Book Review: "This Book Will Bury Me" by Ashley Winstead

Let's get one thing straight here: I bought this book because it was free and I had nothing to read. I was not expecting to enjoy it but I have to admit, even though it was a bit cliché and I could definitely see where the book was going, it was still entertaining to some degree. No, it may not be the perfectly crime novel, or the perfect thriller novel, or really the perfect anything novel. But one thing this book does prove is that not all novels have to be completely polished to give the reader a dose of entertainment. It was still pretty good even though I don't think I've ever heard of the author.

Jane Sharp's father unexpectedly dies of a heart attack, sending his daughter into a deep grief. In this depressive episode, Jane starts to spend more time online, especially on true-crime forums where she finds out about real criminal behaviour. She starts to become obsessed by a story from her local area in which a murder took place and a dismembered body was found. Jane keeps digging deeper, dedicating mountains of her time to solving crimes that were never solved. She also continues to build an online community in order to do this with others.

Now, Ashley Winstead has created quite an opening. We have something that isn't quite as universal as we think - a girl suffering the sudden death of a parent. We also have something very universal which is people, in their times of depression and sadness, often turn to things they don't quite understand. They often spend more and more time online and can become sucked into things very quickly. So, I think what Winstead is doing here is presenting us with both the familiar and the unfamiliar, really laying the groundwork for the atmosphere later on. This will allow it to become more unfamiliar without it feeling forced.

Whilst online, she gets the attention of some sleuths who each bring to the table an area of expertise whether that be law enforcement, hacking or even research. I have to say that there were maybe too many characters here to remember at this point. We already have Jane and now we have four more characters, on top of that we have a dead body and we also have the father who's died. This isn't far enough into the book. I feel like I don't know anyone apart from Jane too well.

After gaining some media attention for bringing a cold case to a close, there are visibly some folks who praise them and others who perhaps feel envious of their success, or even feel like there's some online vigilante stuff going on. I can honestly say that online vigilante (or 'armchair experts') are often everywhere online and perhaps that is why Ashley Winstead has used them. But if these people actively solved a case, there would not be as much backlash against them as there would be against some redditors commenting on a post with made-up 'theories'.

But one thing I did enjoy is seeing the ethical boundaries blur when the triple homicide happens. The group begins to target one of the ex-boyfriends after the murders of three college girls. Now, if this doesn't mirror the sorority house killings whilst a certain serial killer was on the run, I don't know what does. Once within, they obviously (and I'm saying obviously because it definitely mirrors the same case) find out that the person who murdered the three girls also killed someone somewhere else in the country.

The writing is a bit pale and is quite often lacking the philosophical depth to ask the questions it wants to ask. By the end of the book, the reader definitely knows what the questions are, but it is a long time coming. Also, the ending to this book is more predictable than a lot of people realise. But throwing that out, it was still entertaining to see how it was going to go down. I feel that if the author went for an ending that was focused more on giving Jane some closure, it would have been more successful. Be that as it may, it was still entertaining to read.

All in all, I am going to have to say that I don't feel like this book was written for me or audience members with my own tastes. This novel is definitely one for the internet age, possibly capturing the imaginations of Gen-Z and Gen-Alpha. Why? It's quite snappy and gets to the point without pushing tons of atmosphere out there. It has a massive online presence - which is definitely something I take issue with when it comes to crime and thriller novels. It finally makes most of its allure about its twists rather than its writing. It is fun, don't get me wrong - but it isn't the book for me.