This Book Will Bury Me is a true pageturner of a book that kept me at the edge of my seat all day (and all night)! The plot was twisty and wonderful, and in addition to the true crime storyline I really liked the idea of how a found family can give a new purpose in life and help you heal.

As a Finnish person living thousands of miles away from Indiana I remember hearing about the case that this book is based on but didn't know everything that had happened, so this was a fictional read for me - but don't know what it would have been like had I been more familiar with the real-life events.

All in all, This Book Will Bury Me is a fantastically suspenseful rollercoaster ride and I loved the way it was told from the young 'Searcher's' point of view. If crime thrillers is your jam then you need to check this one out!

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/7338317886

Thankyou so much for the ARC of “this book will bury me”

"If you're reading this, chances are last year you flipped on the news and saw me getting shoved to my knees in the dirt, hands wrestled behind my back, gun-toting FBI agents swarming like ants around me into that three-story house. God only knows what the headline below my face must've read."

I can’t lie — I’ve had a strange curiosity about true crime, why it happens, how it happens, how people get caught and get away. But I’m also curious about whether it’s possible to ethically consume this kind of content whether for education or entertainment. For some, it feels like preparing, learning, maybe even finding community - and to others, it’s just an amusing, disconnected pastime, stories told over the newest contour technique. And this book goes for the jugular with an incisive commentary on the commercialisation and fanatical consumption of true crime today both by the consumers and the reporters, including certain real-life crime cases that made it all feel so very real.

Our narrator Janeway starts us talking right to the reader, inviting us into her mind to explore how she got involved with true crime fans with a personal, direct tone and plenty of thoughts trailing off. Her voice was almost professional, polite - but we get to know her as the pace picks up and more of her personality starts to creep in. But do we know her? Or create that strange para-social relationship based on what we think we know, what she tells us?

It moves slowly, snippets of grieving, investigation, talking with fellow sleuths, scouring the internet for clues and dealing with the intricacies of armchair detective work. It felt longer than it was. And unfortunately it felt so, so stretched out that I struggled a lot to keep interest. Not enough happened for so many words despite the first third of the book building up tension that for me just lost momentum in the space between.

Now, there’s a lot of discussion in the bookish community about the similarities between the actual book and a current case that hasn’t even been tried yet. And whilst at first I respected the authors note saying she referenced other true crimes, using such a recent tragedy as the basis of your own story when you comment on the immortality of that in said story is not the meta punchline it may seem but is actually quite careless but I’m hoping Winstead will address this and explain before I jump on the witch hunt.

Some people will very much love this and parts of it were fascinating with a brilliant concept but the execution and length just didn’t match the clearly creative ideas for me.

This floored me. It was poignant and heart-breaking, looking at the individual tragedies caught up in this case and the way characters were drawn in by their own traumas to this investigation. It is a searing indictment of the true-crime industry and how internet sleuths can both help and hinder a case.

First off, I am a big fan of Ashley Winstead so I was over the moon when I was approved for this arc! Unfortunately though, I had to DNF this one. In the authors note, she does say that she pulled inspiration from a real case (I'm not familiar with it, as I stay away from true crime) but it just made me feel very uncomfortable knowing where she got the inspiration. I'm not really sure what the objective was, with using a real case in a novel about the obsession with true crime? Unless I'm totally missing the point!

Giving this a 3 star, since not finishing was 100% a me issue!

This is my first read from Ashley Winstead. I had high expectations for this book but the book couldn't match it. It started with a bang after some chapters I felt some drag and again it picked up the pace towards the end. The characters are well written, for some reason I couldn't connect much to the main character Janeway . The premise was intriguing but it didn’t end up working for me. I thank netgalley for the eARC copy.

Loved the premise and the title, but felt both undelivered unfortunately. The story started slow for me and didn’t hook me, though I am glad I continued reading as I began to enjoy it halfway through and felt it picked up pace and suspense. Given the times we live in, I think the questions raised about true crime obsession and the ethics surrounding it were really interesting and timely. I didn’t guess the ending which I was pleased about. Overall I enjoyed, but didn’t find it the page turner I was expecting it to be. I also felt it could have been edited to be shorter.

Grieving can affect a person in both good and bad ways, but here our FMC, Jane Sharp, struggles with the death of her dad and discovers her obsession with true crime—not just true crime, but solving it. Here, she finds solace in an online community of amateur sleuths and becomes deeply involved in solving a high-profile case involving the deaths of three college girls in Delphine, Idaho.

This book keeps me on edge; it’s gripping and chilling. The author’s writing is sharp and engaging, which is why, even though it’s so long, I still keep on reading it. It has 92 chapters, which makes it intimidating, but personally, it’s worth reading! Also, this shows how technology or social media can help to solve crimes. But what I realized is that being active on social media can be a gift or a curse.

Overall, if you’re a fan of true crime, suspense, and gripping stories with psychological depth, then you should read this one!

Sadly, this was underwhelming. I absolutely loved In My Dreams I Hold A Knife and Midnight is the Darkest Hour but this one just didn’t tick the right boxes for me.

From the sound of it I really thought it would be the type of thriller I’d enjoy - true crime narrative, found family, female protagonist at the forefront - but there were quite a few elements that let it down.
Firstly, I love a long novel but this one felt bloated and slow. It usually wouldn’t take me too long to get through a 500 page book but this one took me forever because I was never itching to pick it back up. Secondly, the main character ended up a bit flat, and finally, I became uncomfortable finding out the inspiration for the book half way through - a slew of relatively recent real life murders that remain unsolved and are still under investigation. It ended up feeling distasteful.

Thank you to Head of Zeus for allowing me to read this early copy in exchange for my thoughts.

I really enjoy crime thrillers, and really wanted to enjoy This Book Will Bury Me.

I used to lurk around on Internet message boards and fully got the fact that here is a gaggle of people from different backgrounds that have the same interest. So the amateur sleuth aspect really interested me.

Also the Star Trek references were interesting.

However, I found this novel was to in depth and went in directions I just couldn’t fathom. The crime goul aspect of going to the town where a multiple murder occurred; ingratiating yourself with victims family’s. I just found this mind boggling and I just found that I wasn’t particularly interested in getting to the end of the novel.

A pity as I had high hopes.

I read this book and then went on to google the idaho murders that inspired it. It really felt a bit too close to home for me since the murders, a massacre on the idaho university campus only happened in 2022. A bit too close for comfort for my liking,

Upon reflection, not for me as a reader. Thank you to the publisher for my copy. I don't think Ashley Winstead is an author for me. I found this to be quite a bland thriller.

Thank you to Head of Zeus publishers and NetGalley for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

After Jane’s dad dies, she finds comfort in TheRealCrimeNetwork.com where she makes friends with amateur sleuths. When three college students are stabbed to death, her and her friends meet up in real life to try and solve the case.

This book was inspired by real-life crimes, including the Idaho State murders. I’m not going to comment on that, but I know that it’s ruffled some feathers.

The book itself, I found incredibly dull. The first 20% and the last 10% were okay even though the last 10% was rushed. This is one I probably should have DNF’d.

I struggled to connect with the characters and I found the story was written in a confusing and clunky manner. I could see that it was done intentionally to try and give you that shocking twist moment, yet it just didn’t have that impact. It was all very predictable

I had high hopes for this one as I love true crime vibes but it unfortunately was not for me.

ARC Review

Thank you to the author, NetGalley and the publisher (Head of Zeus) for an eARC of “This Book Will Bury Me” in exchange for an honest review.

As a consumer of true crime content, the premise of this book is what caught my eye. The story pulls you in Winstead builds tension while drip feeding the story from the POV of the narrator. Her world is rather tragic and so it’s easy to see how the FMC’s descent into obsession could happen. But as I got deeper into the book, I noted the eerie similarities to a current, ongoing case in Idaho, USA made me deeply uncomfortable. At times, it felt too close to reality, almost exploitative, and I seriously considered putting the book down.

The story does make the reader question not just how we consume true crime, but also where the line is between storytelling and profiting off real tragedy. With so many available platforms, we can easily fall into consuming these stories without thought for the people behind them.
The novel does attempt to critique this culture, but I’m not sure it fully did that for me.

While I appreciated themes the narrative dragged at times, and the ending left me a little flat. I would’ve loved a sharper critique to bring it all together.

If you love true crime but are ready to question your own fascination with it, give it a try.

I was looking forward to a critique of true crime and the harm it can do, specially to people involved in it as fans, but I found a quite simple mystery, lots of talk about loss and no self reflection from the main character about her involvement in everything that happens. I like true crime novels, but this one seem to promise one thing (it kept telling us how surprised we were going to be, how shocking it would become, etc) and then delivered another.

I would compare it to "Love Letters to a Serial Killer", in the sense that we're inside someone's mind, and they certainly see things very differently than mainstream society, but don't expect a critique.

This Book Will Bury Me is a thrilling, emotional rollercoaster that still left me with mixed feelings. At face value, it’s nearly perfect, capturing the rawness of grief, the morbid fascination with true crime, all with an unexpected found family.

From the first page to the last, I couldn’t put it down. For a thriller, it’s a pretty long book, but I never found myself bored or wishing it were shorter. The depiction of grief is so raw and relatable that it almost became overwhelming at times, and I had to take breaks from certain scenes because of how emotionally charged they were.

The found family aspect was a beautiful and unexpected highlight. Amid the crime and violence, it brought a sense of warmth that had me tearing up a few times. The cast of characters is endearing, with each of them feeling real and nuanced, which made their relationships all the more powerful.

However, my issue with this book lies in its very noticeable inspiration (bordering on a direct reimagining) of the University of Idaho murders. The resemblance between the fictionalized events and the real-life case is so striking that it made me uncomfortable. I’m not sure how I feel about the author drawing from such a recent, ongoing tragedy, and this unease affected my overall enjoyment, lowering my rating by one star. I’ll be curious to hear more about the families’ reactions to this, as that may influence how I view the book long term.

Despite that, This Book Will Bury Me is still a gripping, emotional story with a fascinating exploration of grief. It’s definitely worth reading, but it’s hard to ignore the ethical concerns that arise when fiction so closely mirrors real-life tragedy.

Thank you so much to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review!

Ohhhh, this one was tricky to rate! I'm gonna break it down with some pros and cons.

PROS

- The cover drew me in, definitely a 10/10 for thriller vibes. The font, textured effect, photographic flare, and ominous imagery all set the perfect tone.

- The "found-family" dynamic was heartwarming. The group of crime sleuths felt diverse, with a range of personalities and backgrounds that added depth to the story.

- The writing itself was really good. I enjoyed the storytelling style, even though the narrative was absolutely tragic due to its heavy inspiration from a real-life murder (more on this below).

CONS

- Around the 20% mark, I came across reviews revealing that the story is based on a real unsolved murder - the Moscow/Idaho 4 case. Since I’m from the UK, I wasn’t initially aware of this case, but after reading up on it, I was shooooocked. The case still hasn’t gone to trial, and the book’s release coincides with that. Profiting from this story when real young women in their 20s were brutally murdered feels inappropriate.
I looked into news articles about the case, and so many details from the book match real-life events: the descriptions of the friendship group, the setting in the same state, and even specific timelines + more.

- It was a pretty long read for a thriller. 480 pages and some parts lacked momentum, which made it hard to stay engaged. I ended up reading it on and off for a few months which isn't like me!

- The main character, Janeway, was underwhelming.

Final Thoughts

Since this is being published as a fictional story, I’m rating it based on the writing style and layout of the timeline. I’d give it a 3.5 stars, rounded down to a 3. I honestly feel uncomfortable rating it any higher given the ethical concerns surrounding its inspiration 😪

Ashley Winstead’s This Book Will Bury Me is a gripping, pulse-pounding thriller that explores the dark side of ambition, secrets, and obsession. Winstead’s sharp prose and expertly crafted twists create a story that’s impossible to put down. With complex characters and a tension-filled plot, this book will have you questioning everything until the final page. A must-read for fans of psychological thrillers that pack an emotional punch!

Ashley Winstead has done it again with This Book Will Bury Me! This was such a gripping read—full of dark secrets, tension, and twists that kept me hooked from start to finish.

The characters felt so real and flawed, which made them easy to connect with, even when they made questionable choices. I loved how the story slowly revealed its layers, building the suspense bit by bit. The atmosphere was spot on too—Winstead really knows how to create a sense of unease that creeps up on you as you read.

Some of the twists were a little predictable, but honestly, it didn’t take away from how much I enjoyed the story. The execution was so strong that I was fully along for the ride anyway.

If you love psychological thrillers with complex characters and a haunting vibe, this is one to check out. A solid 4 star read

When I first got into reading a few years ago, one of the first books I picked up was In My Dreams I Hold a Knife by Ashley Winstead, and I absolutely loved it. So, you can imagine how excited I was when I was approved for the ARC of her latest book, This Book Will Buy Me. Huge thanks to NetGalley and the publishers, Aria & Aries, for giving me the chance to dive into this one early!

The writing in this book is super captivating and I LOVED the style in which it was written. I was hooked from the start and completely immersed in the story.

I ended up giving it 4.5 stars. While I reallyyyyy enjoyed it, I was expecting a shocking twist at the end that didn’t quite come, as I had guessed part of the mystery earlier than I’d hoped. That said, it didn’t take away from how much I loved the overall experience or the journey of the characters.