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A review by libbyslibrary
This Book Will Bury Me by Ashley Winstead
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
1.0
Hooo boy I did not like this at all. Let me just get this out of the way before I get to the important stuff: Jane’s obsession with her dad’s legacy was absolutely bananas to me. He died of natural causes girl chill! She needed therapy, not Reddit.
I picked this up naively hoping it’d hold a mirror up to issues with the true crime world. Police on average only solve like 36% of violent crimes. Obviously, victims deserve justice so I understand armchair sleuths can have a positive impact- we wouldn’t have caught the Golden State Killer without them. But too often, the “search for justice” is exploited for views and ad revenue. I’m guilty of taking part, I listened to all of the true crime podcasts in the 2010s.
While the book spends a little time talking about this toxic side of the true crime community, it undid any positive work by basing the rest of the plot line on an actual, real life case (the 2022 University of Idaho Massacre). I wish I would’ve DNF’d when I realized what the author was doing. It felt beyond icky.
The one positive I will give the book is the discussion regarding the disparity between how cases involving white woman/girls are treated vs cases involving women/girls of color, specifically Black, Indigenous and Trans women/girls. That should always be called out when we’re talking about true crime.
I picked this up naively hoping it’d hold a mirror up to issues with the true crime world. Police on average only solve like 36% of violent crimes. Obviously, victims deserve justice so I understand armchair sleuths can have a positive impact- we wouldn’t have caught the Golden State Killer without them. But too often, the “search for justice” is exploited for views and ad revenue. I’m guilty of taking part, I listened to all of the true crime podcasts in the 2010s.
While the book spends a little time talking about this toxic side of the true crime community, it undid any positive work by basing the rest of the plot line on an actual, real life case (the 2022 University of Idaho Massacre). I wish I would’ve DNF’d when I realized what the author was doing. It felt beyond icky.
The one positive I will give the book is the discussion regarding the disparity between how cases involving white woman/girls are treated vs cases involving women/girls of color, specifically Black, Indigenous and Trans women/girls. That should always be called out when we’re talking about true crime.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Gore, Mental illness, Misogyny, Violence, Kidnapping, Grief, Death of parent, Murder
Minor: Animal death