I received an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review. Unfortunately, this book did not work for me. I actually DNF'd it at 25%. I have really enjoyed this author's other books, so I am very surprised that I did not enjoy this one. I wasn't a fan of the writing style (so much done through texts) and I didn't like how the main character threw herself into a murder mystery with strangers from the internet while dealing with her father's untimely death. It just didn't make sense to me. After reading reviews, it turns out that this story is very similar to something that happened and I just didn't want to continue reading. I will continue to read books by this author, though, as her others were a hit for me.

I don't rate my DNF's on Goodreads, but I have to on this platform in order to give a review. I will rate it 3 stars as I am sure this book will work for some.

Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC of This Book will Bury Me by Ashley Winstead.

If you are looking for an author who writes provocative, chilling books, Ashley Winstead is your girl. This Book Will Bury Me is the third book I read by her, and each one has been unique, compelling and wild. I loved The Last Housewife but wasn't a huge fan of In My Dreams I Hold A Knife, so I was interested to see how I would feel about this one. 
And.....It was good! I have seen some mixed thoughts because it deals with recent murders that have not been officially solved yet, but I thought that made it more intriguing. It dives into the world of true crime and online sleuths who attempt to solve murders via reddit threads and chat rooms. I guessed the ending about 25% in, but was still engrossed with the story. The main character's father passed away suddenly (trigger warning!), and her way of dealing with her grief is to help solve murders. The author lost her father recently, so the journey she goes on felt really authentic and raw.
If you like true crime, pick this one up!

Overall, this book was really well written and engaging. The beginning was very compelling and set up the rest of the novel. I also appreciated the lead-in to understand how Janeway became involved in the true crime world. There were a lot of plot similarities to the Idaho murders, as well as character trait similarities, to the real victims, which was a little weird to read at times as someone who did read a lot of true crime content pertaining to that real life case. In the book, there were also more murders, and a valid connection to a previous case, so I think that helped to differentiate the events of the novel to the real life case for me. But when a new plot point was introduced, I was often asking myself, did this happen in the real case, or is this fiction?

4.5 ⭐️ wow this one was a ride!! A super compelling twisty true-crime thriller.

Looking for a distraction after the shocking death of her father, Jane stumbles into the world of online true crime sleuthing. Some of these chapters felt as if the FMC was going temporarily insane after her father passed. She was so lost. Some of that was really hard to read.

For me, it was a bit of a slow burn until 20%. The happenings of first case were not entertaining to me. Once the Delphine story line started, I was hooked! I suspected the killer for a large portion of the story but that didn’t make it any less edible for me. There were definitely some gory gruesome descriptions so be prepared.

I found the POV a little odd and it took my brain a minute to enjoy the re-telling. The main character is talking directly to the reader.

I love a book with short chapters! I wasn’t sold on the footnotes. There has to be a better way to include those notes into the story. By the time I’d get to the end of the chapter, I wouldn’t remember what or where that footnote was placed. I found myself going backwards to read sections over to see the relevance of the footnote. Maybe that was just the digital version tho?

TW for parental loss.

I originally rated This Book Will Bury Me four stars because I was hooked. I typically love this authors books and writing style. Even though I figured out who the killer was around 60%, there was a twist at the end that did leave me shocked. I enjoyed the true crime/reddit/internet sleuth vibes and felt oddly comforted by Jane and her little group of friends. But after finishing, I read other reviews and realized it’s based on the Idaho college murders, and the details were way too similar. It felt exploitative and left me feeling gross, so I just had to change my rating. I wish I’d known about this going in because it really changed how I felt about the whole book!

I absolutely loved this book. I was hesitant after her last novel didn’t hit the spot for me but This Book Will Bury Me is compelling and addicting. I read it so fast!! The story draws you in quickly, and you become attached to all the characters. This might actually be my favorite Winstead book!

I really enjoyed the uniqueness of this book compared to Ashley Winstead’s others, displaying her range of writing in her work. The true crime narrative was fun to read, especially the incorporation of the online chats. The twists and discoveries kept me flipping pages, especially toward the last part of the book. The deeper themes such as loss and found family were also incorporated well into the story. While a major twist crossed my mind early on, I still found the reveals were well done. While The Last Housewife and IMDIHAF will still be my two favorites of the author, this was a fun and entertaining read.

Thank you to Sourcebooks, Ashley Winstead, and NetGalley for the advance reader copy in exchange for my honest review!

*Thank you Netgalley for an early copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

I absolutely loved Ashley's first two thrillers but her third one didn't pull me in at all, so I was a little nervous going in. But man, this book was good. The details were insanely good, and I felt like I was sitting at my computer with the characters going over crime scene photos. This book definitely has heavy, graphic subject matters that could be hard to digest at times.

Positives: fast paced, heart racing story line, detailed descriptions, based on real life murders, insane twists I would have NEVER seen coming

Negatives: not multiple points of view, wasn't super invested in main character

This book read like a 4 or 5 star thriller. I would have loved it and highly recommended it if not for one huge thing...this book centers around the murder of 3 college girls in their off campus house in Idaho. Anyone who has followed the real University of Idaho tragedy will not be able to miss or explain away all of the similarities. There are too many to list here and it would feel disrespectful to the families of the victims to do so.
If the final publication includes an author's note stating that all proceeds from this book will go to the victims' families, i will happily change my rating.

This book was great. It kept me intrigued the whole time and reminded me of the Idaho college murders. Will read more from her.

This book will be everywhereeeeeee when it comes out! And you should just go in blind because I don't think the synopsis really draws you in.

Jane, a college dropout gets sucked into the world of internet crime solving after the sudden death of her father. She gets sucked in to case after case until there is a huge newsworthy case that catapults her and her little crime solving found family into the spotlight.

I liked the way this one was written. A mix of story and internet chats in a way that made the story fly by. It reminded me a little bit of Cover Story in that way for some reason. The chapters were short and although I'd say this was a little on the longer side I didn't mind the slower, drawn out pacing.

It did feel a bit to on the nose about the recent Idaho murders. I truly don't know much about that case but it seemed like there was a lot of parallels which felt kind of weird to me?! Like the state could have at least been something else and it would have been better.

I will also I figured out the twist at about 30% so I wanted a little bit more of a surprise in the end. I wasn't wiping my jaw off the floor but I did really enjoy the ride.

In My Dreams I Hold a Knife is Ashley's top book in my mind but this is definitely second!

content warnings: death of a parent, murder (graphic descriptions)

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for an eARC in exchange for an honest review.

I enjoyed this book. I liked the mystery of the case that was presented. I liked the presentation of information with the use of the forums to discuss what was happening. I felt like I was doing the investigating, which kept me reading. I was invested from early on and very intrigued by the plot. I enjoyed the growth that Jane faced and how she learned to cope with her grief. The side characters were also very well developed and it made it easy to see them as a family.
The big twist was kind of predictable because of the way the story was told from the future looking back. There were a lot of leading statements that made it easy to see where the story was going. I understand the story is told from the perspective where the reader already knows the results and the author is just telling her side of the events. But the leading statements made it too easy to guess the twist. I called who the murderer was from about 60% through. The ending was very satisfying though and wrapped up everything nicely, which i appreciate in stand alone novels.
One thing that was weird to me and kind of off putting was how similar this book was to the real life Idaho murders. It gave me a weird feeling that an author was use such a recent case as inspiration for a book. It just left me feeling kind of icky that so many minute details from the real life case were in the book. All of those details, the location, the victim demographic, the mo, the lack of evidence, the suspects, it is all too similar to the real life case, and a lot of those details could have been easily changed to avoid that similarity to such a recent tragedy. There should be some sort of caution to anyone who may be offended by that, because I have seen this be a point of criticism in a lot of other early reviews.

Ashley Winstead’s creativity never ceases to amaze me—it’s truly wild. This book was phenomenal, exceeding all my expectations. Initially, I was apprehensive about the large cast of characters (and their sleuth nicknames), fearing it might be overwhelming. However, Winstead masterfully crafted each character with such distinct personalities that I couldn’t help but become fully invested in their individual storylines—whether loving them or hating them.

The story drew me deeply into the world of true crime fandom, and I’m already eager to explore more of it. I especially loved following Jane as she navigated her grief and found a chosen family along the way.

Overall, I highly recommend this book! The only reason I deducted a star is that it felt a bit too long. Otherwise, it was an exceptional read.

This Book Will Bury Me
By: Ashley Winstead

This is a 3 for me.
This book is a lot. I had to really sit and think about this review. I'm torn because I liked parts of this book and honestly disliked others.

This is a story about a young woman named Janeway, aka Jane, aka Searcher. A college drop out after her fathers death. She turns to the true crime blogs and amateur sleuth groups online to cope with the loss of her father but ends up losing herself in this group in the process and becoming obsessed.

So, I DID like parts of this story. I also did NOT like a lot of parts of this book. I'll get what I didn't like out of the way first.

The blatant take on a real life tragedy a couple years ago. Set in the same state and other similarities. I had to go read other reviews around 40ish way in to make sure I was reading what I thought I was reading. I, like others, debated on even continuing reading it.

I almost stopped reading at that point.
It made me feel gross.

So did the online forum parts, to an extent. Or rather, a lot of the "armchair detectives" did.

The online mob mentality also made my skin crawl because I imagine that's what's its like IRL. (I will refrain from spoilers or details as the book is not out yet).

The ending kind of faded out for me and I had to suspend disbelief for a good bit of it.

I DID like the online chat parts and footnotes.

I liked the portrayal of Janes grief, as well as her mothers, and their strained relationship. They had different takes on her fathers passing and how they both handled it differently in their grief.

I also did love the found family aspect of it and how they all came together for it.

Thank you to Author, Netgalley, and publisher for this ARC. I wished I loved it more, tbh.

People are either going to love or hate this one.

Oh Ashley Winstead and her marvelous brain! How does she come up with these storylines? This was the perfect execution of a slow burn thriller. Amateur crime sleuthing is a world I wasn’t aware of but it is fascinating!

While the twists are not unexpected, the whole ride is one you will not want to end. Be sure to pre-order and read as soon as it’s released in March!

📚 This Book Will Bury Me
✍ Ashley Winstead
📖 Mystery/Thriller
⭐4.5/5

➡ When a group of internet sleuths get too involved in the case of a serial killer they're solving, they may all be in danger.
◾
🎯 What I loved: This book was riveting. Every chapter closed on a note that left me wanting more and I was hellbent on putting the clues together myself! The band of characters had me intrigued from the get-go and I found Jane's perspective fascinating. Jane's grief-fueled passion for solving crimes alongside Winstead's approach to the amateur true crime solving world made for a fast but thought-provoking read. What I love about Ashley Winstead is her range- she has a beautiful way of immersing readers in everything from dark academia and politically fueled romances to cult thrillers and now an internet-sleuthing mystery.

🙅‍♀️ What I didn't: It was tough for me to reconcile the abrupt shifts in Jane's thoughts that wavered between the crimes she was solving and her own interest in learning more about her father. The story kept circling back to her grief and connection to her dad but to me, that connection felt a little bit forced. Her initial grief driving her into the crime solving community made sense but felt like tying things back to her father over and over when he really didn't have a connection to what she was doing didn't work. This really was my only complaint with the book though and I loved how well the twists, turns and leading were executed in this one!
◾
Read if you love:
*found family/crime solvers
*true crime chats & internet sleuths
*serial killer mysteries
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See also: Bright Young Women, I Have Some Questions for You, Ask For Andrea

This book NEEDS to be on everyone’s TBR for 2025. True crime podcasts meets forum sleuths meets FBI consultants. After a pretty traumatic event in her life, Jane takes an interest in a dead body found. Little does she know the twists and turns this is going to throw into her life. THE CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT is unmatched. I thoroughly enjoyed getting to know all of the characters and what brought them to the true crime world. Jaw dropping twists that I just did not expect. I would rate this 6 stars if I could.

I’ve read all of this authors books except one of them and this is my favorite out of all of them. I’ll read anything she writes even though I don’t end up loving them but this one redeemed itself and ended up being worth the read. I love the whole true crime aspect to this book, forensics is something I’ve always found to be interesting. I was so hyper focused on one story and I was blind to who was behind the crimes.

Jane unexpectedly loses her father and she decides she wants to take a break from college, she’s heartbroken and wants to go back home with her mother. She suddenly becomes obsessed with true crime and joins the dark web of “detectives” who are really just normal people who have can hack very well. They become obsessed with trying to find out who committed the murders of three girls in Idaho.

I thought I had figured out who was behind the crimes but I was wrong. I recommend giving this book a read. Thanks Netgalley and publisher for the chance to read this book for free for my honest opinion. This was one of my most anticipated reads of 2025, so I am glad I ended up liking it.

Thank you to NetGalley, the author and the publisher for 5he opportunity to preview this uncorrected proof in exchange for my review. I saw a lot of hype about this book and was excited to read it. The best part was the amateur sleuth theme! The chat room writing sections were okay but lended to the theme of the book, so I understand why they were there. A good slow burn!

I am having a hard time deciding what to rate this one. I enjoyed my time reading it and was caught up in the twists and turns. I thought the portrayal of Jane’s grief was written masterfully. I’m struggling because after reading I learned of the similarities to a real life case in which the victims’ families have not received any closure. That just feels not right to me.