In My Dreams I Hold A Knife

In My Dreams I Hold a Knife is an intriguing, slow burn whodunnit/coming-of-age story set within an academic backdrop with an interesting character focus.

This psychological thriller has a murder mystery at its heart, but it is clearly more of a character-driven novel that slowly reveals the close bond, secrets and deceptions of a group of university friends. This group of friends first met during their first weeks at Duquette University and instantly became inseparable and were soon known on campus as The East House 7. But by the end of their four years at Duquette, one will be murdered, another will be accused and their friend group irreparably damaged.

I enjoyed the use of multiple POVs who tell the story as it jumps between the group's years at school and their 10th reunion in the present. I found some of the switches between the time lines a bit choppy and the pacing lags just a bit in the middle, but the red herrings and the well-developed characters more than made up for it. Particular focus is given to Jessica Miller, a young woman who isn't overly likeable, but has believable flaws, insecurities and a moral compass that doesn't quite aim north which makes for an interesting POV.

This is an impressive and twisty thriller about obsession, friendship, ambition, rivalry and just how far someone will go to get what they think they deserve out of life. While it didn't quite give me a book hangover, it was an engaging and slightly sinister story that kept me turning the pages. I look forward to reading more from this author.

My Rating: 4 stars

Author: Ashley Winstead

Genre: Suspense

Type and Source: Trade Paperback from public library

Pages: 368

Publisher: HarperCollins Canada

First Published: August 3, 2021

Opening Lines: Your body has a knowing. Like an antenna, 

attuned to tremors in the air, or a dowsing rod, 

tracing things so deeply buried you have 

no language for them yet.

Book Description from GoodReads: Six friends. One college reunion. One unsolved murder.

Ten years after graduation, Jessica Miller has been invited back to her university for a reunion and she is obsessed with dazzling everyone with her beauty and success. This time when they see her, it has to be perfect because she is perfect. Not the girl she was when she left campus, back when Heather Shelby’s murder fractured everything, including the tight bond linking the six friends she’d been closest to since freshman year.

But there’s more at stake than the delicious envy of her peers—not everyone is ready to move on. Not everyone can let Heather’s murder go unsolved. In fact, someone has orchestrated the whole weekend to trap the real killer. As the weekend unfolds and they get closer to the truth, the group finds there was more than murder hidden amongst them on campus.

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 millennial thriller you won’t be able to put  

down.