TW: If you've lost a parent, especially your daddy, the first 20% of this book is VERY hard to read. I pushed through, but it made me cry and make me wonder if I should continue...

(Also something to note: the true crime event that this book discusses is almost identical to what happened in Idaho. Read the author's note before diving into the book.)

...With all that said, I am glad I kept reading. The true crime aspect was interesting and it was intriguing to learn a little about "armchair detectives." The chapters were short, the characters worked well together, and it was well written.

Thank you to NetGalley for the opportunity to read and review this ARC in exchange for an honest opinion.

What an unusual way to tell a story. It's told in the form of the main character (Jane Sharp) writing a memoir. If you are a fan of true crime and amateur sleuths, this is a perfect book. It was a little hard to get into at first because I didn't really know where it was going, but as soon as things click and the sleuths form a small group, the story becomes captivating.

Jane was such an interesting character. It starts off with Jane partying in college when she gets a call from her mom that her dad had a heart attack. She quickly heads home, but he ends up dying before she gets there. In trying to deal with her father's death, she joins a subreddit group for true crime. At first, she's just an observer. But when she realizes one of the murders took place near her hometown, she jumps in and volunteers to help out. And so, her addiction to help solve crimes begins....

This was a complex psychological thriller. I felt like it took bits from real crimes that happened, so it left me thinking "what if" while reading. It's interesting the role that these armchair detectives take in trying to solve crimes - through legal and illegal ways. A dark, suspenseful book that left me thinking about things in a different way.

I really enjoyed it! It kept me engaged, I loved the cyber sleuthing aspect, I thought that was original and creative. I did end up seeing the ending coming once they found the eyelash, but I enjoyed the ending anyways. Especially the connection to her dads fanfic and her ending. Thank you for letting me read it!

I am grateful for the opportunity to read this ARC. Thank you!

I struggled with this book. I found it riveting. While I identified the murderer early on, I found myself glued to the pages to see how the story would be told. However, this felt like an opportunity to say more about how true crime has become entertainment for our society. While the book discusses it frequently, it feels like it is also giving more material for true crime fiends — especially its similarities with real crime stores.

Jane Sharp is a college student whose father unexpectedly dies. This causes Jane to flounder in her grief. Her only distraction comes as seems stumbles across some true crime websites. Jane gets totally drawn into the true crime world and she seems to have a knack for spotting details others overlook. She becomes involved with a small group of internet sleuths that she basically views as her family. The group becomes interested in getting the killer of some college girls in Delphine, Idaho. I found the group of characters interesting and fairly well written. However, this story did not sit well with me as it is based on real events - the murder of college girls in Idaho. As this was far too close to real events, with some names being too close to real ones, I found it very upsetting. The real killer’s trial hasn’t even taken place yet. For this reason, I can only give the book 2 stars out of 5.

Thank you to the publisher and to NetGalley for this digital ARC in exchange for my honest review. The book will be published March 25, 2025.

This book honestly surprised me. I started it and I was confused at what was going on, but once the plot evened itself out, I was hooked. I really enjoyed the idea of anonymous crime fighters of the internet solving a case that was even puzzling law enforcement. The FMC was likable and the way the story was told was super interesting. There were plenty of twists and turns that I didn't expect which is exactly what I want out of a thriller book.

This was a very entertaining book! If you are at all in to true crime, you'll love the idea of following along as these five people try to solve murders. It does a good job of balancing what arm chair sleuths bring to the investigation vs the downside they can bring as well. The book also does a great job of showing the different sides of grief and how people work through it on their own time. I thought it added depth to the story and didn't take away from it. I gave the book four stars because I guessed the twist pretty early on. I kept hoping I was wrong but no such luck. Overall, it was a gripping read and I definitely recommend it!

Even though this was a longer book than I usually read, and it started off somewhat slow, I managed to finish it quickly because it was suspenseful and the action picked up. The fictional crime is based on the real life Idaho murders, although the perpetrator is not. I figured out the mystery about two thirds of the way through, but I still enjoyed the conclusion. I also enjoyed the secondary storyline about the main character's father's death--it gave the story an added dimension and drew me closer to the main character who sometimes acted questionably. It's also thought provoking regarding America's true crime obsession,

Janeway Sharp loses her father unexpectedly and to deal with her grief she turns to the internet. She finds a true crime solving network and becomes obsessed. Their most recent case is proving to be extremely convoluted and has the entire country’s attention.

So I went into this blind and started obviously seeing extreme similarities to a current case that happened. One that hasn’t even gone to trial yet. I decided to give it a chance and read it all, but honestly I’m not glad I did.

Pros:
- I liked the armchair detective angle
- the internet chats were really well done
- I liked the main character, Jane, and the other main characters
- I loved the found family
- I enjoyed the way grief was portrayed by the main character

Cons:
-super long, detailed rambling of Star Trek info
-TOOOO long. A thriller should not be 500 pages! It felt like it dragged and dragged and would never end.
-I don’t read a fiction book to be inundated with the author’s political views. I read fiction to escape,
-this biggest con is own that many people have issue with. This book is extremely based on a true crime that has gripped our country and hasn’t even gone to trial. Many people write books INSPIRED by true crime and that’s fine, I’ve even liked them. However this one is different in 2 ways. 1. Time. There should be a decent amount of time between when a crime happened and when an author decides to write about and profit off it. 2. There is a difference between inspired by and based on. This was way too close to the actual crime, not enough details were changed.
-the male victim was left out of the book and although bc I know the ending I do understand, it did make me feel some sort of way
-the way one do the suspects is treated and the outcome of it also made me feel some sort of way. I can’t comment more or it will give it away.

Thanks to NetGalley and Sourcebooks Landmark for the advanced copy of this book!

Would've been a five star read, but this is gross. Direct copy of a very recent, very tragic crime. I liked the writing style, plot and premise but I just couldn't get past that.

A group of online friends obsessed with solving true crime cases are thrust into danger when their investigation lands them in the path of a serial killer. I know this is loosely based on a real case (I’m not really a true crime girl so I’m unaware of the details) but I hope it was handled with care. Judging solely as a book - I was hooked to the story, despite it being somewhat predictable. This author always manages to take average sounding plots and include deeper, interesting commentary than the typical thriller.

Thank you to NetGalley and Sourcebooks Landmark for my ARC.

I'm a little on the fence with this one. I really liked the idea of the book, the keyboard true crime solvers, because I like to think of myself as one of them (I'm not even close), but the thing I struggle with here is the case. It's too recent and too similar making it hard to focus on the book and not the real life story.
With that said, what I really liked about this book was the surprise twist. While reading this, I never would have thought it was going to be what it was. I liked the characters of the book, Jane, the main one, kind of got on my nerves a little bit but she was grieving so I get it and she made a pretty good armchair detective, the group really did make a great team.
Overall, I'm going 3.5 rounding up to 4. The way the book is written has you convinced that there is some deep dark secret and there is, but it's not the secret you may think. I would say it was a good story but too close to reality at the moment and that will strike some people and make it a difficult read.

this book capitalizes on the Idaho murders from the POV of a 24 year old internet true crime sleuth (who sounds and acts like she’s 14). recommend moving on and finding something not as insensitive.

i liked some of the underlying tones and lessons of the book — you never really know someone, everyone is complex, spend time with your family, you can find family, everyone deals with grief differently, etc.

however, i had two things that primarily annoyed/rubbed me the wrong way from this book:

1. the biggest one - off the bat, weird. weird to see a massacre as inspiration for a novel that you’ll profit off of. i understand that the purpose of this book is to point out the flaws and also benefits of the true crime community online, but it genuinely just rubs me the wrong way to basically copy and paste the murder into this book. i understand the authors note at the beginning states she tried to keep everything as accurate as possible — but this book is fiction!!! please vary it as much as possible, actually. i just couldn’t stop imagining myself as the parent to one of the kids murdered, picking up this book, and realizing it’s basically a fanfic of my kids murder.

2. if you can get past all that, on a lesser note, the vibe of the MC is juvenile. she’s 24, but i kept forgetting because she genuinely felt 14-16. i understand why the author needed to age her up (internet safety, traveling, random romance scene), but her actions and the way she talked was much more YA.

other than that, quite a bit of the beginning of the book takes place in a “chat room”, which is obnoxious and generally annoying to read, especially with the over exaggerated comments.

this book is very over the top and unrealistic, but i’m not knocking the book for that. i’m not reading fiction for accuracy.

two stars bc even all of that couldn’t turn me off from finding out what happened.

thanks netgalley for the ARC

Thank you to NetGalley for the ARC of this book. I really enjoyed the suspenseful telling of this true crime story. However, I felt this book got a little long and could have skipped parts.

Loved this book! I haven’t read anything like this before. The middle was a tad slow, but overall a good book and will recommend to others!

Wow. What a twisted, intense and suspenseful ride. I could not put this down. And when I wasn't reading it, I truly couldn't stop thinking about it. I do agree with some of the other reviews that it was a bit too long but even then, I was so engrossed with the story that I feel like it still managed to be pretty fast paced. If you're a true crime junkie, then you will enjoy it.
I am struggling to even rate it or gush too much more about it because I do see how it can be perceived as "ick" due to the fact that this story is an almost exact replication of the Idaho murders of the college girls back in 2022. I honestly forgot about those murders so it never once clicked for me while reading this and only just realized it after finishing it and seeing what others had to say about this book. So I think that if the Idaho murders hit close to home or if you aren't a fan of authors writing fiction based off of real life tragedies, then you will want to skip this one.

This book helped pull me out of a reading slump. I love the characters and plot. This is my first Ashley Winstead book. I will definitely read more of her work. I love the idea of a book happening inside another book. Going along for the journey is like I lived it. Mysteries are my thing. This was the best type of book to keep me guessing. I've recommended this to so many people since I finished it.

If you are a fan of true crime written into fictional characters, this book will probably interest you! I have to admit, I’ve done some deep diving into the Idaho murders myself, so it was fun to read a fictional retelling of the case that has had me hooked from the beginning.

Jane, our main female character, is a 24 year old at UCF. Her entire world is turned upside down when her father dies of a heart attack. This spurs Jane to drop out of college and move back in with her grieving mother. Jane, drowning in emotions and grief, latches onto a local case of a body found in a Lake. While searching online forums for information, Jane finds herself drawn into a group of close knit group of people who try to solve crimes. They welcome her into the fold, and Jane finds a “found family” she desperately needs to help her through her grief.

Although I did enjoy the premise of the book, I did find it to be a little too long. Parts of the novel really dragged for me, leaving me wondering if it all could have been wrapped up a little sooner.

Thank you Ashley Winstead, NetGalley, and Source books for the advanced copy of this book! Out March 25th!

Interesting storyline - a lot of similarities to the Ohio college murders. I enjoy a lot of Ashley Winstead thrillers, but honestly I struggled a lot with this one and idk why. It had a great storyline - the writing is always great with this author, but every time I opened this book I struggled to stay awake. I will give this another chance once its released - I think I'll try audio next

I was really hoping to enjoy this one a bit more. I found this to be an ok true crime novel that I have mixed feelings with. On one hand, it has some compelling parts with the amateur sleuthing but for the most part I found it lackluster.