Just no.

Blatant exploitation of an ongoing actual case. This isn't "ripped from the headlines" fiction this isn't "social commentary" this is just wrong on a million and one levels.

If you have no idea what I'm talking about look up the Idaho 4 then if you still think this is ok, well that's on you. Also it's set in a town called Delphine. Good lord seriously. I can't even...

I enjoyed Ashley Winstead's debut thriller In My Dreams I Hold A Knife, which falls squarely into a sub-sub-genre of books I have named Something Bad Happened While I Was At College, Now It's Coming Back To Bite Me, but with reservations; I found the back-and-forth chronological structure too choppy and scattergun, and the secondary cast underdeveloped. In this context, This Book Will Bury Me is a big improvement. Winstead's novels tend to star women with difficult relationships with their fathers, but this one draws more closely on her own experience of losing a deeply loving and loved dad. The protagonist, Janeway, is known as Jane but respects her name's connection to Star Trek, one of her dad's big passions, especially after he dies in her senior year of college. Devastated, Jane drops out and comes back home, where she starts trying to find out all the things she didn't know about her dad in the hope of understanding why he refused to go on medication that could have saved his life. As she searches, however, she ends up getting involved in a true crime forum, and her closest friends become a group of amateur sleuths. When three college girls are murdered in Idaho and nobody can work out who killed them, Jane's hobby becomes an obsession.

This book is absolutely compulsive reading. I loved the straightforward structure and the way Winstead explored how Jane's grief over her dad drove her actions. The backstory here is beautifully woven into the story in a way that doesn't distract from the main plot - even a seeming digression onto a Star Trek forum! I agree with other reviewers that some aspects of the investigation were unbelievable and the final twist is easy to guess. But I don't tend to read for a big 'twist at the end', and with this one, I actually thought it made sense that the readers figure it out before Jane, as it really builds the tension as we realise how much danger she and her fellow sleuths are in. My rating reflects my enjoyment of the novel; however, as I'm British, I wasn't aware of the 2022 Idaho murders until I'd finished the book and, having checked out the details, I agree with other reviewers that it's deeply uncomfortable that Winstead draws so heavily here from what is still a live and very recent case. I've no idea why she does this, as it would have had no impact on the novel if she had simply made up a slightly different set of events. I'll be interested to see how this is addressed nearer the publication date.

After the death of her father Jane joins an online group of amateur detectives and is quite good at solving crimes.

When three girls have been killed Jane makes it her task to solve the murders.

What an unusual and modern read this was. I really enjoyed the plot and liked Jane and the pressures she put on herself.

There are a few twists and a lot of drama. I really enjoyed it

After the unexpected death of her father, Jane becomes obsessed by true crime and drops out of college. She joins an online chat group and together, the amatuer sleuths chip away at unsolved cases together, with some success.

Then there is news of the deaths of three college girls. But the case is a strange one, puzzling the police and the sleuths. They are missing something crucial and as they work their way towards it, it is clear they may be in danger.

While I had some clue as to where this one was headed, I did not guess the precise details and this novel had me flying through it to find the answers.
It also addressed what I imagine to be many issues involved in true crime groups and the court of public opinion (without evidence), which was really interesting.
The author has become an auto-read author for me and I can't wait to see what she does next.

Thanks so much to NetGalley and the publisher for this gifted review copy.