This is my first book by this author but definitely won't end up being the last!

The plot felt like a great mix of true crime podcast, documentary and book all rolled into one. This had so many twists and turns and each chapter kept me interested and wanting to carry on to find out more.

The characters were varied and the narrator did a great job at all the varying voices. I found out main character a strong voice to lead the story.

Towards the end this did feel a little too long and probably would have benefit from being 40-50 pages shorter.

Overall this was a great listen and I highly recommend to anyone who enjoys true crime, whoodunnits and intriguing thrillers.

Thank you Tantor Audio + NetGalley for the opportunity to listen to an ALC of This Book Will Bury Me before it's released. I didn't enjoy the story itself (unlikeable MC, irrational need to become an armchair sleuth) but Leslie Howard's narration was engaging. Had I been reading this myself and not on audiobook, I would have inevitably DNF'd this. It's also worth noting that since finishing the book I have been made aware of the Idaho 4 Murders, it feels super icky that it was used as inspiration for this book, especially when the trial hasn't even started yet.

5 stars for narration.

1 star for the story.

This was a fast paced super fun thriller ! It was my first by this author and wont be my last !

If you love true crime this one is absolutely for you. I truly loved the pod cast style story and the audio brought it even more to life!

I was shocked with the twists at the very end! I think at some points it was far fetched , but still really enjoyed it!

This was so fun to listen to, what an audiobook! As a big Ashley Winstead fan, I knew I had to read this. And what a title - if that doesn’t already sell this one to you.
A captivating thriller, absolute must read for true crime lovers. I was hooked!

I really liked the group of characters in this book and enjoyed the true crime sleuthing aspects of the story. I found it to be an easy listen and the narrator did a great job.

Oh my goodness this book had me screaming and on the edge of my seat. Another fantastic Ashley Winstead thriller.
Jane wants to set the record straight about her crime sleuthing after one of the biggest police investigations blows up in their faces.
Jane has just lost her dad and through her grief she inadvertantly gets mixed up in internet sleuthing. It is all she can focus on, if she can find out what happened to these people then she can maybe come to terms with what happened to her father.
Jane meets a group of four others that take her in and treat her like one of their own. They are popular on the network and well known in the community. When a second set of women are targeted, the group decides they need to go to Idaho and investigate themselves, in person.
The first part of the book I was not sure of. It was really close to the show on the Idaho four that I had just watched and I could see a lot of the same elements. Then the book just kept taking turn after turn. There were a lot of subtle hints in here of what was to come but I only picked up on a few, and then was screaming when I realized what I had missed all along.
The first time Jane was called Veronica from Heathers, I knew this book was for me. If you like True Crime, internet sleuths, twists and turns and Heathers... you will LOVE this book. I honestly couldn't stop thinking about it after it was over.
Thank you to Tantor, Netgalley and Ashley Winstead for an ALC.

Thriller Thursday: Audiobook Edition
Jane is an everyday college student when her father's death sends her reeling. She moved back home and tries to find meaning in life while dealing with the sudden passing of her dad. She stumbles along a chat room for true crime junkies turned case solvers.
She begins chatting with other sleuths and locks onto a case of a murdered woman. She can't let this one go and takes it into her own hands, while putting herself in danger, but she solves the case. This puts her in with a group of serious sleuths. She becomes very close with them, chatting constantly.
When tragedy hits in Idaho and 3 sorority girls are slain, her group decides this is their case to solve.
I love the way @ashleywinsteadbooks writes thrillers. You are invested early on in the book, and there are twists and turns throughout to keep you hooked.
When you first start listening, you are wondering where this book might lead, and then it felt like I was listening to a true crime podcast. If you're a thriller lover, into true crime and podcasts, you will love this audiobook.
Thank you @ashleywinsteadbooks @netgalley@tantoraudio for the copy of this audiobook.
Release Date: March 25, 2025

8.5/10

True crime is a real phenomenon of recent years. Podcasts, documentary series, paradocuments, books – fascination with the dark world of crime seems to grow by the day. But what if too much involvement brings with it an avalanche of events that cannot be controlled?

We learn the story from the perspective of Jane – a grieving daughter who, after the death of her father, seeks solace in amateur crime solving. Seemingly innocent fun slowly turns into a life-derailing obsession – from triumphs, through fame, to infamy and traumatic consequences. The engaging plot “plays with the recipient”, provoking the same analysis and surrendering to the desire to delve, which to some extent it condemns. The solution to the mystery takes the reader by surprise, but looking back, all the facts come together, and the subtle clues make sense. The first-person narrative is a mix of confession and self-reflection, accompanied by fragments of chats, emails and forum posts. Because of the latter, I would probably suggest reading the story – the audiobook can be tricky at times.

Although we get to know Jane the most, the secondary characters are just as interesting (if not more so at times). The group of amateur detectives that the protagonist joins is an intriguing mix representing specific archetypes (father, matron, nerd), but has its own identity, and the number of secondary characters – witnesses, suspects, and law enforcement officers – is just as colorful. Learning about their motivations and following their actions is just as satisfying as solving the main mystery.

The whole thing is dark, intense, but not without glimmers of hope. I highly recommend it, also as a warning.

Thank you NetGalley and the Tantor Audio for a copy of this advanced listened copy in exchange for my honest opinion!

This one gave me some mixed feelings. After Janes father died, she needed something to occupy her time. She finds her way on true crime feeds and becomes obsessed. She befriends a group of other amateur sleuths and start investigating active investigations in the US. After a murder of 3 college girls sweeps the nation, they want to be the ones to solve It. Then the killer turns into a serial killer. Details don’t add up and they keep finding more questions than answers.

As an audiobook, i loved the narrator, she was great. As for the story itself, if you think It sounds familiar, that’s because It is. She copies the exact details of the Idaho murders that are still in trial and not concluded yet. Which 1. Just rubs me the wrong way and 2. Made It pretty boring in the middle since you know what’s going to happen. If she was going to copy the case, i wish she made It more satirical potentially and explored the dangers of internet sleuths or explored some other politically important topic. But Im not quite sure the purpose of this novel and that’s what bothers me.

Controversial. This Book Will Bury Me by Ashley Winstead uses a real life horrific murder, the Idaho Murders, as a fictional plot device. Yet, it’s not what the book is about. “After the unexpected death of her father, college student Jane Sharp longs for a distraction from her grief. She becomes obsessed with true crime, befriending armchair detectives who teach her how to hunt killers from afar.” It’s the true crime aspect that is at the forefront and the relationships that develop between the members. I’m not someone who enjoys True Crime and I was hooked. I soon forgot about the murders and concentrated on who-done-it. My only complaint is that the narrator uses a whispery voice sometimes for the main character and I had to keep raising the volume. ALC was provided by Tantor Audio via NetGalley. I received an Audiobook Listening Copy for free and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

I really enjoy Ashley’s other works but the parallels to the real life Idaho murders and her book just gave me the ick. Ashley knows how to write, the narration is done well. I just could not get into this one. I’ll still read what she comes up with next but won’t be recommending this one. Thanks, NetGalley for the ALC.

I really enjoyed this authors rom com books but this genre just didn’t land with me. I had a hard time finishing it.

as a devoted mystery reader with the gift of context and dramatic irony on her side, i found this whodunnit fairly easy to figure out. it wasn’t so blatantly obvious that i was annoyed at the characters for taking their time puzzling it out – i thought it struck a nice balance and enjoyed watching the pieces fall into place, even if it did take a while.

i love a found family so i really liked most of the characters (at this point, can any group of people in a fictional work function without at least one hacker extraordinaire??). the larger problem was that the book felt unnecessarily long. i enjoyed reading it while i was actually reading it, but once i put the book down it was kind of hard for me to feel motivated enough to pick it back up.

i’m not well versed in the world of true crime (i like my felonies fictional, thank you), but i’ve heard that one of the major events in this book is a ripped-from-the-headlines version of one that actually happened. i usually think it’s pretty gross and lazy to use real crimes, but i didn’t clock it while i was reading since i wasn't familiar. what i did get was that amateurs and cops both have plenty of problems (often each other). the amateur sleuths were quick to judgment and hurt innocents. the police were more concerned with their prejudices and perception than getting justice. i didn’t really believe the relationship between the group and law enforcement, just like i didn’t believe some of the final resolutions, but honestly i was way too busy losing it over the star trek AND buffy the vampire slayer self-insert fan fiction to care. the AO3 mention alone was enough to get four stars out of me!

thanks to tantor audio for the audio copy and sourcebooks landmark for the digital copy on netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

The narrator was too good at her job, her voice gave a very sinister tone to the story. I was at the edge of my seat while listening and a little terrified.

Another fast paced, hard to put down book from Winstead! She has very easily turned into a must read author for me. I love how twisty her thrillers are along with having interesting, unique character development!

I was hooked from the very beginning! It kept me guessing and engaged. I loved the twist and the ending was perfectly executed. The only thing keeping it from a 5 star.. is the fact that it is too close to the real tragedy in Idaho. It did leave me with some discomfort at times.

ASHLEY WINSTEAD IS ABSOLUTE FIRE!!!! Honestly, this author gets better with every book and this one is no exception. College student, Jane Sharp has lost her father to a sudden heart attack. She drops out of college and gets obsessed with true crime. Amongst the forums, she meets her "family", a group of true crime aficionados, who invite Jane to join them. Jane seems a natural at sleuthing and she quickly impresses the group by helping to solve a woman's murder in her hometown.
When tragedy strikes a college town in Delphine, Idaho, the group swoop in with their knowledge and skills in order to help the police. But it quickly becomes apparent that the group has different takes on "helping" and their father-figure, George, wants no part of leaking the police report. However, as soon as he leaves, another murder rocks the campus on Delphine and George quickly gets pulled back in to the group. But are the arm-chair sleuths actually helping or hindering? And will the murderer be brought to justice?
This was full of twists and turns and is extremely fast-paced. Jane tries to explain her side of the story and get the facts straight for the audience but at the same time, you can't help trying to solve the murders yourself.

*Special thanks to NetGalley and Macmillan Audio for this digital audio e-arc.*

This book was so exciting to read! I felt for the main character Jane, aka searcher. Her dad passed and she dropped out of college. She began following true crime buffs and got involved in some of the mystery. Early on she proved herself by providing some insight that led to some evidence, and a few elites of the true crime community took her into their circle. As she delved deeper and deeper into the murders, she began to lose herself. She even lost her minimum wage job at Starbucks. This book was a wild ride, and the whole book's premise was that it was a book within a book. This was the story the FMC wrote to give her side of what happened since many people felt she and her true crime friends may have created more problems than solutions. This was found family, but also an homage to her father. I loved it!

3 ⭐️ When I requested this audiobook on NetGalley, I did so purely on my love of Ashley Winstead and I forgot that this book had many similarities to the very real Idaho college murders of 2022. This book is not a non-fiction retelling of that case, it just uses all the details of that case to build its own story. So the killer and the narrative are all a bit different than reality. Still, the use of a case that is ongoing and trial has not happened yet gives me the complete ICK. I wanted to give the book a fair shot so I powered through it. It is about online sleuths and their quest to solve murder mysteries and a group of 5 citizens who band together and solve cases, it starts off with this group solving other cases until it gets to the Idaho college murders around 30% mark. From there it wholly focuses on their desire to be the first to solve that case.

For starters, let me get into what I did like - which is the audiobook narration by Leslie Howard, I am quickly becoming a huge fan of Leslie and I will definitely pick up more audiobooks narrated by her. Leslie’s inflection, pace and characters are all wonderfully done in every book of hers I have listened to and this is no exception. So if you do pick this up, highly recommend the audio. I also liked diving into the world of online civilians playing detective, it is a little cringy diving so deep but it is still very fascinating. I am very guilty of loving true crime but have never once in my life thought I could be more useful than the police or FBI, it is truly crazy what these keyboard warriors do.

What I didn’t like - the story is entirely too long. At times it gets very repetitive and felt like a slog around 60-75%. A lot could have been cut from this book and made zero impact on the story. As I already mentioned, I also did not like that this story uses a real case that has not been on trial as the jumping off point, I would have been kinder if this was instead a 100% original true crime story. Also, the ending and whodunit parts are not at all surprising, I could easily see where this was going and I do not like the predictability factor of this book.

Overall, major props to the audio, taking off many points for the story but I also liked learning more about online sleuths and their obsession and methods.

Thank you to Netgalley, RB Media and Ashley Winstead for the ALC in exchange for my honest review.

Title: This Book Will Bury Me
Author(s): Ashley Winstead
Genre: Thriller, Mystery
Date Published: March 25, 2025
Date Read: March 19-20, 2025
Format: Audiobook
Free?: This book was received as a an eARC audiobook courtesy of NetGalley.

Overall Rating: ⭐️ ⭐️
Mystery Rating: 🔍🔍🔍🔍
Suspense Rating: ⚠️⚠️⚠️
Tear Rating: 💧
Humor Rating: 😆

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Synopsis
"A chilling, compulsive story of five amateur sleuths, whose hunt for an elusive killer catapults them into danger as the world watches."

Review
When I first started this book, it was giving me 4-star vibes. I enjoyed the narrator and loved the way the book was set—as a tell-all/memoir book from the main character with a "what went wrong" Tarantino moment at the start, but that rating immediately nosedived when I started to feel a sense of deja vu at the plot.

As other reviewers have called out, the main crime story that the characters investigate is barely different from the actual case currently awaiting trial in August from Idaho — with the book version set in Iowa — with uncomfortable similarities to the victims.

The book touches on the true crime obsession that has swept social media over the past several years, and the parasocial relationships that sleuths develop with the victims they research, but it feels very exploitative to build this so clearly off of an ongoing case.

While I know it’s not uncommon for authors to pull from real life events and crimes for plotlines, the recency of these murders and the amount of details that were barely changed made this book leave a bad taste in my mouth.

🚨🚨🚨🚨 CAUTION - SPOILERS BELOW 🚨🚨🚨🚨

For a book that is focused on a main character and her four friends that are successful internet sleuths, there were several moments that made me roll my eyes at the author’s lack of research. One example: when the character goes to campus to infiltrate the sorority, she mentions that the KD hopefuls wore shamrock nametags and the actives wore teddy bear nametags, then shrugged it off as "no idea what those two have to do with KD," when a simple google search would tell you that a teddy bear is the sorority’s mascot, and they host events like Shamrock Week as philanthropic events. It may seem like a petty thing to complain about, but it was just one example of moments that I felt the author could’ve done better with the worldbuilding.

Recommend?
If you don’t have a problem with the exploitation of the victims from Moscow, Idaho, then you will probably love this book. However, if it will leave a bad taste in your mouth like it did with me, then this might be a book you want to skip.