A review by a_libraryghost
In My Dreams I Hold a Knife by Ashley Winstead

dark mysterious fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

It was fine. It took me a while to be able to distinguish between all the characters and I didn’t really latch onto any of them. The only ones I ever really cared about were Jack and Caro, and Jack is barely in the book. I didn’t mind Jess as a protagonist but she could definitely be frustrating, those who struggle with unlikeable protagonists will have a hard time getting through this one. 

All the twists and reveals were pretty good but there was so many of them it became easy to lose track and when the killer is finally revealed, it goes into a previous conversation that seemed like it was supposed to be some form of setup but I couldn’t remember any of it and when the killers “real” personality is revealed it just kind of feels out of nowhere. 

I did really like the relationship between Jess and Coop and just the general college vibe, I don’t know what it is that makes me love academic settings but I do. Jess’s relationship with her father was also a really interesting B story that fuelled her motivations really well and gave a lot of context to her unlikeable traits. But these relationships are the only things that really got any depth and everything else just felt thrown in.
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