rabiyar7's review
adventurous
challenging
dark
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
I loved part 1! I had lots of OMG moments at some reveals and twists and turns. I wish loved part two as much but I didn't, it was good and not great in my opinion. Still a bloody brilliant trilogy.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Hate crime, Stalking, Drug use, Drug abuse, Blood, Addiction, Violence, Panic attacks/disorders, Mental illness, Gun violence, Murder, and Kidnapping
Moderate: Sexual harassment and Sexual assault
zas's review
challenging
dark
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.75
Content Warnings
Graphic: Violence and Murder
Moderate: Violence, Addiction, and Stalking
Minor: Rape
whosgina's review against another edition
dark
emotional
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood, Mental illness, Sexual assault, Drug use, Panic attacks/disorders, Death, Rape, Murder, Kidnapping, and Stalking
Moderate: Vomit and Fire/Fire injury
keiramckay's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
hopeful
mysterious
sad
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Injury/injury detail, Vomit, Death, Rape, Animal death, Blood, Fire/Fire injury, Kidnapping, Murder, Stalking, Child death, and Drug use
sirithecupcake's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.75
good but not as good as the first book
Content Warnings
Graphic: Murder
Moderate: Blood, Gore, Death, and Stalking
Minor: Kidnapping, Animal death, and Rape
secretlybatman4's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
hopeful
informative
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Grief, Fire/Fire injury, Blood, Death, Murder, Kidnapping, Violence, Stalking, and Panic attacks/disorders
Moderate: Drug abuse and Drug use
Minor: Rape
calamitywindpetal's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Sexism, Stalking, Murder, Misogyny, Death of parent, Kidnapping, and Blood
Minor: Confinement and Sexual assault
itzbrianna's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
sad
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.5
As Good As Dead definitely brings a whole new meaning to A Good Girl's Guide to Murder.
In the third and final installment, Pip faces her own struggle with morality on what is right and what is wrong. Pip is naturally depressed, and suffering from PTSD as she went through very traumatic events in the last two installments. In fact, if she wasn't showing signs of extreme trauma I wouldn't have believed she went through the things she did.
Holly Jackson has once again created a story that takes a left when you think it's going right. There was no shortage of shocking discoveries and "oh my gods" throughout my read. However, this was the least impressive installment to me for many reasons. One is that I believe the story went on longer than it needed to. It seemed like neither the editor nor the author could decide on what ending to pick so they decided to merge everything together.
Another reason this final installment of the series didn't do it for me was because of the ending. Pip has had a lot of character development throughout this trilogy whether or not people will agree that the development only highlighted shortcomings? Eh, I'm not sure. But Pip seems to make the same mistakes regardless of the path she takes. Without giving any spoilers away that is all I will say.
Though there was a lot of filler in this book, it managed to keep me engaged for the first part. By Part two I was wondering why anyone felt the need to keep going or extend the inevitable. Overall, I enjoyed the series as a whole. This book was a great full circle. Perhaps if I read this again, I will have a new appreciation for it.
In the third and final installment, Pip faces her own struggle with morality on what is right and what is wrong. Pip is naturally depressed, and suffering from PTSD as she went through very traumatic events in the last two installments. In fact, if she wasn't showing signs of extreme trauma I wouldn't have believed she went through the things she did.
Holly Jackson has once again created a story that takes a left when you think it's going right. There was no shortage of shocking discoveries and "oh my gods" throughout my read. However, this was the least impressive installment to me for many reasons. One is that I believe the story went on longer than it needed to. It seemed like neither the editor nor the author could decide on what ending to pick so they decided to merge everything together.
Another reason this final installment of the series didn't do it for me was because of the ending. Pip has had a lot of character development throughout this trilogy whether or not people will agree that the development only highlighted shortcomings? Eh, I'm not sure. But Pip seems to make the same mistakes regardless of the path she takes. Without giving any spoilers away that is all I will say.
Though there was a lot of filler in this book, it managed to keep me engaged for the first part. By Part two I was wondering why anyone felt the need to keep going or extend the inevitable. Overall, I enjoyed the series as a whole. This book was a great full circle. Perhaps if I read this again, I will have a new appreciation for it.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Murder and Kidnapping
Moderate: Stalking and Drug abuse
Minor: Gaslighting and Addiction
abbeyh29's review
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Mental illness, Murder, Violence, Drug use, Blood, Injury/injury detail, and Stalking
Minor: Misogyny and Rape
bookswithlauren's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.25
I am wavering between a 3 star rating and a 3.5 star rating for this final book in the series.
My favourite thing about this series is how well planned and thought out each and every element is across all three books. There is always a connection, a deeper meaning, something to look further into and it is brilliant. However, this book is definitely my least favourite in the series for multiple reasons.
The first half is a slow burn and I really enjoyed it. We delve into Pip struggling with her mental health following the events from the second book and it is real and insightful. We explore PTSD, Anxiety, Addiction and Depression and how these have also had an impact on her relationships between her friends and family. It was well written and I am glad Pip was not just simply fine after everything she has been through.
There are two twists around the halfway marker in this book, one being the identity reveal for a serial killer and the other being what Pip does about it. Up until this point, I had not entirely worked out any of the twists Holly Jackson had written in her books and I enjoyed this uncommon occurrence for me but in this instance, I did work out the identity of the serial killer quite quickly. I did not mind working out a twist before it occurred, what I did mind was a character we have spent two and a half books getting to know and like acting completely out of character. I feel like the second half of the book had a much darker and far fetched tone and I was not a fan. I still finished the book as I wanted to know how the storyline was being played out but it was not the best choice in my opinion. All the characters we have grown to know and love seem to have a complete change in their morals and beliefs, especially Pip and I did not enjoy it. It made the second half of the book unrealistic and far-fetched to me.
The ending also aggravated me, for Pip to drag her friends into everything, for them to be so incredibly loyal to her and for her to just ghost them, not okay with that and not something Pip would have done. I think this particular storyline would have worked more if Pip's mental health had more to do with it but there was never any connections made between her mental health and her actions.
I still really enjoyed the series and would recommend the first two books to anyone and everyone but I feel this third instalment is a bit like marmite, you either love it or you hate it. I have said it in my other reviews and I will say it again here, the audiobooks for this series are incredible, immersive and impressive. Highly recommend listening over reading for sure!
My favourite thing about this series is how well planned and thought out each and every element is across all three books. There is always a connection, a deeper meaning, something to look further into and it is brilliant. However, this book is definitely my least favourite in the series for multiple reasons.
The first half is a slow burn and I really enjoyed it. We delve into Pip struggling with her mental health following the events from the second book and it is real and insightful. We explore PTSD, Anxiety, Addiction and Depression and how these have also had an impact on her relationships between her friends and family. It was well written and I am glad Pip was not just simply fine after everything she has been through.
There are two twists around the halfway marker in this book, one being the identity reveal for a serial killer and the other being what Pip does about it. Up until this point, I had not entirely worked out any of the twists Holly Jackson had written in her books and I enjoyed this uncommon occurrence for me but in this instance, I did work out the identity of the serial killer quite quickly. I did not mind working out a twist before it occurred, what I did mind was a character we have spent two and a half books getting to know and like acting completely out of character. I feel like the second half of the book had a much darker and far fetched tone and I was not a fan. I still finished the book as I wanted to know how the storyline was being played out but it was not the best choice in my opinion. All the characters we have grown to know and love seem to have a complete change in their morals and beliefs, especially Pip and I did not enjoy it. It made the second half of the book unrealistic and far-fetched to me.
The ending also aggravated me, for Pip to drag her friends into everything, for them to be so incredibly loyal to her and for her to just ghost them, not okay with that and not something Pip would have done. I think this particular storyline would have worked more if Pip's mental health had more to do with it but there was never any connections made between her mental health and her actions.
I still really enjoyed the series and would recommend the first two books to anyone and everyone but I feel this third instalment is a bit like marmite, you either love it or you hate it. I have said it in my other reviews and I will say it again here, the audiobooks for this series are incredible, immersive and impressive. Highly recommend listening over reading for sure!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Kidnapping, Murder, Panic attacks/disorders, Violence, Grief, Rape, Stalking, Suicidal thoughts, Confinement, Injury/injury detail, Gaslighting, Animal death, Death, Gore, Body horror, Drug abuse, Drug use, Medical content, Addiction, Blood, and Torture