Book Review // Good Girl, Bad Blood & As Good As Dead by Holly Jackson

This post was written on the 15th of January

Welcome, or welcome back!💕 In today’s post I’ll be reviewing the sequel & the finale of the “A Good Girl’s Guide To Murder” YA Thriller/Mystery trilogy, by Holly Jackson. I had high hopes for these book, after reading the first one.. and…well – here are my thoughts on it.

Most of this review is spoiler free!! And this turned out to be a lot longer than I anticipated- Read my review of the first book in the series by clicking here!

---

~ Synopsis ~

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 sixth-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? 

Title: Good girl, bad blood
Series: A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder #2
Author: Holly Jackson
Rating: 🌟🌟🌟🌟 4/5 stars
Trigger Warnings: mentions of animal death, death, kidnapping,
Genre: YA, Mystery & Thriller
Published: March 2, 2021

My thoughts

Pip’s decided not to be a detective anymore, but when she’s convinced to take on Jamie’s missing person case, she keeps actively trying to avoid the dangerous obsession & trauma she had fallen into last time. The character development, as I mentioned earlier – was spot on!!

 ‘I made a promise. To myself. To everyone. I would never do this again, never play detective, never again lose myself to the world of small town secrets.”

Holly Jackson, GGBB

Honestly, this book was brilliant. The character development, a compelling mystery, the chemistry between Pip & Ravi and twists and turns!! Just as page-turning as the first book. I wouldn’t say it matches up to book one though, for various reasons – that’s why I gave it 4 stars.

The plot:

The book starts off with Sal & Andie’s memorial ceremony, then later – Connor telling Pip that his brother, Jamie’s missing. She refuses at first, but she agrees to take on the case. I would say the pace wasn’t as good as the first book. All the clues from the first book, fit so well into the mystery that Pip was currently solving.

I was really intrigued all through-out the book, and the ending was really heartbreaking. and I was quite confused, but it made sense when I kept re-reading the last part. I think what makes the book quite different from the first one, is that Pip is looking for a missing person, not a killer. This quote from the book, was so, so haunting.

It was here now, beating within her chest, knocking against her ribs. Aiming with her eyes. It was in nightmares, and crashing pans, and heavy breaths, and the ruffle of pages, and every click and every creak.

The gun was always there. It lived inside her now.

---

~ Synopsis ~

Pip Fitz-Amobi is haunted by the way her last investigation ended. Soon she’ll be leaving for Cambridge University but then another case finds her . . . and this time it’s all about Pip.

Pip is used to online death threats, but there’s one that catches her eye, someone who keeps asking: who will look for you when you’re the one who disappears?

 And it’s not just online. Pip has a stalker who knows where she lives. The police refuse to act and then Pip finds connections between her stalker and a local serial killer.

The killer has been in prison for six years, but Pip suspects that the wrong man is behind bars. As the deadly game plays out, Pip realizes that everything in Little Kilton is finally coming full circle. If Pip doesn’t find the answers, this time she will be the one who disappears….

---

• Title: As Good As Dead
• Series: A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder #3
• Author: Holly Jackson
• Rating: 🌟🌟🌟 3/5 stars
• Trigger Warnings: mentions of animal death, death, kidnapping, murder.
• Genre: YA, Mystery & Thriller
• Published: September 28th, 2021

---

My Review

The last book is definitely different from the previous ones. It’s more dark and ominous, capturing Pippa and the emotional trauma the past two investigations have had on her.

Okay, this book kind of let me down. I wasn’t that intrigued the first few chapters.. the writing was kind of repetitive and out of character, but I found it fine as I understand what Pip had been through in the last book, and that she was obviously really struggling with PTSD..

Plot line

Someone’s been leaving dead birds and headless chalk figures on her driveway, and sending threats to her email: “Who will look for you when you’re the one who disappears?” She reports to the police that she was potentially being stalked by someone, but just like in the first two books, they do nothing.

So, that meant that Pip & Ravi had to figure this out on their own, again. After some research, they also suspect that the DT Killer, is possibly who’s stalking Pip and emailing her these threats. Who left the same kind of messages and unknown prank calls for his previous victims.

I actually managed to somehow figure out who DT was, even before Pip did. Which was surprising. All of the links tying DT to the other books proved just how much thought had gone into everything and I was very impressed. I was also completely on edge reading halfway through the book.

Photo by Sofia Alejandra on Pexels.com

“Shewasgoingtodieshewasgoingtodieshewasdeadshewasdeadshewasgoingtodie”

And then comes the plot twist. the one that completely ruined this book for me. Pip despite being free, she does something completely out of character – I obviously can’t say what since that would spoil the book if you haven’t read it. It gets sooo much worse from then on.

Everything that happened in the second half is against everything Pip and Ravi used to stand for, and it just doesn’t make sense.🤯 This wasn’t the Pippa Fitz-Amobi I know, and I hated it so much. How did she turn from a good girl to such a morally grey person?? I also hated the ending. This definitely wasn’t how I wanted this series to end, not in an open ending.

---

Thank you so much for reading! I’m finishing up this post around 10 minutes before I leave to school for a PT meet. (parent-teacher) I get my mock exam marks today, so I’m kind of scared, I know I did well in some subjects, but a couple others I’m not so sure of…

Anyway, let me know if you’ve read this trilogy, and if you have book recs for me? 😀