3+

Grieving her hero of a father, unable to understand what led him to risk his life when choosing not to follow medical advice, Jane joins a group of dedicated online sleuths and gains notoriety in solving murders. But the pride that comes with the fame becomes their downfall when the groups starts competing with the police in a high profile case.

The book is narrated in first person by Jane, who seems to be writing a tell-all book after something went gruesomely wrong. It's an interesting choice, complete with references and everything that will convince you to be reading a true-crime. Also, it gives the author a good excuse to just hand us the bare minimum and keep us curious, as the fictional readers would already know how it happened but we need to content ourselves with Jane's quick mentions of future events. It's great bait.

At the same time it was a lot of expectation. The conclusion is okay, but it was underwhelming. Even before that, it reaches a point you know it won't be all that. A lot of things bothering me about how the group came to be, I was sure it would be explained but then it wasn't. Not really.

This is a good read. You'll certainly enjoy it because there's little in there for anyone not to. But the promise that it would be more was its worst enemy. Maybe I would have felt it was a 4-star had I known it.

I did like the author and her style. I'd been considering getting one of her works for a while, and this didn't make me regret it. On the contrary, I'm looking forward to more.


Honest review based on an ARC provided by Netgalley. Many thanks to the publisher for this opportunity.

I was immediately intrigued by the concept of the book because of the growing popularity of the true crime community and armchair detectives. Overall, I found it a really enjoyable read. I do think this book was too long. The last 30% of the book was paced perfectly, but getting there felt like it took forever! I'll recommend this book to my true crime-loving friends!

A BOOK!!!! Hooked from the very first page! The writing, the plot… was everything. I especially enjoyed the footnotes and twist were pretty good. I wasn’t able to really guess any. A good amateur sleuth novel. This was my first read by this author but it won’t be my last!

I typically love Ashley Winstead books but this one wasn’t my favorite. While I enjoyed the plot some of the book seemed a little unpredictable and also reminded me too much of a real life tragedy in Idaho. Overall it was just okay!

Unfortunately this book did not excite me the way the authors other books did. I have loved all of her other novels, however, the closeness to real life events really turned me off in this book. I hate saying that! But I truly couldn’t move past it :(

This Book Will Bury Me is a book about five everyday Americans who want to help the police solve crimes. The book first introduces us to the main female character Jane Sharp after her father dies. She is in despair and has decided to drop out of college and move back in with her mother. She joins a true crime website and discovers she is quite a talented sleuth. Soon, she is connected with a “famous” group of four and they are working on a national case together, making them a group of five. Things go awry, and Jane eventually decides to tell her story.

This book was slow and difficult to get into at first. It did pick up pace eventually. The main case the sleuths are interested in resembles a real ongoing nationally-televised case. Like, down to the details. I really didn’t like that. Doesn’t the author have enough imagination to use something of her own? The story might have been great if not for this. If you want to just digest something quick and thrilling, sure go for it. However, this is a real, ongoing case with real people. It troubles me that the author wrote so much that was exactly the same as the real case when there hasn’t even been a resolution. Thank you to Sourcebooks Landmark for providing this book for review consideration via NetGalley. All opinions are my own.

This Book Will Bury Me by Ashley Winstead

Genre: Thriller
Rating: 2.5/5 ⭐️
Spice: 0/5 🧼

Summary: Jane is struggling in the aftermath of the devastating loss of her beloved father and seeks solace in an online forum of amateur sleuths dedicated to solving crimes. What begins as a distraction to occupy her mind soon turns into an obsession and she finds herself deeply entangled in a chilling and gruesome case.

Thoughts: This book was just not for me. It felt overly complicated for a straightforward situation and just dragged out longer than necessary (ninety. two. chapters. 92?!). It took me months to get through it, which isn’t normal for me.

I can see a lot of true crime fans loving this though as it really dives into how the true crime community can get involved with cases.

I respect the author trying to take a different approach to this book but I feel like I walked into the middle of something I didn’t understand and there wasn’t enough done to bring me up to speed as a reader.

Thank you to the author and publisher for providing a copy of this book. I am sharing my honest thoughts, voluntarily.

Ashley Winstead has become one of my favorite authors! I love her writing and how engaging her books are! This one was quite a ride! Get ready to be shocked! I loved trying to make guesses throughout and she tricked me every time! Read this thriller now!!!

Ashley Winstead is a bold author who is not afraid of shock and awe, and she sure takes it to the next level with "This Book Will Bury Me." She uses the real life Idaho murders as her inspiration which many, myself included, found to be in poor taste. It feeds into larger questions about true crime as entertainment and even though Winstead attempts to move beyond entertainment in pursuit of something more didactic (violence against women is bad!) it still read as too opportunistic for my taste.

Gripping, ridiculous, punchy, emotional, and tense🫣😅
this amateur sleuth, unhinged woman, true crime mix had me ON EDGE.
- I COULDN’T PUT THIS DOWN. It’s compulsively addictive, with foreshadowing that is easy to follow as it unravels. I felt myself growing more obsessive and chaotic alongside Jane as the story went.
- The narrative alternates between a chat room format and Jane’s (FMC) present POV, which gave a fun nostalgia for the books I read as a teenager (Ttyl lol). So I imagine the audio version, if a full cast with its mixed media elements, will be excellent when it’s released, but I still enjoyed it as an ebook.
- a good book slump plunger

Author history: Its vibes are closer to In My Dreams I Hold a Knife(4.5⭐️), with a touch of the absurdity in Midnight is the Darkest Hour(1⭐️ lol).

For Fans Of: Megan Collins, Alice Feeney
Rating: 🌕🌕🌕🌕🌘
Genre: 🔪 Thriller
Violence: 🪓🪓🪓🪓[described after fact]
Triggers: grief, loss of parent, extreme violence, discussions of weight

Synopsis: This Book Will Bury Me—by the author of In My Dreams I Hold a Knife—reads like a true-crime tell-all written by Jane in the aftermath of a brutal series of murders. But she is neither perpetrator nor victim: she is among the cadre of true-crime obsessives, driven to join their online community to escape the grief of her father’s death. Jane soon finds herself among an elite group who turn their crime-solving skills to 6 co-eds slain in an Idaho college town.

Thoughts: This book excels on so many levels: plot, pace, characters, mystery. True-crime fans will find this reads like fact & thriller lovers will adore the plot’s twisty complexity, all aided by short, cliff-hanging chapters. For a book stocked full of people & moving pieces, Winstead creates 3-dimensional characters who avoid caricature. Jane in particular is multi-layered: full of youthful naivete & poor life choices but with a keen intelligence & deep well of empathy. With its blend of hindsight narrative & real-time play-by-play, the novel expertly builds the intertwined threads of its mystery while parceling out tantalizing clues. All the while, it raises incisive questions about whether armchair detectives are a help or a hindrance in solving crimes. This is a disturbing tale that is not for the faint of heart or the thriller newbie. But it is also a deeply relatable story of grief. I found Jane’s ultimate realizations on the topic both poignant & insightful.

Thank you to Sourcebooks Landmark & NetGalley for this gifted copy in exchange for an honest review.

I absolutely devoured "This Book Will Bury Me." As a true crime junkie myself I really appreciated the research and effort that went into this book and building the characters. Web sleuths can get a bad wrap but they are also so helpful and keep going on cases that have been cold for decades. I loved the main character Jane, and going on her grief journey hit very close to home. Highly recommend this book to all fellow murderinos!

I have loved a lot of previous books by Ashley Winstead, so I was eagerly anticipating this as well.

4⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️: if you are/ have been interested in the online true crime community, this is definitely worth picking up.

The good:
- I was hooked throughout this entire story. Every time I put it down I found myself thinking about the book.
- There was such a raw depiction of complex grief and navigating life while grieving.
- This was such a unique story. From the footnotes, to the point of view, to the introspective lens on the true crime community, it was truly distinct from anything else I’ve read (which I find challenging to come across).
- I grew to really love the characters and especially came to empathize with the main character, Jane.

What I struggled with:
- This is a fictionalized version of very recent true crime cases (Gabby Petito, The Idaho murders, etc.)
-The murders at the University of Idaho heavily “inspired” this story. Details from this book felt a little too on the nose from the real life crime. At the same time, many details were omitted or completely different from the real case. This weird mix kept pulling me out of the story.
-The names, places, and events could’ve easily been altered and my enjoyment would’ve been much higher- I question why this wasn’t done.

Ultimately, I was quickly drawn into this story and the lens through which it was told and enjoyed my experience for the most part. I’m just not sure where I stand on using such recent, unsolved, tragic events as such a large plot point.

Thank you to NetGalley for providing me with a copy of this book, all opinions are my own.

Adding this: read through a few reviews of this book and I‘m absolutely disgusted, I didn‘t know much about the real case but what the fuck, definitely changing my rating immediately!!!

I really enjoyed the multi media aspect, telling the story and adding the forum chats. Absolutely adored the found family in this, found family will always and forever be my favorite trope! I could not put this down and the chapters ending with the little foreshadowing had me on the edge of my seat!
A huge part of this book was inspired by the university of Idaho massacre that happened in 2022, that didn’t sit right with me at all! So be aware of that before you read this!

Thanks to netgalley and the publisher for this arc!

It’s sad to say this didn’t work for me. As a long-time Ashley Winstead fan, I was beyond excited to dive into this book, but I was left disappointed. The first 20% was intriguing enough to keep me on my toes and wanting more, but after that, it went downhill. The characters felt bland, and I was expecting so much more from them. While the plot had potential, very little happened for the majority of the story, and it just dragged.

That said, I did enjoy how descriptive the crime scenes were—at times, it felt like I was right there in the book. Overall, I don’t think it’s a bad book, but unfortunately, it just wasn’t for me

Thank you Netgalley and Sourcebooks landmark

Thank you NetGalley and Ashley Winstead for this ARC. What a ride this book took me on. I do love true crime and follow some true crime podcasts. This case was very similar to one that is currently still being investigated. It is a very hard and sad story to follow. As the female character Jane goes through her grief after losing her father, I could feel what she was going through. A very well written story and interesting set-up from a true crime groups viewpoint. I can see how this story might be hard for some readers to follow with it being tied to a real life case, just be forewarned going in. Ashely Winstead you are a wonderful author and can not wait to see what you come up with next.

This was an engaging read that works great if you don't think too hard about it...but unfortunately, I think too hard about everything. ☹️ I do enjoy thriller writers tackling the True Crime fandom because it pretty much immediately cracks open just how weird it all is, but also in order to make it matter at all you have to let the nerds win once in awhile. In this case that involved these people getting insanely, freakishly lucky finding murder weapons and clues, and then they get kind of famous (???) which tipped it over into feeling more like a wish fulfillment fantasy for armchair detectives.

Which is unfortunate, because I liked Winstead's take on, basically, fandom friendships and the bonds that can form when you throw yourself into a fandom because your real life sucks. And after being a little put off by the very similar hot, rich, successful but damaged MCs of Winstead's first two books, I was pleased to see her write a main character who's a complete wreck.

Overall, this was fine. It kept me guessing. I'm neither angry nor thrilled about it. I'll keep picking up Winstead's work in this genre because there's something there that gets me, though.

My thanks to Sourcebooks Landmark and NetGalley for the ARC.

Book review - 3.5 stars rounded up

✨This book has so much to love including its fast pace, multiple layers, richly developed characters and one of the absolute best endings I’ve read in a thriller. Just when I thought I had it all figured out, that ending hit – and it was just absolutely astonishing.

✨In addition to being a compelling thriller, this book is also a harrowing, devastating and ultimately beautiful study into the journey of loss, grief and acceptance seen through the lens of a daughter who is coping with the death of her father. As a daughter who has lost her father, I can tell you that these were the most tender and authentic aspects of the book.

✨In true Ashley Winstead style, she is able to blend a cunning thriller with a social commentary on the true crime sleuthing community as well as elements of found family, grief, a father-daughter story and – wait for it – Star Trek. I say “in true Winstead style” because this is the author who writes romance novels in between her mind-blowing, “what the heck is in this woman’s head” knockout thrillers. Is there anything she can’t do?

✨Now I must veer into a less positive aspect of my review – and that is the inclusion of the eerily similar details to the Idaho college murders. There has been much discussion of this in the book community, and it almost kept me from reading the book — but I wanted to read for myself before making a judgment call. I must admit, it was very off-putting for this reader to see the details so similar to such recent murders.

📚 Read if you like:
✨True crime
✨Online communities
✨Found family
✨Father/daughter narratives
✨Stories of the grief journey
✨Compelling thrillers
✨Serial killer stories
✨Multi-layered, fast-paced suspense
✨Star Trek

Thank you source books and NetGalley and the author for the arc of this read !

What an amazing read for a true crime fan like myself this book was everything you could ask for. The characters were great as each added something to the story and of course the writing is amazing with some twists and holds your attention. I would have liked more about the murders and maybe a bit less a lot the main characters personal life as it felt unnecessary and really didn’t relate to the story. I think that’s my only negative thing about the book but overall it’s such a great read, and I think the majority of thriller readers would love this book.

I understand where everyone is coming from in regards to this book being similar or inspired by the idaho killings. But, I really freaking enjoyed this and I love Winsteads writing so much. Honestly it's loosely inspired by the Idaho killings..like there is so much more to the story and it could honestly be similar to so many other murders as well..

Anyways I truly enjoyed this one and cannot wait to see what Winstead has next!
Thank you to the publisher for an advanced copy !