Firstly, thank you to the publisher and author for my free ARC.

Okay, so, I have multiple issues with this book. I wasn't fond of the characters; could've been shorter; dragged on quite a bit.
My biggest issue, though, is that this book is supposed to be inspired by the Idaho murders but it seems to be a carbon copy, to me. I do want to note that regardless of this, I still didn't LOVE this book, so my rating is from all angles here.

I do not believe the author purposely meant this to be controversial but it is. This book is set to be published before the trial this same year...
For a book that was "inspired" by a true crime, it is WAY too similar to what went down.

I do not in any way mean to disrespect the author, this is just what I took from this book as a whole. My heart goes out to the author whom lost her father recently.

This book was not for me. I tried and tried to get into it. I liked some of it. The characters were intriguing, but I just couldn't find my way through it. Honestly, I was a little sick of the main character and I was bored. I'm glad it's over. I am an Ashley Winstead fan so I'll try with her next book.

This book totally consumed my weekend. Historically, Winstead's books have either been major winners or very underwhelming. Fortunately, this was another major winner. True crime fans will surely enjoy the plot of this, which consists of 5 internet sleuths who band together to solve a murder.

I went into this story totally blind, and I think this is the way to do it.

Also, I learned that this was actually inspired by an active case. While controversial, Winstead does address this matter in a note.

I have deeply loved Ashley Winstead in the past. In fact, I think In My Dreams I Hold A Knife is the only thriller I've ever reread. This book felt like Winstead coming back to her roots with a traditional thriller, but this one felt like it could do with a little more editing. While I appreciate that Winstead was battling with the grief of her own father's death as she was writing this book, I felt as though some of the storyline about Jane's father was a little heavy-handed and ultimately made it feel a little disjointed from the main storyline. I think with some editing, this could have tightened up the book overall and made the length much more manageable.

Overall - I thought this was a really fun thriller! Although I figured out the mystery very early on in the book, I found myself staying up late and turning the digital pages on my Kindle long past my bedtime to see how the story would unravel. One criticism I would have is that this book seemed to dance around the topic of how a fascination with true crime can be detrimental to the people who are impacted in their real lives, but never seemed to really drive the point home or in a way that felt head-on and authentic. I think there was a little too much "playing both sides" of the argument when it comes to true crime enthusiasts and Internet sleuths, and I would have liked to see Winstead dig her heels in a little deeper and really call out the real-life damage that can be caused by people who cross the line when involving themselves in crime scenes.

Overall, this was a fun read. My primary complaint is the length, but it was more of an issue because I'd figured it out already. If it had been shorter, I would have been less upset about figuring it out.

In My Dreams I Hold a Knife by Ashley Winstead is one of my all time favorite thrillers. In that book, she drops enough breadcrumbs to make the twist make sense in hindsight, but not enough breadcrumbs to spoil the ending. Unfortunately, in this book she was a bit too heavy handed with her breadcrumbs and I guessed the twist very early on.

Unfortunately, I feel like the road has come to an end for Winstead and I.

Before I read this book, I found out it was based on the murders in Idaho a few years ago. I was a bit hesitant since I'm not a fan of thrillers based on a real life murder. But at the end, there was an author's note where she states she drew inspiration from the Idaho murders and the University of Idaho. I did follow the true crime story of the Idaho murders in 2022. This story felt like the EXACT same thing. Literally, word for word with a few minor changes. This completely turned me off. It felt just wrong.

I couldn't get into this book at all. I can see that others that didn't follow this case would like it but for me I wasn't into it. Unfortunately, wasn't a big fan of this.

2.5/5 stars

Thank you to netgalley and Sourcebooks for my arc

the feeling of an absolute page-turner is a rare one, and ashley winstead instead hit the nail on the head with this book will bury me. every day that I was reading this book, every second of free time i wanted to jump back in!

i absolutely loved the mixed media elements to this book; reading true crime forums & group messages. the plot twists were fun and pretty unpredictable. it’s been a lonnnngggggg time since i’ve read something that hooked me like this!

giving this one 4.5/5 stars: 1. it kept me wanting to read CONSTANTLY 2. the plot was very exciting to follow 3 i would recommend this to so many people and i throughly enjoyed it. it lost a half a star solely because i did predict one of the plot twists & none of the characters were super lovable for me personally (didn’t connect with as much as i normally prefer).

i also loved 1. how the entire book is written as a reflection on the narrator’s experience and everything is written with hindsight & 2. how the ending was tied up in a pretty perfect bow, with just a hint of ambiguity to the future but gave you answers on all the plot lines!

After her father’s sudden death, college senior Janeway Sharp stumbles across a true crime network on the interweb and quickly becomes enthralled as she looks for a distraction from her own pain and grief. Soon close friendships and alliances are formed as the armchair detective group takes on the shocking and brutal murder of three sorority students in Delphine, Idaho and are suddenly thrust into the spotlight themselves.

Looking at the reviews for this book, it strikes me that most people fall into two categories on it - you either love it or you hate it. Turns out, I am in the former. While this book didn’t quite bury me, it sure gripped my attention to the point of complete absorption. I. Could. Not. Put. This. Book. Down.

Unlike Ashley Winstead’s other novels that are works of pure fiction, the primary case in this book is based on a very true crime, and is part of what makes this book controversial. Is it too early to be featuring this brutal murder, an event that has left a town broken, in such a front and centered way? In fact, Winstead even includes an author’s note to explain her rationale on this and it’s definitely worth a read.

I would argue that although it is pivotal to the story, it is very much not THE story. At the core, TBWBM is about community and making sense of the senseless. It’s about our overarching desire for answers we may or may never be able to find. And it’s about family, those who we love and who offer comfort, and those who seek only to knock us down.

To prevent the risk of spoiling a book that’s best when gone into blind, I will end my review by saying that although, I didn’t love her last, this book was a major winner for me and such a pleasant surprise. Not since Verity has a first page grabbed me hook, line and sinker and I hope it does the same for you, if you choose to read it.

Thank you to the Alisᵗᵐ for buddy reading this one with me. Sorry I wasn’t able to slow myself down there at the end, but what a testament to the addictiveness of this book.

Read if you like:
▪️true crime
▪️serial killer storylines
▪️quasi-cozy mysteries
▪️epistolary format
▪️unputdownable thrillers

Thank you Sourcebooks Landmark for the advanced copy.

Based on enjoyment, this was great. I echo a lot of other reviews: it's a bit too long and maybe leans on the predictable side, but has some really well-done aspects (found family, grief, internet culture). The characters are mostly likeable and, for the most part, fleshed out. It gets a bit campy by the end there, but it's fiction, so I can't be too mad at it. I had a really great time with this and love Winstead's writing.

This book was fun. It started a bit slow for me, but by the last half or so, I was hooked. I did figure out the killer pretty early on (rare for me!) but still enjoyed the ride and how everything played out. The book is told an interesting way - the main character is describing the action of the book as if she is writing a tell-all or memoir after the events unfolded. I have really enjoyed a lot of this authors books, so in that regard, this wasn't a favorite of mine of those she has written, but that is admittedly a high bar! An enjoyable thriller, especially for fans of true crime (and I'm not even one of them, but still a 4 star for me!

Thank you to Netgalley, the publisher, and the author for providing a free e-arc of this book in exchange for an honest review.

I think this finally seals the deal for me that Ashley Winstead is just not the author for me. Like her other books, the plot is very predictable. I did like the fact of following a true crime forum, there was a found family that worked really well, and the suspenseful parts were decent. This book was entirely too long, however, as it could have been a good 150-200 pages shorter and gotten the idea across.

Apparently this book is based off murders that happened in Idaho back in 2022 that I'm not aware of, and though there are many books that I have read that are loosely based off serial killers from the past this may have been a little too recent in the eyes of some.

I unfortunately can't recommend her books as they all follow such a similar pattern and turn out to be such letdowns by the end, but give it a try if you enjoy her work as you may like it.

TW: If you've lost a parent, especially your daddy, the first 20% of this book is VERY hard to read. I pushed through, but it made me cry and make me wonder if I should continue...

(Also something to note: the true crime event that this book discusses is almost identical to what happened in Idaho. Read the author's note before diving into the book.)

...With all that said, I am glad I kept reading. The true crime aspect was interesting and it was intriguing to learn a little about "armchair detectives." The chapters were short, the characters worked well together, and it was well written.

Thank you to NetGalley for the opportunity to read and review this ARC in exchange for an honest opinion.

What an unusual way to tell a story. It's told in the form of the main character (Jane Sharp) writing a memoir. If you are a fan of true crime and amateur sleuths, this is a perfect book. It was a little hard to get into at first because I didn't really know where it was going, but as soon as things click and the sleuths form a small group, the story becomes captivating.

Jane was such an interesting character. It starts off with Jane partying in college when she gets a call from her mom that her dad had a heart attack. She quickly heads home, but he ends up dying before she gets there. In trying to deal with her father's death, she joins a subreddit group for true crime. At first, she's just an observer. But when she realizes one of the murders took place near her hometown, she jumps in and volunteers to help out. And so, her addiction to help solve crimes begins....

This was a complex psychological thriller. I felt like it took bits from real crimes that happened, so it left me thinking "what if" while reading. It's interesting the role that these armchair detectives take in trying to solve crimes - through legal and illegal ways. A dark, suspenseful book that left me thinking about things in a different way.

I really enjoyed it! It kept me engaged, I loved the cyber sleuthing aspect, I thought that was original and creative. I did end up seeing the ending coming once they found the eyelash, but I enjoyed the ending anyways. Especially the connection to her dads fanfic and her ending. Thank you for letting me read it!

I am grateful for the opportunity to read this ARC. Thank you!

I struggled with this book. I found it riveting. While I identified the murderer early on, I found myself glued to the pages to see how the story would be told. However, this felt like an opportunity to say more about how true crime has become entertainment for our society. While the book discusses it frequently, it feels like it is also giving more material for true crime fiends — especially its similarities with real crime stores.

Jane Sharp is a college student whose father unexpectedly dies. This causes Jane to flounder in her grief. Her only distraction comes as seems stumbles across some true crime websites. Jane gets totally drawn into the true crime world and she seems to have a knack for spotting details others overlook. She becomes involved with a small group of internet sleuths that she basically views as her family. The group becomes interested in getting the killer of some college girls in Delphine, Idaho. I found the group of characters interesting and fairly well written. However, this story did not sit well with me as it is based on real events - the murder of college girls in Idaho. As this was far too close to real events, with some names being too close to real ones, I found it very upsetting. The real killer’s trial hasn’t even taken place yet. For this reason, I can only give the book 2 stars out of 5.

Thank you to the publisher and to NetGalley for this digital ARC in exchange for my honest review. The book will be published March 25, 2025.

This book honestly surprised me. I started it and I was confused at what was going on, but once the plot evened itself out, I was hooked. I really enjoyed the idea of anonymous crime fighters of the internet solving a case that was even puzzling law enforcement. The FMC was likable and the way the story was told was super interesting. There were plenty of twists and turns that I didn't expect which is exactly what I want out of a thriller book.

This was a very entertaining book! If you are at all in to true crime, you'll love the idea of following along as these five people try to solve murders. It does a good job of balancing what arm chair sleuths bring to the investigation vs the downside they can bring as well. The book also does a great job of showing the different sides of grief and how people work through it on their own time. I thought it added depth to the story and didn't take away from it. I gave the book four stars because I guessed the twist pretty early on. I kept hoping I was wrong but no such luck. Overall, it was a gripping read and I definitely recommend it!

Even though this was a longer book than I usually read, and it started off somewhat slow, I managed to finish it quickly because it was suspenseful and the action picked up. The fictional crime is based on the real life Idaho murders, although the perpetrator is not. I figured out the mystery about two thirds of the way through, but I still enjoyed the conclusion. I also enjoyed the secondary storyline about the main character's father's death--it gave the story an added dimension and drew me closer to the main character who sometimes acted questionably. It's also thought provoking regarding America's true crime obsession,