3.5 stars

This Book Will Bury Me has a great title, though I’m not sure it fully lived up to the expectations it set. At 480 pages, it’s on the longer side, but for the most part, the pacing worked well. I especially enjoyed the back-and-forth shared through online forums, which added an engaging layer to the story. Around the 70% mark, the momentum stalled a bit, making it feel slower than the rest of the book. That said, I liked the dynamic between the different characters in the group and was genuinely surprised by the ending.

I would like to thank the author, the publisher, and NetGalley for this ARC in exchange for my honest review.

Wow, this book gripped me from start to finish!!

I loved the way it was told from Jane’s POV as if she was writing a nonfiction book about her side of the story… because it was fiction, the reader couldn’t know the drama and public outcry or who the “other person” and her book was about, but the book was written as if we would know. It’s pretty clever and made me want to read on to figure out her side AND what the entire story was.

That’s the thing about Ashley Winstead books that I’ve noticed: they instantly grip me. Her writing style works for me and I love it.

This is a release you don’t want to miss! It was so engrossing.

Disclaimer: If I’m being honest, I don’t really pay attention to actual crimes/news stories until they become the next big documentary or docudrama, so any likeness to existing cases flew right over my head. I’m not bothered by any existing case inspiring the author because I feel like using a real crime to tell a fictional story is slightly better than constantly discussing real people, but that’s not everyone’s opinion. If you have feelings about current cases and do not want open cases being used for fictional purposes, then you might not enjoy this book as a result.

Im struggling to review this book . I think I'll do a bullet point pro/con . Overall though I loved this book & would highly recommend 🖤
It is definitely dark & morbid & sometimes gets into detail that some may not like but for my fellow true crime junkies this is for u 💀

Pro -
• LOVED the true crime element & the way this book was set up . It was super easy to read & get into it .
• The author completely sucks you into "Jane's" story ,& you can feel yourself being there . No bullshit just her story with all the ugly pieces
• Star Trek references.. I used to watch Star Trek with my grandpa so that was cool .
• the storyline of her father & how she was dealing with her grief because yes there is no blueprint for how to handle that .
•Janes dad Star Trek fan fiction 🤘🖤🖤🖤
• most of the characters
I absolutely loved Lightly & Mistress


Con-
•i understand using a real life story to influence another but maybe the Idaho murders didn't need to be mentioned so out right .. maybe use it as inspiration but mask it as something else ?
•i don't want to put a spoiler so I'll just say there's one thing that wasn't wrapped up in my opinion & I'm bothered !!!!
•ummm a dog murder ... I can't 😫💔
Even though it's just a passing reference like why ..
•Janes mom bothered me & I can't really pinpoint why but I didn't like her but also she was grieving.
• Ok something I really hated & just again why...
When Jane is researching her Dad & trying to get info on his childhood in Tennessee.. why would TF would his old school buddy for real tell Jane her dad was maybe abused by a weird uncle.. what was that going to do for her in her grieving process... That guy was a douche.

I really enjoyed this book & when I wasn't reading I was thinking of it & where the author was going with the whole story so that to me is definitely a good read.

Thank u NetGalley for the Arc
#ThisBookWillBuryMe 4/5 ⭐

This was my book by Ashley Winstead and I absolutely loved it!! It was such a cool premise to tell the story from the perspective of a true crime Reddit group and it hooked me right away until the very end! It’s also a beautiful look at grief and identity, and I loved how she wove together all the final pieces. Such an entertaining read!

Once again I had high hopes for Ashley Winstead, which were shot after reading this book. I loved the premise, but a few things bothered me. First, I feel like Jane's grief was almost an afterthought in the story, when it was billed as the impetus for her delving into the true crime world. Then she started referring it to her "dad-investigation" without really going into detail. So the whole dad/grief narrative just fell short and was woefully under-developed. Then I had an issue with how involved she got in the true crime world so fast - I get fixating on something to distract you from your grief, but it felt very sudden and she went all in right away - I think it would've been better if she had hung on the peripheral of the true crime world - podcasts, Savage Appetites, some reddit threads - for a few months first, then went all in. It was also super unbelievable that on her first "case" she is the one who solves it and then becomes this internet celebrity - very farfetched and would've been more believable if she had been working true crime cases for a few months or even a year. Lastly, it's the Idaho murders themselves. With how recent the real-life murders were, I thought it was in poor taste, and I hate when authors copy true crime events verbatim - you're an author, have some imagination and come up with the murder yourself!
One other thought - while I like the short chapters, it was honestly pretty boring until the last 30% of the book. Would not recommend.

Thank you so much to Sourcebooks for the advance copy of this!

This book will be out on March 25th.

I am very conflicted on how I should write this review. I have been putting it off for a few reasons and one of them being seeing other reviews and doing research on the very obvious subject matter within the pages of the book.

<b><block quote>"I'd finally accepted that mystery is at the heart of love. That it's our deep yearning to know the ones we love in ways that are ultimately impossible - we will never get close enough, never have long enough - that keep us bound to them, forever chasing."</b></block quote>

The good: Though this was a little slow and I would feel like I was reading forever but not getting anywhere, I was still so immersed into the story. We got a full beginning, middle and end. Winstead created such a backstory for our FMC Jane. You are sympathetic towards her because of being with her when she learns of her father's death and then with her during the depths of her grieving. As the reader, you could see how she just continues to spiral and to make sense of her father's death and then throwing herself into solving crimes as a distraction. I love how Winstead created this online community and the connection that Jane made with those individuals in the community. Those side characters are also what made the story. Winstead was able to craft their backstory within the text and made you attached to the characters. You rooted for them, you questioned them, your heart broke for them, you were scared for them. Everyone at one point felt like an unreliable including the narrator.

The bad: I am not a true crime fan. I will see headlines in the news but sadly I have become so desensitized by the stories that I see the story and then move on. Before reading this book, I was talking to my library co worker about it because they already have read it and she was the one who told me that it felt similar to the Idaho murders. I had no clue based off that what she was referring to but then when I looked it up, I remember this being a story and the connection to Pennsylvania (where I live). But if it weren't for my coworker telling me about that. I'm not sure I would have made the connection. Knowing though how similar some of the timeline is from that night to what happened in the book, it is not a good look for Winstead. She could have changed a lot of things to make it her own but she didn't. I know this has left a lot of readers feeling very icky.

All the things I mentioned above in "the bad" is a shame because it tainted the overall book experience for a lot of readers (and even myself reflecting back). I am still rating it a 4 because I thoroughly enjoyed the book and the ride was a rollercoaster of emotions. I still enjoyed the structure and what Winstead was trying to accomplish with the storyline. I would have rated it a 5 had the storyline wasn't SO close to the real life tragedy.

Thank you to NetGalley for approving this arc! It has taken me quite a while to be in the mood for a book like this, but once I picked it up, I couldn’t put it down. Following the loss of her father, Janeway Sharp withdraws from University and fully invests her time on a True Crime Forum. After successfully solving her firs murder, Janeway, or Jane, is thrown into a nationwide hunt for a serial killer who targeted 6 college females. Will she find the killer before it’s too late?

I mean, based off that description, why wouldn’t you want to read this book? It’s suspenseful and dark, but also deals with the idea of accepting the death of a loved one.

I was anxiously anticipating the next read by winstead as I have enjoyed her previous thrillers. This book will bury me sounded just as promising as the earlier reads. Jane, grieving the loss of her father, joins online community of true crime sleuths to help solve cases. When a serial killer strikes an Idaho college town, everyone is pulled into the case. With no active leads and a college town in fear, the online true crime community decides to band together and spring into action to solve the murders, traveling to Idaho in person to work alongside the police. What starts as a distraction for Jane from her grief becomes a dangerous obsession that puts her on life on the line.

The book starts slow at the beginning, but the pacing does pick up and it does not feel as if it’s nearly 500 pages. I do understand the concerns about publishing this book based on an active case that hasn’t been tried yet, but I don’t follow the case or that world enough to know much about how closely it parallels to comment on unfortunately. I did find this to be another winner thriller from winstead once the pacing picked up!

Thanks to the publisher for the arc via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Rating: 5/5 Stars
Pub Date: 3/25
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This book was everything from the characters to the story to the connection of everything to the twists to the ending. I absolutely devoured it and loved every single second of it.
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Right from the start I felt connected to Delphine and the rest of the group on the forum. I loved their banter and just how a group of people could come together to solve crimes. I am also a huge true crime junkie so this one just hit the mark for me.
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This is a fast paced read as the group navigates through the murder. I love how this was written as a “tell all” for people who know what happened. There are perfectly timed twists that will have you unable to put this one down. That ending was absolutely explosive, and the best possible ending for this story.
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I listened to this one while reading my eARC. Leslie Howard was phenomenal. I highly recommend the audio if you are going to pick up this book.
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Overall, this book is superb, amazing, phenomenal, all of the incredible words or simply put - A MUST READ! Ashley Winstead continues to grace the book community with addicting and bingable reads! I will forever read anything that she puts out. Huge thank you to NetGalley, Ashley Winstead, Tantor Audio and Sourcebooks for the eARC and ALC in exchange for my honest review.

This is a story about a woman named Jane whose father passed away unexpectedly, and as she's grieving she stumbles across a part of the internet filled with threads and subthreads of sleuths trying to solve murder cases. She gets sucked into this world and quickly finds herself right in the middle of a case, trying to help the others solve it. She becomes totally consumed by trying to solve these cases, not only that but she finds out she's pretty good at this too. And then when three college girls are murdered, a small group asks her to join them to start working together as a team to solve it. But everything they figure out about this case just leads to more questions, they and the cops are both struggling with this case, and with a killer on the loose they feel the pressure to solve this and get justice for those girls. There are twists and turns throughout this book, it was really enjoyable trying to figure out cases alongside the characters. This had the thrill, suspense, and mystery you want in this type of book. I did figure out the killer half way through, but there were twists and things added in that I didn't expect. This was definitely an enjoyable read! 💛📚

Thank you to the author and to the publisher for this ARC of This Book Will Bury Me, in exchange for an honest review.

This felt like a ripped from the headlines fictionalization to me- and that colored my view of the novel. Jane, who decided true crime would be her calling after the death of her father, joins a group investigating the tragic murders of three college students in Delphine, Idaho (see where this is heading?). The conceit is that it's meant to be a look back at the investigation but we aren't there yet on the real thing. It's also long, really long. I regret to report that I DNF. I've been a fan of Winstead in the past but this just wasn't for me. Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC. Over to others.

A crime fiction tale the likes of which you’ve never seen before, This Book Will Bury Me was one novel that had me straight from hello. With an original premise, believable characters, and a dark, intense vibe, I flew through the 400+ pages in no time at all. I mean, who could pass up a book-within-a-book format that focuses on true-crime internet sleuths? Certainly not me. After all, from the ratcheting pace to the jaw-dropping twist that caught me totally unawares, there simply wasn’t much not to love within this superlative tale.

The characters themselves were the clinch-pin to why this book was solid gold. Compelling, relatable, and complete with genuine flaws, I was easily pulled into their found family dynamic, which was complete with an original voice and tone thanks to the true-crime internet setting. It was this combo that truly got my attention. With a mixed media format that made the story feel all the more real, this plot’s constantly changing direction kept me on tenterhooks with each new twist and unexpected turn. After all, I didn’t see that climax or conclusion coming despite all of the deftly hidden clues.

I do have to warn you, however, that the topic matter—as you can imagine—was rather dark and gritty at times. Between the grief-laden subplot and serial killer premise, I found myself both crying real tears and also visualizing some truly disturbing, visceral scenes. While I wouldn’t classify any of them as particularly graphic, I am also a hardened reader of all things thrills and chills so I might be able to tolerate more than the average reader. Just the same, it brushed up against true crime in the same manner as Bright Young Woman managed to do.

All in all, I’ve noticed that the ratings on this stellar novel are wide-ranging. Readers seem to love it or hate it—and I’m clearly with the former. Thanks to short, cliffhanger chapters that oozed with foreboding, I was beyond blown away as it caught fire towards the end. Made for fans of true crime who love a fictionalized feel, the immersive storytelling within this metafictional tell-all book just couldn’t go wrong. Bingeable and thought-provoking, it was an out-and-out winner that made me fall in love with Ms. Winstead’s writing all over again. Rating of 5 stars.

Thank you to Ashley Winstead, Sourcebooks Landmark, and NetGalley for my complimentary physical and digital copies. All opinions are my own.

This book had me flying through the chapters. It is a super easy to read. The idea of a group of true crime lovers solving murders together is a pretty neat concept. The online forum chats are an added bonus as well. 

I loved most of the characters, especially Lightly and Mistress. They bring a good “found family” aspect to this story. You can tell they will do anything to help someone out. Jane also makes quite a few questionable choices, but it is in response to losing her dad. Her line between obsession and reality is quite blurred. 

There are a few reasons why I gave it four stars. The first one being how many details she took from the actual Idaho murders. She does mention this in her author's note, but I think it was a bit too much. I also guessed the twist midway through the book. It didn’t stop me from finishing it though. Overall, I really enjoyed this book. 

Thank you Netgalley and Sourcebooks Landmark for this eARC to review. All opinions are my own. This is available on March 25, 2025. 

Read if you like:
🔪 True Crime
💗 Found Family
🛜 Forum chats

First, what this book absolutely nailed — Ashley Winstead’s portrayal of losing a parent is painfully spot on. She captures that strange, conflicting feeling of grief where you feel so special in your grief (because how could anyone else possibly understand this level of devastation?) while also recognizing that death is one of the most universal and non-unique human experiences

I’ve always loved Winstead’s writing, and this book is no exception, but I did have some issues with the plot. One of the biggest disconnects for me was the main character’s driving motivation around trying to ensure that her dad is remembered and known after his death — she’s so focused on creating a legacy for her dad, and it felt like she was overlooking that he already left a legacy of his own. It’s clear she wants to honor him, but it felt like she was stuck trying to prove his worth to the world after he was gone. It felt like the more she leaned into this misson, the more I wanted her to let his legacy be his legacy and to stop trying to force things. It felt like a missed emotional arc for her to never realize that her memories of him and the person he was could just be enough, and it's not what she was hoping to build in his name after he was gone that made him important.


I also wanted more about the mysterious "book" written by "she who shall not be named" — it’s positioned as this major catalyst for the main character and is ultimately the inspiration for her to write her own book (which we, as readers, are supposedly reading). But that thread felt like it lacked in followthrough.

Anywaaaaays, all that being said, the last thing I want to point out was that I TOTALLY CLOCKED THE TWILIGHT REFERENCE. Girl, Ashley, you just can't resist can youuuu?

This book was just okay but I was really put off by the similarities between this story and the Idaho murders.

Thank you NetGalley and Sourcebooks for this ARC!

Honestly I'm having the toughest time rating this book. I keep going back and forth on a higher and lower rating. Why? Because this really should have been a 5 star book but there are some major issues that prevent it. That honestly almost hurts the rating more than if a book was mediocre because it could have been a real stand out.

Let's start with the good. This is really unique being written as a "tell all" after a true crime case goes terribly wrong. The MC Jane is such a lovable character, I had a hard time seeing how it could go wrong and the whole world would hate her. The rest of her true crime family I loved too. Such fun characters and such a unique way of telling a story. I especially loved the Florida story at the beginning, honestly was more interesting almost than Delphine.

Some of the imperfections I can't point out without spoilers. However the biggest one is the twist. It's glaringly in your face with hints from the very beginning. It honestly made the end a let down after so much build up.

The biggest issue is this is based on a real case, one that the perpetrator hasn't even been convicted. Honestly this was a bad move in my opinion and what keeps making me almost pull the rating lower, though I enjoyed the book a lot. The whole book is about the true crime community and what can go right or wrong with them helping in cases. It's a risky move to make a book mirror things in a case that isn't closed. I feel like if you couldn't make up a case on your own, go way back in a case that's long closed.

Also just on a personal note, I get grief is a major point of the book and why you do what you do. But personally I hate it as a trope in books. It's just triggering and I didn't love that.

I know that's a lot of bad for a 4 star rating. Like I said that's why I'm struggling rating this so much. I absolutely adored the book I wanted it to be 5 stars. However these issues were so glaring it just ended up making it frustrating. So do I recommend reading it? Probably but go in knowing you probably will guess the twist and there are some problematic elements.

This book was a journey for me, I really considered DNFing in the first quarter of the book as despite the author’s note it just felt too on the nose with the Idaho college murders, then things got twisty. The arch of finding out who her father was along with the blow by blow of amateur sleuths hooked me. Thanks to NetGalley and Sourcebooks Landmark for an advanced copy for an honest review.

This Book Will Bury Me
Out 3.25.25

This book honestly sucked me in from the beginning. I loved the twist of amateur sleuths trying to solve crimes. Ashely Winstead does a really great job of writing complex characters that are well written. After losing her father, I think Jane was lost herself and needed to find something to occupy her mind and finding a group of people that liked to solve crimes in their spare time was not what she expected, but she fell into the world pretty easily. I thought this was crafted really well even with the authors note that this was heavily inspired by true crimes that have been committed. There were satisfying twist and turns and mystery. Some I guessed but also some I didn’t see coming.

Overall, I really enjoyed this book and this one is a great one for true crime lovers that want to escape to a world of crime solving!

This book had some good parts and some not so great parts so I’m giving it a 3 star rating. I loved the short chapters and the suspenseful aspect that those short chapters gave, it was so easy to just say, I’ll read just one more chapter. It was kinda cool that it was written loosely around a true story but in a sense it made it more difficult to read knowing this all happened. I felt like the book was super long, like 100 extra pages than necessary so for that it kind of dragged on. Also at first I was super confused as to who did it so it made the book exciting but then about halfway through the book was phrased in a way that gave away who it was so that made the ending drag on. The found family aspect and internet sleuthing aspect was a fun wise. Overall it was still a good book and I appreciated the ARC!

Thank you NetGalley! As always, Ashley Winstead doesn’t fail to disappoint me as a reader. I was immediately sucked into this book. I loved how different it was from others I’ve read while also having relevance current events regarding arm chair detectives. I did not expect the twist in the book. I loved this one!