Book Review: In My Dreams I Hold a Knife

Synopsis (taken from 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.

In My Dreams I Hold a Knife: 5/5 stars

Genre: Mystery/Thriller

Pages: 345

Published: 2021

Can every thriller I read be like this one?!

Books set on college campuses always grab my attention. I loved everything about my college experience and reading about it makes me feel nostalgic! This was such a great read and did not disappoint for my first thriller of 2023.

In My Dreams I Hold a Knife explores the dynamics of  a group of 7 friends as they navigate college. Each friend has a unique background and story. We learn the most about Jessica, our main character, who is self-centered and twisted in her own ways. Secrets, murder, and more add to the complex plot and will have you guessing until (literally) the last page. My ONLY negative about this one is that there are 7 characters, so it got confusing at times keeping up with everyone…but once I got the hang of who is who, it was a lot easier to follow!

This is a wonderful debut novel and I will 100% be reading more from Ashley Winstead. 

I held off on reading this book for so long and I WISH I had read it sooner. 

Read if you liked:

• Tell Me Lies
• The Girls Are All So Nice Here
• TV shows/movies set on college campuses