In My Dreams I Hold a Knife: TikTok made me buy it! The breakout dark academia thriller everyone's talking about

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It's been ages since a psychological suspense novel has blown me away, but that's exactly what In My Dreams I Hold a Knife has done. This balance between drama and suspense, once established, sucked me right in and kept me hooked until the book’s end. One of the unique selling points of Ashley Winstead’s debut novel is its ensemble cast, and the riveting glimpse Winstead offers her readers into the inner workings of its central friend group, a clique known as the “East House Seven. A college reunion brings together a group of friends once shattered by a vicious crime in this thrilling debut, reminiscent of Cruel Intentions, Heathers, and, of course, the Secret History.

When a tragedy strikes her family and Jess’ father passes away, Jess finds herself more driven than ever to live out her father’s dreams and achieve the goals he was never able to for herself.I recently read and loved The Girls are All So Nice Here, which contains a similar plot and is stellar in its execution. 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. They are each distinguished well and the developing cracks in their relationships add a lot of dark, brooding suspense in an already sinister-feeling mystery. At times, this was reminiscent of the old '80s classic, Clue, and at other times it read quite similar to L.

sʏɴᴏᴘsɪs: 10 ʏᴇᴀʀs ᴀғᴛᴇʀ ᴏɴᴇ ᴏғ ᴛʜᴇɪʀ ғʀɪᴇɴᴅs ɪs ʙʀᴜᴛᴀʟʟʏ ᴍᴜʀᴅᴇʀᴇᴅ ᴏɴ ᴄᴀᴍᴘᴜs, ᴛʜᴇ ʀᴇᴍᴀɪɴɪɴɢ sɪx ᴍᴇᴍʙᴇʀs ᴏғ ᴛʜᴇ ᴇᴀsᴛ ʜᴏᴜsᴇ sᴇᴠᴇɴ ʀᴇᴛᴜʀɴ ᴛᴏ ᴄᴀᴍᴘᴜs ғᴏʀ ʜᴏᴍᴇᴄᴏᴍɪɴɢ. I realize it was only released last year, but it has come to my attention that ‘dark academia’ is a bit of a trend, which explains why I have found myself reading several other books recently with a similar theme.also heather being the one that died was lame it should’ve caro, she had a lot more personality and was the reason they came together. This brooding book exemplifies so much of what I love about dark academic suspense: its authentic and immersive university setting provides the perfect competitive, pressure-cooker environment for its compelling cast of characters and increasingly urgent central mystery. And the more you get to know these characters, the more you will begin to suspect that every single one of them might be harboring their own dark secrets about the horrific murder of their friend a decade ago. The different timelines and perspectives impressively illustrated exactly why these characters were as 'effed up' as they were, making the characters even that much more authentic!