Because she seemed unlikeable to me, I failed to understand why two of the men in her group loved her, and her inability to choose between them. As a student at the prestigious Duquette University, she was obsessed with getting perfect grades and establishing a place for herself in the school’s social scene, a goal she accomplished by dating her class’ golden boy and ingratiating herself into a friend group known as the “East House Seven. For a second I wasn’t sure how I felt about it, but then I thought how it made sense with the breadcrumbs that were scattered throughout.

The book has already been praised as “riveting” (Megan Miranda) and “bingeworthy” (Caroline Kepnes), and it’s sure to be one of fall’s must-read crime novels. I cannot wait to discuss this one with more readers, and I believe it will be in my Top Ten Reads of 2021 wrap-up as well.

Told over two timelines – one in the present and one in the past – it’s brilliant to see the build-up to the reunion and to gradually find out what happened to Heather. For me personally, IN MY DREAMS I HOLD A KNIFE didn’t fully hook me until just before the 100 page mark. I liked going back and forth between different timelines which give enough clues about characters’ motives and perspectives.

If you liked Marisha Pessl's Neverworld Wake or Laurie Elizabeth Flynn's The Girls Are All So Nice Here, trust me—you will love this. I found everything I crave in a thriller (multiple POV, two timelines and a clever plot) AND the characters were well-developped. I was invested in the writing just as much as discovering the guilty party, landing me squarely into the 'I can’t believe this is a debut' camp. But not everyone has moved on from the murder, someone has been compiling evidence long after the police have given up on the case. What she does not anticipate, is that her former friends have lived with their own insecurities and dark secrets.

That is exactly the kind of character Ashley Winstead gives readers in her book’s protagonist, Jess.

Six college friends reunite at homecoming weekend a decade after graduating — This crew is brimming with dark deceit and secrets, and are forced to confront the details of a murder they’ve all tried to leave behind.Now she is an Upper East Side girl named partner at one of the most sought after positions at a consulting company in NYC.