A Good Girl's Guide to Murder – The Creative Life of Liz

Title: As Good as Dead

Author: Holly Jackson

Series: A Good Girls Guide to Murder

Publish Date: August 5, 2021

Publisher: Delacorte Press

Format: Hardcover

Goodreads Summary:

The highly-anticipated finale to the A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder series, the instant bestsellers that read like your favorite true crime podcast or show. By the end of this mystery series, you’ll never think of good girls the same way again…

Pip is about to head to college, but she is still haunted by the way her last investigation ended. She’s used to online death threats in the wake of her viral true-crime podcast, but she can’t help noticing an anonymous person who keeps asking her: Who will look for you when you’re the one who disappears?

Soon the threats escalate and Pip realizes that someone is following her in real life. When she starts to find connections between her stalker and a local serial killer caught six years ago, she wonders if maybe the wrong man is behind bars.

Police refuse to act, so Pip has only one choice: find the suspect herself—or be the next victim. As the deadly game plays out, Pip discovers that everything in her small town is coming full circle . . .and if she doesn’t find the answers, this time she will be the one who disappears. . .

Review: I feel so conflicted.

On one hand, we have a great story about a character that has gone through a lot in a short amount of time, who isn’t sleeping, who feels pushed to the edge, just waiting for the thing to push her over. On the other hand, we have the back half of the book, which I really feel completely ruins her character.

I was so excited for the finale, and I walked away just kinda wishing that we didn’t get this final book. The Pip at the end, the one who sets up everything in the back half of the book, is not the same Pip that I really enjoyed. I know she had changed because of everything that had happened to her, but her choices were so backwards compared to ones she had made in previous books.

If I consider the series together, the first book is the strongest, with the second book coming in close, and this one in a distant third. And it’s a shame. I am glad I read the series, though. On the whole, it’s still pretty good.

Rating: 3.5/5

Goodreads Goal 2/52

[Edit Update: This novel was originally read on February 23, 2022.]

Title: Good Girl, Bad Blood
Author: Holly Jackson
Series: A Good Girl’s Guide of Murder
Publish Date: March 2, 2021 (Originally published in April 2020)
Publisher: Delacorte Press (Originally Published by Electric Monkey)
Format: Print, Hardcover

Goodreads Summary:

The highly anticipated sequel to the instant New York Times bestseller, A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder! More dark secrets are exposed in this addictive, true-crime fueled mystery.

Pip is not a detective anymore.

With the help of Ravi Singh, she released a true-crime podcast about the murder case they solved together last year. The podcast has gone viral, yet Pip insists her investigating days are behind her.

But she will have to break that promise when someone she knows goes missing. Jamie Reynolds has disappeared, on the very same night the town hosted a memorial for the six-year anniversary of the deaths of Andie Bell and Sal Singh.

The police won’t do anything about it. And if they won’t look for Jamie then Pip will, uncovering more of her town’s dark secrets along the way… and this time everyone is listening. But will she find him before it’s too late?

Review: Last year, one of my favorite books that I read was A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder. It was the last Barnes and Noble YA Book Club pick that we met in person for. I read it in six hours after a hellish day at work. And I’ll totally be honest, that was probably the best thing that came out of March 2020.

And now we have the sequel.

So. I put off reading this for months, fearful that it wouldn’t live up to AGGGTM. I felt a connection with Pip, and really enjoyed how she changed over the course of the book. It’s one of the few YA mystery/thrillers that I’ve read that I haven’t been able to guess the entire plot within the first 50 pages. (My best guess for a book, if you’re curious, was the entire plot, down to details, in 17 pages, for We Were Liars by E. Lockhart. And I’m still proud of that one.) GGBB has been sitting on my bedside table since it arrived, taunting me. Finally, in an agreement with a fellow clubmate (She watched 9-1-1, I play catch up on this and another book), I picked it up last night.

Five hours later, I was sitting on my bed, still trying to wrap my mind around this book.

While I’m not delving into spoilers, I will say this. It took me a bit to get into this. It had been over a year since I read the first book, so the second one starting with the trial made me go, “wait, what?” But once I got past the first twenty pages or so and everything clicked back into place, I barely stopped to take a drink of water. I was actively trying to figure out everything, and I got it wrong. Like, completely.

I’m ecstatic about that.

If you’re a fan of AGGGTM, read the sequel. If you like mystery thrillers, read both. Heck, if you like crime podcasts, this one is right up your alley. I am happy to say that this one lives up to book one. Now, I just need the finale to make it a perfect trilogy.

Rating: 5/5

Goodreads Goal 7/52

(Quick note: I didn’t write a review for the 6th “book” I read this year, as it was the first The Old Guard: Tales Through Time issue, which is 32 pages. I decided I’ll just review the series as a whole when the final issue is released.)