Overall, this was a REALLY good book. I was intrigued from the very start. I’m a true crime girlie, like so many others are, and this was a book that had me hooked early on. I also really like the writing style of this book, and the subtle hints/teases dropped early on about the big twists. If you are into true crime, or have ever wished you were one of the armchair detectives helping to solve a big case, this book is for you.

Now, some things to note. This book SEEMS to be inspired by the horrific tragedy that occurred in Idaho, where four students were murdered in their shared home, that made international news. I agree with others saying it just feels too soon and too real to be reading a “fictional” story about. Also, it is quite a longer book. Those things aside, it was a very well written story with an intriguing plot line.

If Ashley Winstead writes it, I’m going to read it. I was no disappointed. This was a twisty slow burn. Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read this ARC!

Thank you to Sourcebooks Landmark and Netgalley for the eARC in exchange for an honest review and feedback.

All good thrillers need a good hook and this one grabbed me from the start. We're told Jane Sharp is a well-known individual in true crime circles. You're introduced to her right when the FBI surround her.

It's basically:
*record scratch, yup that's me, you're probably wondering how I got here*

What follows is a memoir, a first-person retelling of the events that led up to that moment as a way for Jane to clear her name. Early on you learn of her father's passing and as a way of focusing her energy onto something other than grief, she joins a group of amateur sleuths. The writing is snappy and addictive and includes forum posts and letters and other epistolary narrative devices. It's not a serious police procedural but it's done well and I read through it pretty quickly.

I found it really entertaining and I enjoyed where the story went and how it all played out. Go pick this up when it comes out in March 2025.

Release: March 24, 2025 
 
Rating:  4.25/5 ★ 
 
This Book Will Bury Me is a dark, atmospheric tension and introspective tone. The writing is immersive to readers as we explore narrator’s psyche, blending mystery with existential dread, well-constructed suspense and the way the protagonist’s fears and secrets unfold, as well as the immersive descriptions that make every setting feel ominously alive.

Ashley Winstead’s writing is sharp and immersive, pulling readers into a richly atmospheric setting that enhances the tension throughout the narrative. The characters are well-developed, each with their own motivations and complexities, making the unfolding drama feel both personal and gripping. The friendships and rivalries add depth to the story, keeping readers invested in their fates. 

The pacing is expertly handled, with twists and turns that keep you guessing until the very end. Winstead artfully weaves in themes of ambition, betrayal, and the consequences of choices, prompting readers to reflect on the nature of loyalty and the darkness that can lurk beneath the surface. 

The way the footnotes add suspense by breaking the flow just enough to make you wonder what’s being left unsaid can really keep the tension high. They almost act like subtle clues, making you second-guess the main storyline. It’s a clever technique for a thriller like this!

The protagonist’s mental state brings uncertainty about what’s real and what’s imagined, making readers question their version of events.

Key secrets from the protagonist’s past emerge at pivotal points, reshaping the reader’s understanding of their motives and relationships.

The story involves unexpected betrayals, especially from those the protagonist believes they can trust, adding layers of tension and emotional impact.

Characters that initially seem antagonistic or irrelevant sometimes end up becoming important allies, shifting the story’s direction and suspense.

As the protagonist unravels one mystery, they stumble onto another, more personal secret that changes everything they thought they knew.

Overall, This Book Will Bury Me is a compelling and thought-provoking read that will satisfy fans of psychological thrillers. Winstead delivers a clever plot with emotional resonance, making this book a standout in the genre. It’s a must-read for anyone who enjoys a captivating mystery with rich character dynamics and unexpected revelations. 
 
Favorite Quote: 
 
"Stories have a way of revealing the truth, even when we wish to keep it hidden."

All I can say is wow! This thriller follows Jane Sharp, who is experiencing loss, grief, and an identity crisis following the unexpected death of her father. To distract herself, she begins an obsession with true crime and a group of amateur internet sleuths. One of the cases is centered around a serial killer who targets a group of sorority girls on an Idaho college campus. This is similar to the real-life case a few years ago. When the amateur sleuths become internet and television sensations, Winstead beautifully shows America's fascination with serial killers and true crime podcasts, and how these groups can both help and hurt the progress of local and federal law enforcement. They can also unknowingly put themselves and others in harm's way. I loved being buried in this book for a few days. The pacing kept me turning the pages from beginning to end to find out what happened next. The imagery of the title is also skillfully present throughout the novel. This is sure to be one of the top books of 2025. Many thanks to NetGalley, Sourcebooks Landmark, and Ashley Winstead for an advance reader's copy in exchange for my honest review.
CW: serial killer, detailed crime scene descriptions, and mentions of child and animal abuse (no details).

Ashley Winstead delivers another hit! I was thrilled to receive an early copy through NetGalley. As a fellow Houstonian and a long-time supporter of our local thrillers book club, Ashley’s releases always feel extra special to us.

Her latest book, This Book Will Bury Me, dives into the true crime community, exploring how everyday people connect over unsolved cases and even attempt to crack them. It’s fascinating to see how popular these groups have become and the lengths some will go to uncover the truth. I thought this novel offered a fresh take on crime-solving from an “armchair detective” perspective. The twists completely caught me off guard, and I was hooked right until the last page.

This Book Will Bury Me is a retrospective story of Jane, whose father’s death has her spiral into a true crime obsession that eventually connects her with a group of true crime junkies. As she gets more and more involved with the group, a shocking and very publicized series of murders places her at the front and center of both media attention and an active investigation. I didn’t expect to enjoy this as much as I did; the plot is parts investigative procedural, a dissection of our true crime cultural obsession, and Jane’s grief over her loss. The ending stays true to the story’s style, and you’ll recognize the similarities to life 2022 homicides that shook the media then.

I usually would say that this is a good, standard popcorn thriller, but I feel a little icky about this one since it seems like the Idaho murders fanfiction...

Thank you to NetGalley and Sourcebooks Landmark for sending me this book!

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Wow! Ashley Winstead’s best work yet! Thank you NetGalley for the opportunity to *devour* an advanced copy of this!
The book follows the story of Jane Sharp who has just lost her father and looking for answers at any cost. She quickly becomes caught up in the world of online sleuthing and finds a virtual family that helps her aching heart. When a serial killer begins targeting an Idaho college town, Jane feels a pull to catch the killer and in some way, make her father proud. As she begins searching for answers, she finds more than she ever could have imagined.
I was so intensely drawn in by the characters and this story that I couldn’t put this book down!

This book kept me reading frantically until the end. Immersive and clever, I enjoyed the characters, as well as the world of true crime message boards and the friendships and jealousies that spring from it.

Murder mystery of the year! One of the best written, expertly plotted murder mysteries I’ve ever read. I’m not necessarily a true crime fan, but I know a lot of people who are, and they are going to eat this up. Even as a non true crime fan, I really enjoyed the easy readability this had. It flew by really quickly!

As a rule I never read books over 400 pages (my own fault, I’m too ADHD) and I didn’t notice the page count until after I had requested the ARC, so when I first saw the page count I was like oh damn…but this did NOT feel like a 500 page book. In fact, I actually just read another murder mystery ARC right before this that is a solid 100 pages shorter, and this book flew by way faster for me than that one did. A 500 page book has no business going by this fast but it did, because it was just that enjoyable and easy to read. Now THIS is the kind of ease of readability that I prefer every murder mystery to have! This went by so fast for such a long book and didn’t feel long at all, so don’t let the length deter you.

What’s unique is that you’re not experiencing the events as the MC is, you’re actually reading a book written by the MC about the events that occurred. Which is a unique approach and gives this a different kind of feel. So many twists especially near the end! A rare 5 star rating, because I don’t have any critiques that I can think of. This was excellent!

Thank you to Netgalley and Sourcebooks for sending me an advanced copy in return for my honest review.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publishers for the chance to read an advanced copy of this unique thriller.
Seeing a serial killer investigation through the perspectives of internet sleuths was fun and new.
The story centers on Jane, a young woman who leaves college because of grief after her father dies from a heart attack. While at home struggling to come to grips with her loss, she comes across the online community of internet sleuths/detectives who use unofficial internet research to help in solving crimes. As she becomes more engrossed in this world, she finds herself involved in a serial killer search.
The writing was engaging and creative. The book is written like the main character Jane's memoir/tell-all, which was a fun aspect and technique.
I think my only complaint was that it was a slow burn and on the side of too long. The last third of the book was the best. The pace picked up then and snowballed from there.
I would recommend this book if you are looking for an entertaining and creative take on a murder mystery. It was fun, and I enjoyed the writer's style.

This was a wild, twisty ride.

I’m so conflicted with this story.
On the one hand it was really well written, fast paced with a great host of characters. The found family aspect was my favorite of all. These people who have suffered and found each other when they needed each other the most.
If this book had been completely fictional I would’ve given it a solid four and a half stars.
But the thing is, it’s not completely fictional. She tells the story with many very specific details of the killing in Idaho a couple years ago, which is still an on-going investigation.
When I first started the book I didn’t realize that it’s based off of real events. I ended up checking and finding the real story.
It was so frustrating trying to figure out what was fact and what was fiction. In the middle of reading I took a break to read the whole story of the real Idaho murders so I could actually figure out what was real and what the author added to the story.
I think that making a book/movie/show based off of true crime has become increasingly popular but not only is this an on-going investigation, the author has so many extremely specific details and then changes the story.
It all felt so uncomfortable reading it. Many times I wanted to DNF purely because it felt like such an injustice to the real life victims. The names were changed but their descriptions, the killings, the suspects and many, many other aspects of this story are based off of what happened to real women.

This book dives into the world of true crime and how many people dehumanize the victims, yet I feel like the author missed her own message. Reading about the speculating of the women, about who they were as people in a fictional way where there were plenty of unkind things said about the characters. It felt so icky and so incredibly disrespectful.

I really just don’t understand why the author wrote this book the way she did. I loved her book In My Dreams I Hold a Knife, so I know she can write an amazing murder mystery, so why take from a current investigation?

As for the fictional part, I loved the mystery and the sleuthing/true crime aspect of the story. I really enjoyed how well the characters worked together and this beautiful chosen family that they’ve found in each other. I did feel like the twist was very predictable, but, it was nonetheless impactful.

I’m interested to see what the authors note will be when this book is released and how the public receives this story.

I will still read more of her books in the future so long as they are purely fictional. This just felt so sad and wrong and disrespectful to the memory of the women and their families and friends.

Thank you NetGalley for this eARC in exchange for an honest review

Soooo you're saying I can just read the NEWSPAPER and read this book basically? Tacky. It's okay to be inspired, it's not okay to write a true crime word for word and call it fiction.

Thank you @bookmarked #partner for the gifted copy of this book.

F ⭐️ I ⭐️ V ⭐️ E 💫 S ⭐️ T ⭐️ A ⭐️ R

Oh Ashley what have you done?! You have written my favorite book of yours that’s what you’ve done! Wow, this book I read in a paced buddy read and it was nearly impossible to stop every day at our agreed upon chapter. It is so hard to categorize this book because it felt like true crime, mystery, thriller but also explores grief and found family. Ashley writes in a way that made me hang on her every word. This book is focused upon a group of citizen sleuths that meet online and try and solve true crimes. Each character has their own history which brings different behaviors and thoughts to how they solve each crime. I am having a hard time telling you how much I loved this book however when I think about it, I just think it was the characters overall. Each character was so easy to visualize and the further I got into the book I almost felt like I was sitting around the table with them trying to solve a crime. I loved how Ashley brought together these arm chair experts along with the police viewpoints. This book felt very real on so many levels because she explored what happens when the wrong assumptions are made, how sometimes tunnel vision happens in crimes all while painting a very shocking ending. I know there are some details that resemble the Idaho college murders and think it’s worth mentioning that if you’re sensitive to that material that maybe this isn’t the book to choose. I personally loved it and will be buying a copy in March when I can!

A masterclass in character development and storytelling! After I finished this, I needed to take a few days to actually let the ending sink in. I’m never this shocked or surprised. The twistiest ending I’ve ever read.
The dynamic of these characters together and the concept just blew me away.
Without giving the story away, I’m just going to say that this is a five star must read. Go now, buy the book, rent the book, borrow the book.. read the book.

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

If I could give this one 10 stars, I would! Hooked me from the first page and could not put down until the end. Ashley Winstead has done it again, best thriller/crime write of our time!

This book stayed with me. While reading it I couldn’t decide if I loved it or hated it. The author developed such complex, sometimes detestable, characters that sucked me in. Sometimes I rooted for them. Sometimes I wanted to shake sense into them. I would recommend it for true crime and thriller lovers. I do have to note that i hated the footnotes. They were useless and distracting. What did make me uncomfortable is just how closely the novels central murder mimicked a very recent, horrific crime. It didn’t feel like the author honored it appropriately nor has enough time past that we’re so distanced from it as consumer. Thank you Netgalley for the ARC of 'This Book Will Bury Me' by Ashley Winstead.

This book DEVOURED my whole soul. When I wasn't reading it, I was thinking about it, The twist left me heartbroken more than shocked. Ashley Winstead truly did it again with her incredible writing skills. I especially found adding the footnotes to be a stroke of genius on her part in making the book that much more unique.

I did choose not to rate it 5 stars due to its pretty much exact copying of the Moscow Idaho college murders in November 2022. I know that Winstead's point was focused around people obsessed with true crime and what can happen when "amateur sleuths" are out there tampering with evidence etc. but i feel like perhaps she could have been more open with that similarity, since it does feel somewhat exploitive.

This wasn't for me. Just didn't care for the main character. I'm sure true crime fans will enjoy it. ARC provided by NetGalley in exchange for a fair review.