The case was never solved, though a cloud of suspicion still hangs over one of the other group members. But not everyone has moved on from the murder, someone has been compiling evidence long after the police have given up on the case. I was transfixed while her background was parceled out in increments and my understanding of her grew. Readers who love lighter suspense and a healthy dose of interpersonal drama won’t find this to be a negative at all; in fact, they will love the glimpses into campus life and young adulthood that Winstead gives her readers in her book’s first section.

But an individual with close ties to the group has plans for Jess and her friends, and this college reunion is going to be about much more than reliving glory days gone by.At one point I suspected each of the six friends, and that is exactly how I want my thrillers to play out! Now a 30-something living in New York, Jess has built an enviable career and life for herself, and she wants everyone to know it.

But with strong characters and lots of great twists, In My Dreams I Hold A Knife is most definitely a standout mystery thriller. Mystery and intrigue are on the weekend agenda, and Jess and her friends might just be walking unwittingly into a trap. 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.

Not without faults, a reader would be tempted to view her as superficial as she’s so focused on her image. This is definitely a character driven story, but don't let that convince you that it's slow or boring. Praise “Ashley Winstead’s mordant debut novel, In My Dreams I Hold a Knife, is the latest entry in the budding subgenre of 'dark academia,' where the crime narrative takes place on a college campus. That is exactly the kind of character Ashley Winstead gives readers in her book’s protagonist, Jess.

Our other characters and suspects are star athlete Frankie,brain ( that fits with both for Jess and our victim Heather), golden boy Mint who was long time boyfriend of Jess and left her for social media influencer princess Courtney ( even though she is not the member of unlucky number seven, she’s involved into murder investigation by being married with Mint), sweet, social, loyal friend and Coop’s new fiancée Caro, shy, lovely Jack who was also boyfriend of Heather has been accused to kill her but Eric finally knows he was not the one who killed her sister so he didn’t involve in his murder investigation. Ten years ago, Jessica Miller and her friends—a clique known as the “East House Seven”—suffered a horrific tragedy when one of their own was brutally murdered in her dorm room, stabbed to death while she was sleeping. 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. Those carefree days of college, where they felt on top of the world, were also some of the worst days for some of them.This book kept us up reading late at night, and is perfect for those looking for a heart racing thriller! What she does not anticipate, is that her former friends have lived with their own insecurities and dark secrets.