With her debut novel In My Dreams I Hold A Knife, Ashley Winstead has woven an intricate mystery full of twists and turns that will surprise most readers, and she has devised a clever and original method for her characters to reveal details from the past and put the pieces together to solve a ten year old crime.
The ten-year reunion for the class of 2009 at Duquette University is the setting for a group of five formerly close friends (who used to be a group of seven) to reconnect, and though it was not originally part of their reunion plans, they will also be working to solve a cold case murder. One of the seven, Heather, was murdered in her room during their Senior year, and Jack, Heather’s boyfriend at the time, and original suspect in her murder (though he was never tried, due to lack of evidence) are the missing members of what was once called the East House Seven.
Heather’s brother now works at Duquette and he finds a way to get the remaining “friends” together to help him solve what the authorities have given up on. His efforts get the group to start spilling secrets (both their own and each other’s) as they try to put the pieces together and find out what really happened to Heather that night.
Once the characters began working to solve the mystery, I enjoyed this book very much. Winstead’s pacing and storytelling are exceptionally good as she brings in many important social issues into the story, always in appropriate and respectful ways. My only struggle was with the first few chapters as we are getting to know the characters. Being about 20 years older than these characters, I found it very difficult to care about the things that they cared about and found it incredibly difficult to relate to them at first.
However, those annoyances and “character flaws” both played important roles in the story later on, and also served to make each of these characters seem like real, unique, three-dimensional people. Someone closer to the characters’ ages would likely have a much easier time settling into this story, but for me, it took longer than average.
There are certainly some thrilling elements in the book, but this is more of a true mystery that the characters and the reader get to unravel at the same time, which is something we do not see enough of. With her ability to weave multiple, distinct characters into a thoroughly well-crafted mystery that is absolutely full of twists, turns, and surprises, Winstead is without a doubt an author to keep an eager eye on!
In My Dreams I Hold a Knife is available from Amazon, Book Depository, and other good book retailers, like your local bookstore.
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Synopsis | Goodreads
Six friends.
One college reunion.
One unsolved murder.
A college reunion turns dark and deadly in this chilling and propulsive suspense novel about six friends, one unsolved murder, and the dark secrets they’ve been hiding from each other—and themselves—for a decade.
Ten years after graduation, Jessica Miller has planned her triumphant return to southern, elite Duquette University, down to the envious whispers that are sure to follow in her wake. Everyone is going to see the girl she wants them to see—confident, beautiful, indifferent—not the girl she was when she left campus, back when Heather’s murder fractured everything, including the tight bond linking the six friends she’d been closest to since freshman year. Ten years ago, everything fell apart, including the dreams she worked for her whole life—and her relationship with the one person she wasn’t supposed to love.
But not everyone is ready to move on. Not everyone left Duquette ten years ago, and not everyone can let Heather’s murder go unsolved. Someone is determined to trap the real killer, to make the guilty pay. When the six friends are reunited, they will be forced to confront what happened that night—and the years’ worth of secrets each of them would do anything to keep hidden.
Told in racing dual timelines, with a dark campus setting and a darker look at friendship, love, obsession, and ambition, In My Dreams I Hold A Knife is an addictive, propulsive read you won’t be able to put down.
