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In episode 3, we review the entire 3-book YA mystery series A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder by Holly Jackson.
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Well…I’ve put off writing this review as long as I could. I don’t know how much I can say without giving spoilers, but I’ll try. I’m really disappointed by the turn this book took from the series before it. Not only does Pip cross some major ethical/moral lines (which she also did in the previous book, but not nearly to the same extent), the mystery is nearly non-existent, is not solved by Pip at all, and is wrapped up halfway through the book. The second half is given over to the stuff I can’t talk about without spoiling it.
During that first half, while the not-very-mysterious mystery is unfolding, Pip is suffering some severe PTSD from what happened at the end of the previous book. While I can’t really say that her trauma is unrealistic or too extreme, since I’ve never gone through what she did, it definitely feels overdone. It’s certainly a preference thing, but my preference is to not have a book like this so bogged down by a main character who is falling apart and dealing with it in all the worst ways.
As for the spoilers, I don’t want share them here and risk anyone accidentally seeing something they wish they hadn’t. If you want to read the spoiler part of my review, follow this link to my review on Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/6243264646 (Once there, click on the spoiler tag midway through the text.)
Not only did I not enjoy this book, but it also seems likely to me that the author planned this ending from the start. Though I really enjoyed the first two books in the series, I don’t know that I’ll ever want to re-read them, and I also don’t think I’ll be able to trust another book/series by this author. As for a recommendation, it’s difficult to recommend any of this series, knowing how it ends, and knowing that the books are connected enough that stopping at #2 might feel incomplete. Plenty of others weren’t bothered by what I was, both the spoiler and the non-spoiler parts, so maybe you won’t be either.
Find out more about As Good As Dead
If you’ve read this book, or read it in the future, feel free to let me know what you think!
After solving the mystery of Andie Bell’s and Sal Singh’s deaths, Pip and Ravi create a limited-run podcast to share their discoveries. Due to the podcast’s success, when Jamie Reynolds, the brother of one of Pip’s close friends, goes missing, his family asks her to use her audience to try to find him. Pip is resistant at first, not wanting to get caught up in another investigation, given how damaging the last one had been for her and those around her, but since the police don’t consider the disappearance a priority, Pip knows she can’t leave her friend and his family without answers.
I liked this book a tad more than the previous, I think because it felt a little more focused than the first one, with so many paths Pip went down to get to the real truth. I liked the merger of the updates from the previous investigation with the new case at hand. I have to admit that I pegged the main bad guy really early in the book, which is not normal to me, but I honestly don’t know if it was majorly telegraphed or if I just took a guess based on tropes of the genre. I think there was at least one thing that happened that wasn’t explained, which I wish had been. And the reader is definitely not given a chance to figure out the motive in advance, but then again, this isn’t exactly a cozy mystery, so I think that’s okay.
I still get serious Veronica Mars vibes from this series (in a good way). I take issue with some of the ethical and legal lines Pip is willing to cross in this book, with no consequences, though they may come about in the next book. For those who want to know about content, there is some language and references to drug use and rape, though nothing explicit. If you’re concerned, I’d definitely recommend reading it before your teen does (especially a younger teen). I’ve enjoyed this series thus far and look forward to the conclusion.
Find out more about Good Girl, Bad Blood
If you’ve read this book, or read it in the future, feel free to let me know what you think!
Using her senior school project as a guise, Pip decides to dig into the cold case of a girl that was supposedly murdered by her boyfriend, who then killed himself, five years in the past. At first, she just wants to come up with reasonable doubt that Sal Singh killed his girlfriend, and it’s not long before she comes up with quite a few potential suspects. But the more she digs into her town’s secrets, the more someone doesn’t like what she’s doing, and Pip and her loved ones might be in danger.
I don’t know exactly what I was expecting from this book—something more shallow, maybe, or full of teen angst—but instead I found it to be an enjoyable, fast-paced mystery that kept me guessing! There was a major Veronica Mars feel to the story (a show that I love), though Pip is much less jaded than Veronica Mars. Pip’s progression through the clues, adding suspects to her list, and re-arranging those suspects all coincide with her attempt to maintain her friendships and get a college application and essay done on time. There were some decisions that Pip made that I thought were pretty terrible, all the way up to the end, though I don’t know if that’s a fault in the writing or in her teenage decision-making skills. And I have to admit, at some points along the way, I was worried the ending and reveal would be anti-climactic, but it was anything but. Even when you think you know what’s going on, there’s a little more to uncover.
My 13-year-old daughter read this book as well; she might be a little on the young side for its target audience (not even being in high school yet), but she loved it! For those who want to know about content, there is some language, including 3-4 f-words, and plenty of references to teen sex and drug use, though nothing explicit. If you’re concerned, I’d definitely recommend reading it before your teen does (especially a younger teen). In the end, though, I’m glad I read it and look forward to continuing the series.
Find out more about A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder
If you’ve read this book, or read it in the future, feel free to let me know what you think!
A Journey of Words 