s case, it was a serial killer. I also related to her becoming close to people she “met” online, as I have made some dear friends here in the bookish corner of the world.

Told in a multimedia format, and in dual timelines, Jane is writing a book about her past experience, and chatting with her new sleuth pals online. It also had a work backwards approach, where at the beginning of the story, things had already happened, but the story took us through the events to get to that point. When the truth of the serial killer came to light, I thought I should have seen it coming but I didn’t! It did not end how I was expecting at all, and was very cleverly executed.

With true-crime vibes, Ashley Winstead has once again written a unique story, with lovable, relatable characters. “This Book Will Bury Me” was one of my most anticipated reads of 2025 and I am so grateful for the early read!

”This Book Will Bury Me” is out NOW! This review will be shared to my instagram blog (@books_by_the_bottle) shortly :)

I loved this bingeable thriller! I’ve been an Ashley fan since The Last Housewife, and this book did not disappoint. I love how she tackled the Internet sleuth vs real detectives debate and even managed to sprinkle multiple murder mysteries at the same time. Loved it!

4.25/5 rounded down

Thank you Sourcebooks Landmark for the advanced reading copy!

Ashley Winstead can really hook me on a book from the start, and this was no different. I was super entertained from start to finish, though things did start to feel just a little draggy in the middle. I think this book could have been a bit trimmed down and been better, but still was great. The benefit of the length was that I had a few suspicions early on that I promptly forgot about by the time the truth was revealed later, and that left me feeling shocked!

While I did enjoy this book a lot, it is not without its flaws. I have read a lot of complaints from other reviewers about the exploitive nature of using actual cases for a fictional "true crime" book, and can totally see where those come from. The ARC does not have an author's note, but Ashley Winstead did post a note on socials explaining this, which I think makes a big difference in how this is perceived.

In the Author's Note, Winstead also talks about grieving the loss of her Dad while hearing about the University of Idaho case, and that adds even more depth to the story. Throughout the book, you can tell that the grief is real and, and presented in a very well-written and powerful way. The grief adds a lot to Jane's character, and I really felt for our character and author as I was reading this.

Overall, this was a very entertaining and interesting book by a fantastic writer. It's different than her previous work, as seems to be the Ashley Winstead way, but just as well-written. I can't wait to see what her beautifully twisted mind comes up with next!