I know there is a lot of controversy around this book, and while I value those opinions, they did not take away from my experience with the book. Using a real and relatable story set in modern day was a bold move, but I don’t think it was a wrong move.

The story revolves around Jane, who upon losing her father becomes entangled with a group of people that do some amateur detective work on murder cases and find themselves in the middle of a dangerous situation. People who love true crime and devour true crime podcasts will love this book. Some parts moved a little slower, but the backstories of characters were well thought out and explained, and I think it helped the overall orchestration of the ending, which was left pretty open ended.

I love a buttoned-up story, but the questions remaining at the end really worked for this book. The audio worked well, narrator Leslie Howard fit the vibe of the book and made the audio flow well. Great fun

This Book will Bury Me is a psychological thriller about Jane Sharp and her team of amateur sleuths who meet on an online forum. After three college students are stabbed to death they decide to take on the case and travel to Idaho to investigate.
Great for fans of true crime who also consider themselves to be detectives. Unfortunately, I found the ending a little disappointing.

I've heard a lot about Ashley Winstead's books but hadn't read one yet, and she's a favorite of my daughter. So when I had the chance to listen to this one, I decided it was time. And I'm glad I did - apparently it's written a bit differently from her usual style, nevertheless it has me interested in reading more of her backlist. There's a lot going on here - how grief and depression can affect a person and lead them to do uncharacteristic things. The current obsession with true crime and how podcasts and social media can affect police investigations for better and for worse - and whether the good outweighs the bad. The internet in general - another cautionary tale, and not a bad thing because we never really learn, do we? Then there's also the relationship between parent and child - and whether what we think we know about our parents is entirely true. There's a lot going on in this story of a young woman who goes down a true crime rabbit hole after the sudden death of her father. And it leaves the reader with a lot to think about. I listened to the audiobook, and the narration by Leslie Howard was excellent.
My thanks to Netgalley and Tantor Audio for providing a digital copy for an unbiased review.

Wow.

Ashley Winstead blows me away every time. I feel like my eyes may fall out of my head while reading/listening.

This story was very close to the Idaho murders. I feel like it may be a little too soon to write that story or have someone benefit off that tragedy. It even takes place in Idaho!

Our main character, Jane, has faced some challenges and seems quite lost. Her father died and she’s having a hard time coping. She becomes obsessed with a murder case of 3 girls in Idaho. She joins online forums and it takes over her life. She even takes the sleuthing off the computer and hunts clues down in the real world. The forum really works hard and doesn’t believe the police are doing enough.

This did keep me on the edge of my seat & also left my jaw on the floor a few times. But I had a hard time getting past the Idaho reference. I watched that all unfold in real time. The killer hasn’t even been sentenced yet so this felt icky.

I was fully prepared to DNF this book around 30%, but I wanted to give a fully informed review.

The main plot point of this book is a fictionalized version of the "University of Idaho Massacre" that happened in Moscow, Idaho, in late 2022. When the case is first introduced, the facts are directly ripped from the real case, with some half-hearted name changes. The author then goes and creates a completely fictional second crime. With how much the second half of the book goes into the realm of fiction, this book could have been so much more palatable if Winstead simply made the crime happen in a different location. If she wanted to have 3 sorority girls stabbed to death, fine, that could be any crime, but keeping the setting as a small town in Idaho and making the university they attended Northern Idaho made the crime far too recognizable.

This book could have been a decent thriller and an okay commentary on the true crime community, police procedure, and mob mentality. The fact that she ripped off a recent crime that hasn't even finished going through the court system far overshadows any potential constructive conversations this book could have prompted.

A similar one-star review has been posted to Goodreads, Fable, and Storygraph.

Jane and several other amateur sleuths work to solve a crime. I could not stop listening! I couldn't wait to see what would happen next.

This book is a work of fiction based on true crimes inspired by the University of Idaho case. I really enjoyed the social commentary placed throughout this book regarding racism and how the police force dropped the ball by not acting quickly. This book also weaves elements of grief throughout the story, which serves as the MFC’s driving force for getting involved with a gang of amateur sleuths. I really appreciated how Ashley Winstead came full circle by answering the question of who wrote the story within the story and why it will “bury her.”

Thank you to NetGalley and Tantor Audio for the opportunity to listen to an Advanced Listener’s Copy (ALC) in exchange for my honest opinion/review.

I really wanted to like this book but unfortunately it was a miss for me. I don’t mind longer books but this one really seemed to drag. I enjoyed the true crime/online forum aspect of the investigation, but the characters didn’t seem real enough and I found it hard to believe they would have been given as much authority in the investigation that they were.

I know the author said she had taken inspiration from the Idaho 4 murders, but there were way too many similarities to the case and that left me with a bad taste in my mouth.
Thank you to NetGalley and Tantor Audio for the advanced copy in exchange for my honest review.

This was such an intriguing storyline. Jane is grieving her father's death and, as a way to cope, she links up with online true crime sleuths to solve other people's deaths. She never expects it to take over her life and her identity the way it ends up doing. I listened to the audiobook, which was so well done - it really brought the story to life. A great take on the armchair detectives that are so prevalent these days!

Creepy, compelling, and emotionally gutting in the most satisfying way—This Book Will Bury Me isn’t just a title, it’s a promise. Ashley Winstead delivers a slow-burning psychological thriller that burrows under your skin and refuses to leave. And the audiobook? Absolutely haunting.

Listening to this story unfold felt like being trapped inside a gothic ghost story and a grief-soaked confessional all at once. The narrator nails every twist of dread, every sharp edge of longing, and every slow revelation with a performance that’s both chilling and intimate.

Winstead masterfully blurs the line between past and present, truth and illusion. It’s lyrical and eerie, with that signature emotional depth she brings to every book. By the time the final chapter whispered through my headphones, I was emotionally wrecked—and somehow still begging for more.

3 stars.

I'm a big fan of Ashley Winstead and wanted to read this book so bad when I first met her in person at a book signing event. This was very different and I overall really enjoyed the story but it didn't stand out to me compared to her other books in the past.

What a ride! This book started out a little slow, but picked up the pace after a few chapters. Serial killers, internet crime sleuths, grief, friendships. Enjoyed this one quite a bit!

The story follows Jane Sharp, a grieving college student who finds solace in online sleuthing communities. When a series of brutal murders shocks the nation, Jane and her fellow amateur detectives dive into the case, uncovering disturbing truths that blur the line between justice and danger. Winstead's masterful storytelling combines suspense, emotional depth, and sharp social commentary, making this novel a compelling exploration of grief, morality, and the human fascination with crime. A must-read!

I love Ashley Winstead; not only is she one of the nicest humans ever, her books are always so so good!

This Book Will Bury Me follows Jane who is writing a tell all about her experience with being an amateur online sleuth. You will follow Jane navigate the death of her father, as well as working with a group to find and follow leads with murder cases across the country. When Jane and her fellow sleuth's get called in to help they head to Delphine, Idaho to see what they can find.

I loved this book, I was wrapped up in Jane's story from the beginning and needed to know how it was going to end. I also need to know if this online sleuthing is as intense as it is in the book! Leslie Howard did a phenomenal job narrating this book. I did not want to stop listening.

Thank you Ashley Winstead and Sourcebooks Landmark for an eARC in exchange for an honest review.

I liked the unique angle of this one about true crime and how a person could become heavily involved but I think the mystery didn't come together for me and I found it overall a little boring and more centered on family drama.

How do you rate a book that is a five-star bit of storytelling, but that is based on a one-star ethical decision by the author and publisher?

I’ve chosen not to leave a star rating for this book because while I greatly enjoyed reading this and I think Winstead is a master at writing this kind of thoughtful suspense, I’m never going to be okay with an author releasing a novel based on a real murder case in which the victims are young, recently deceased, and have living relatives.

This is all made worse by the fact that the case this book is based on has not even gone to trial as of the publication date. You have to work pretty hard to justify using someone’s story as entertainment fodder under the circumstances.

And it’s really a shame, because the book is a good one, and probably didn’t need to borrow exact details about the horrific murder of a group of college students to succeed.

To Winstead’s credit, she changes a lot in a way that makes this a much better story than what really happened, and also adds an element to this that is more about the central characters’ motives for their grassroots investigations that is both a respectful and thoughtful examination of grief and a well-written piece of character depth and development.

Still, I just can’t get on board with the exploitation of *very* recent murder victims and their families to sell fiction books. Winstead is so good at what she does and didn’t need to stoop to this. I hope we don’t see it again, from her or any other novelist.

I read this via audiobook and I have no idea what was even happening in the story. Please tell me why the narrator was whispering for 3/4 of the book. I had to turn the volume up very loud to hear, and then she would start talking normally out of the blue and almost blew my speakers.

Thank you Tantor Audio, Ashley Winstead, and NetGalley for giving me the opportunity to read and honestly review this book.

DNF @ 14%. Sadly, giving up on this one. I was very bored and it was feeling super repetitive. The ethics of the book also feel maybe a bit off which was souring the reading experience as well. Thank you for the opportunity to review.

Having looked at some of the reviews, I feel quite conflicted about submitting my own. If the book is based on a real life case, then I'm unaware of it but I certainly wouldn't support this as I feel it would be exploitative. I listened to the audiobook recording and found it reasonably compelling. I thought that Leslie Howard did a solid job narrating. I haven't read any of Ashley Winstead’s other work but having read ‘This Book Will Bury Me ‘, I'd be open to it. Overall, I enjoyed the premise - albeit I thought the killer was fairly obvious. I also didn't really see the point of the parallel story about Jane's deceased Dad. It's a relatively quick read and one which I think will be popular among true crime aficionados.

I thoroughly loved this murder mystery! The characters were unique and very well-developed, and the plot kept me second-guessing everything. Although it became clear who the killer was halfway through the story, it was still fun to keep reading to see how the characters would figure it out themselves. The ending was satisfying and neatly tied up all loose ends.