This Book Will Bury Me
Janeway (yes, that’s a Star Trek Voyager reference) Sharp is at a college party when she gets the news: her father has died. In the wake of his death and the middle of her grief, Jane sees other news break of a woman murdered in a nearby Florida town. Never being interested in true crime before, her curiosity is piqued and she ends up down the rabbit hole of the True Crime Network, forging a relationship with 4 others and becoming an “amateur internet sleuth,” helping to solve the Florida case and soon after becoming key in the closing of one of the biggest serial killer cases in recent history.
This book did not bury me, but it dug me a hole. I was engaged the whole time and immediately drawn in by Jane’s voice and her story. It was framed as if I should know all about the murders she helped to solve, as if I’d read about her and she was writing to set the record straight. I felt a kinship to Jane as she became obsessed after her father’s death. The feeling of trying to grasp at something solid, solve a mystery, change anything within her control while drowning in grief was relatable. Several years ago during a difficult time of my life, I read and listened to little else but thrillers and true crime podcasts; I call it my “life could be worse,” phase.
The other characters were compelling, if not as fully fledged, and I appreciated the found family between Jane and her investigative crew. I didn’t find the conclusion very surprising, but I didn’t feel like this was *that* kind of thriller. It was clear to me that this was a book more about grief and losing the people we love than about true crime, mystery, or thrills, and I found that to be a beautiful thing.
Thank you to NetGalley and Landmark Books for the digital review copy of this title. All thoughts are my genuine reactions and reading experience.
A few favorite quotes:
-
This is a faux true-crime novel with depictions of death and murder as well as disordered eating and fatphobia. The author also provides a list of potential triggers at the opening.
