When I got the ARC of this all I knew was that it was from the Dr. Prof. Winstead, and while I told y'all the last time I read one of her books that I was going to have to take a break because it had all been slop and I needed to put me first... that was a lie.

Sometimes lying is good, because as controversial as this might be to admit in public, this is easily the good Dr.'s best work.

The ethics of true crime, particularly the ethics of true crime as it relates to how the characters in this book interact with it, is not something I'm gonna debate. Or how a lot of y'all seem to have drawn a parallel to this books and a case unfolding in Idaho that is currently on trial. That's not my place. Dr. Prof. Winstead talks briefly in an acknowledgement about some material they took in while writing this book. It's not a secret.

The way that Janeway navigates the loss of her father and the lengths that she goes to ensure that he has some kind of legacy was fascinating. It's also one of the better examples I've seen of found family in fiction. Not only has Jane lost her father, but her mother and her are not processing that loss in similar ways at all and that's part of what the group of investigators she finds herself falling in with so great.

Ultimately the ending is a little weak. Not only in ways that feel like a pretty mediocre episode of Criminal Minds or CSI, but in other small character ways. Ultimately there is something lacking. A final piece that could have taken this from a novel that was enjoyable to read to one that was truly great.

This is a story about grief.

I was unprepared for how emotional this book made me. I was expecting a thriller (probably a good one based on her track record), and it did function on that level- but it also functioned as a study in how we connect with the people we lose. It also centered remote friendships in a way that really felt like it acknowledged their value- which l've not seen many books do.

Thank you so much @netgalley &@bookmarked for the eArc!

I love Ashley’s books and This Book Will Bury Me was a lot of fun to read. It kept me guessing and turning pages throughout the whole book. It’s probably my favorite Ashley Winstead book so far too! This is based on actual true crime events and this is talked about with an author’s note in the book.

I am disappointed. I will admit that I did enjoy this new Winstead more than her last release, but overall this left me with a bad taste in my mouth.

I think using an Idaho case as biggest part of the plot was in bad taste given that it closely resembled the actual Idaho murders case, which is still in court.

I understand that the point of the book was to show how obsessed people have become with true crime, whether it’s sleuthing cases or releasing podcasts. However, I think by using the Idaho case in the foundation of this novel Winstead only joined in on what people don’t like about true crime.

I also think this was way longer than it needed to be. By the time I got 50% in, it felt like I should’ve been 90% done. It was long and predictable over all.

Lastly, Winstead portrayed Panhellenic women as partiers with no redeeming qualities. I’m guessing I won’t be the only alumna of a Panhellenic sorority that’s extremely tired of this overdone “sorority women are only partiers” characteristic that authors love to use. Especially since Winstead used a real Panhellenic sorority. Wondering what Kappa Delta members think of the portrayal here?

Will I pick up another Ashley Winstead? Yes, because I loved In My Dreams I Hold a Knife and The Last Housewife. However, I’ll be extremely cautious once again. This is the second highly disappointing release.

A young woman in the midst of her grief finds distraction - and a digital family - on an online community of internet sleuths. As more crime unfolds, the stakes get higher and she realizes that she may come face to face with her own culpability.

Winstead does a good job of balancing the movement of the plot with what takes place in the online groups. The characters were varied and believable. This novel raises so many good questions about the morality of a society that finds so much entertainment in true crime - our obsession with it, our podcasts, our forums - while pointing out that often the public can contribute to justice being served. It's a fascinating examination at our culture, in the sad reality that evil is never going away and crime among humans is inevitable.

I do think it could have been tightened up a bit and shortened, while also maybe giving us a bit more to our main character. Jane's grief was evident and such a driver, but I do wish we understood it more beyond the fact that she lost her dad - the relationship could have been explored a bit more.

Any reader of mysteries, suspense, or true crime junkies will likely enjoy this one.

3.5 stars

Thank you to NetGalley and Sourcebooks Landmark.

I think this one kept great pace and I liked all the different characters coming together, and of course the true crime sleuthing. Ashley Winstead has become an auto pick for me and I have loved each of her books so far. This has some slow burn to let the story unfold and simmer and then things start to heat up being thrown into the sleuthing no longer behind the safety of the computer.
After her father's unexpected death Jane (Janeway) Sharp leaves college to go back home. While home she tries to find an outlet to deal with her grief and questions to the mystery why her father's legacy has ended the way it did. In looking for answers about her father, Jane stumbles into the true crime obsessed world and becomes an "internet detective" to try to solve crimes with others just as obsessed as her. She ends up becoming part of a team that ends up in the middle of trying to solve a crime in the real world when they immerse themselves into the Delphine college girl murders! Jane learns so much in these friendships she has formed and her character development really shows comparing start to finish.
I didn't expect how things would really end right away, so I liked the anticipation as the case was unfolding. I will say I like true crime but I am not as immersed as some so I didn't know how much it related to a current case that hasn't even ended as of yet. I did see it mentioned before I started the book, but I wanted to go into it blind not reading about the as I have seen it called "The Idaho 4 murders" case to not do comparisons. Now that I have read the book I am highly interested in following along with the case and seeing how this criminal case serves justice. I do wonder if Winstead waited for the case to completely end and justice served would she have changed how she had written the book?
I will still say even though I have seen other people mad I can see both sides, but I did enjoy reading the book. The first thing I take from it is that it is bringing awareness, and I think still does what books based on true crime do and that is to in a way keep the memory alive for victims. It may not always be the way everyone wants it to be written, but depicting something that has really happened always brings awareness and different interpretations. Thank you NetGalley and Sourcebooks for the gifted copy in exchange for my review.

I wanted to love this book so bad but it fell flat. The description had me hooked & intrigued. Very slow and predictable. The characters and plot didn’t seem well thought out. Thank you Netgalley for this ARC

I really wanted to like this book more—the premise was so intriguing to me. I was hooked right from the beginning, but then about a quarter of the way through, it got slow & I started to lose interest. However, at about the 60% mark, things started picking up again, and I was excited to see how things were going to wrap up. It did have a satisfying ending—I will give it that!

I have read a few Ashley Winstead books before and loves them. even though the main characters are meant to be unlikeable, they are still relatable. I did not not like the main character in this book. I felt she was selfish and in her own little bubble. I can see how other people would enjoy the book. I think the plot was interesting and kept me reading, just to find out the twist, which I thought was good. I just felt a little disconnected fro the story because of the MC. Overall entertaining .

3.5

What a well written thriller that discussed so many themes, such as grief and obsession. I overall enjoyed it, especially the second half. However, it felt a little long in the beginning. This is my first Ashley Winstead and I am very excited to read her backlist. I would recommend this to people who like a medium paced thriller, podcasts, and like to read about obsession.

Thank you to the publisher for a copy of the book in exchange for my honest review.

Even though engaging and easy to get into, This Book Will Bury Me has some underutilized potential. Presented in the style of a true crime memoir (think I’ll Be Gone in the Dark by Michelle McNamara), it’s a “tell-all” documenting the protagonist’s involvement in solving an ongoing murder case (alongside other online amateur sleuths), paralleled with her grief over the passing of her father.

Despite its daunting page count, This Book Will Bury Me is a page-turner, thanks to long inserts of Reddit/chat sequences and the consistent revelation of new information. The last 20–30% especially amps up the adrenaline with some worthwhile (if not wholly unexpected) payoff.

For me, its genre-blending, meta approach does impact my reading experience, landing it somewhere in 'uncanny valley' territory. While I appreciate that in the Foreword, Ashley Winstead plainly states the fictionalized case is based on a real-life, still-ongoing investigation, I found that information pulled me out of the story. My curiosity kept getting distracted by trying to figure out what was real vs. fictional—which turned out to be irrelevant, as by the end the author had altered so many details that I wished she had simply fictionalized everything, instead of leaving behind traces of half-truths. It opens the door to criticism that she’s potentially monetizing others’ tragedy (which, in my opinion, she really isn’t in the novel's current form).

I also appreciated the secondary storyline revolving around the protagonist’s quest to learn more about her father, and how that ties back to her obsession with crime-solving. But the way the story is told is very action-oriented, and not optimized for deep, character-building moments. As a result, I found the cast overall pretty one-dimensional, and I wasn’t emotionally engaged with anyone in particular. There are also some clunky storytelling choices that clearly exist to fit the mystery-thriller mold (we need reveals along the way) but don’t make sense within the framework of this being written as a memoir.

This being the third book I’ve read from Ashley Winstead, I think my opinion remains the same—she’s excellent at coming up with bespoke fusions of genre and theme (I came around to enjoying the Twilight-coded Midnight Is the Darkest Hour more than most people), but her execution is never quite as polished as I’d like. Same with This Book Will Bury Me—in hindsight, I appreciate the exploration of personal grief and crime-solving as a coping mechanism, but I feel like the novel, while objectively extremely readable, doesn’t quite manage to weave its ambition into a cohesive whole.

I love Ashley Winstead and will always read whatever she writes.

This Book Will Bury Me read slowly for me. I was intrigued in the idea a group of amateur sleuths solving crimes - and better yet being recruited by the FBI - but it didn’t hold my attention as much as I had hoped for. I kind of disliked our main character, she wasn’t badly written, I think she just felt too immature to have been able to fall into the position she was in. I did however love some of her fellow sleuths and I was excited about finding out who the killer was - which surprised me! So, because of the plot twist, I still gave it a decent rating but it wasn’t my favorite of hers. I also think that maybe the fact that it hit wayyyy too close to the University of Idaho Massacre really made me feel ick, and I think that it also affected my feelings about it. It’s too soon and felt in poor taste but again that’s my opinion. I’ll definitely continue to read her work, and I still think fellow Winstead fans would enjoy this. Thanks to Sourcebooks for my copy!

Okay I know people's feelings on this book was iffy so far. But putting the real life case to the side and remembering this is a fictional book, I liked this a lot. I am a true crime girly through and through.

Basically Jane loses her dad, doesn't know what to do with her life and becomes an amateur sleuth. Her and her friends decide be the first to figure out the shocking deaths of 3 college girls. Details don't add up, the police are cagey, and there seems to be more media hype and internet theorizing than actual evidence.

I truly liked the true crime aspect and I love Ashley's writing. If you like true crime, you should read this.

As long as there have been murder mysteries, there have been armchair sleuths. The internet makes this easier with chat rooms and messaging. Meet Janeway Sharp who narrates this book as one she herself is writing. Janeway dives into this world after the death of her father taking the username Searcher24 and after helping to solve one murder, is draw into an inner circle of honed sleuths who them take on a multiple murder case in Idaho (taken from the actual murders that occurred in 2022). From there the case takes many twists and turns that will ultimate test the group and their loyalties and motives.

I'll start off with the good points: taking readers on a tour of internet sleuthing and methods is very unique. How many of us can remember Unsolved Mysteries and their pleas to the public or America's Most Wanted? Now, how many of us took it seriously to find the killers or even knew where to start? A good portion of the beginning dialogue is chatroom style, trading ideas, and deciding how best to approach a case and that was entertaining. It also showed the darker side when false claims are made, people turn on the police, or flood the murder site. Janeway is a believable character and I think her cohorts were a perfect assortment of those you would expect to find doing this kind of work - retired cop, Navy guy, lonely Internet addict, nice old lady. Each of the characters is well flushed out and important to the whole narrative.

The less good points: The author didn't need to use a real murder, ultimately the similarities didn't add anything to the story and will probably anger people more than anything. Additionally, I know it today's day and age authors have to twist themselves in knots to keep their readers guessing until the end but ultimately it led to a very messy, yet somehow handily tied up conclusion. Additionally, it included one of the hated tropes of a character texting/telling someone "I have big news! Meet me" but not telling the character what it is and then they are intercepted by the villain. Finally, Janeway starts down the sleuthing path after her father dies. No, he isn't murdered nor does he die of suspicious circumstances but his end pushes Janeway into this world so that he'll matter? It's a bit of a stretch but I wouldn't have minded so much if it didn't keep popping up in random ways and at random times. It seemed out of place. I also don't think how she finally comes to peace with his loss makes much sense.

Overall I would recommend this book for the unique plot angle alone but just be ready for it to get a little boilerplate at the end.
Thanks to NetGalley and Sourcebooks Landmark for an eARC

College student Jane Sharp’s father passed away suddenly and has left her feeling lost in grief. One day, she stumbles into an online forum discussing a recent murder. She encounters a group of online sleuths who have successfully solved prior cases and are trying to be the first to solve this current crime. After several weeks in the forum, Jane begins to find some purpose again when she’s made a member of the elusive group, which is now working towards solving the murder of three college girls in Idaho. The book is a look back on Jane’s account of what happened while trying to help solve the murders.

This story is perfect for anyone who enjoys watching true crime documentaries and wishes they were involved in the investigation process. I liked the discussions in the online forum and the personalities of the fellow sleuths that Jane befriends. There were a lot of tense moments throughout the book that made you want to keep reading it. Typically, I’m pretty good at guessing the ending of books like this, but this surprised me. I think that being caught in Jane’s grief for her father throughout the story clouded my ability to see it fully. She really cared for him, and it was nice to see her get a deeper understanding of who he was as the story progressed. This was my second Ashley Winstead book, and I look forward to picking up more.

Thank you to author Ashley Winstead, publisher Sourcebooks Landmark, and NetGalley for an eARC of This Book Will Bury Me in exchange for my review.

This Book Will Bury Me is the story of a young woman dealing with the loss of her dad who gets sucked into the online forums for true crime. And when a case like the Idaho murders occurs, she gets called upon to help solve the crime. This book was captivating. Portions of the book were taken right from the forums and I loved the mixed media epistolary nature of it. I really liked seeing the crime solving from their angle, seeing how the pieces fit together. A few yelling at the book moments for them doing really dangerous and dumb things but overall, I was sucked into it until the bitter end.

An interesting look and commentary on our true-crime obsessed culture. Well paced and sharp, the story centers on death and the ways in which we as a society grapple with the inevitable. Our narrator is young and gritty and trying her best, and reads like a complicated antihero. Because she is. Which step is a step too far?

Thank you so much for this ARC!

Ashley Winstead is a must read author for me. I was excited to request and receive this and did so blindly.

While I am an avid thriller reader, I am not a true crime junkie. I really did enjoy getting a sneak peek into the sleuthing world, SO interesting and really amazed by the smart people out there.

However, reading about the Idaho murders and knowing this story was inspired by a real tragedy, felt VERY yucky and exploitative. I listened to many podcasts that Ashley was on and how it was a glimpse into her own grief.

Jane's closure/grief about her dad felt very incomplete. It did not feel like it was a strong enough feature of the story to actually wrap up the ending.

Glad I read it, but it was not my favorite for quite a few reasons.

This Book Will Bury Me by Ashley Winstead was interesting, but is not my favorite of her books. In it we follow Jane who is struggling with the loss of her father. At the same time a murder happens in her town and she latches on to an amateur online sleuthing group to solve the murder and it leads to investigations of other cold cases. There didn't seem a lot of depth to the story. I would skp this one.

Thanks to NetGalley and Sourcebooks Landmark for the earc in exchange for my honest review. These thoughts are my own.

In the wake of her father's death, Jane finds comfort in the true crime community. In this community she finds friendship, purpose, and eventual fame. After a killer hits an Idaho sorority and leaves 3 dead and 1 unscathed, the crime group starts digging in. Clues are not adding up, the police are cagey and there is no evidence from the scene. As Jane falls deeper and deeper into obsession with the case, she will learn she is closer to the killer than she ever imagined.

I enjoyed this story! I thought it was suspenseful, even though it was a bit predictable. I loved the build of the story, but I think it could have been about 50 pages shorter and without the forced romance element of it all.

Thank you NetGalley for an arc of this book in exchange for my honest review.