Reviews tagging 'Dementia'

A Good Girl's Guide to Murder by Holly Jackson

118 reviews

iamtheham's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

5.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Child death, Death, Kidnapping, Grief, and Murder

Moderate: Body shaming, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Toxic relationship, and Car accident

Minor: Dementia

litbrett's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious tense fast-paced

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

3.75

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Animal death, Body shaming, Bullying, Death, Emotional abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Violence, Dementia, Kidnapping, Grief, Car accident, and Murder

madflatt's review against another edition

4.75

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Animal death, Confinement, Death, Drug use, Gore, Pedophilia, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicide, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Dementia, Kidnapping, Stalking, Murder, and Toxic friendship

Moderate: Racism

Minor: Car accident

singalana's review against another edition

adventurous mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

Dividing books based on the age of the protagonist has always felt a bit arbitrary to me: this book is young adult, but deals with some rather heavy topics, even more so that a lot of the thrillers directed at adults. 

This is Holly Jackson’s strong debut thriller. Five years ago a schoolgirl was murdered. Everyone knows who did it, and the case is closed. Pippa chooses the case as her final-year project and starts to dig deeper to what really happened. 

The characters in this book are mostly teenagers and the adults in their lives. The characters feel well-defined and authentic with their complex problems. The main character Pippa doesn't feel especially memorable, but on the other hand this gives more room for the story. I liked the family dynamics of the main characters, they were so wholesome. 

The book is told in mixed media format: there are notes, texts and diagrams as Pippa collects evidence in an attempt to solve the case. 

I found the book to be very entertaining, relatively fast-placed and at least I couldn't predict what had really happened that night five years ago. 

If you're looking for utmost realism in your books, be warned. As some reviewers have pointed out, Pippa does get into rather dangerous situations and there seem to be no repercussions for her actions. You'd think the police might have something to say about the way she acquires information.

---

Content Warnings

Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Animal death, Body shaming, Bullying, Cancer, Child death, Confinement, Death, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Infidelity, Mental illness, Racism, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Dementia, Kidnapping, Grief, Stalking, Car accident, Abortion, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Murder, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

shannonharper_x's review against another edition

adventurous emotional mysterious tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

I'm desperate to start the second book! The twists and tension in this book kept me so on edge and  it was so fun to follow along in the investigations and piece together the clues myself. Even then, the constant twists and turns of new information was unexpected and rerouted my train of thought!

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug use, Suicide, Kidnapping, and Murder

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Bullying, Emotional abuse, Racism, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Violence, Grief, and Toxic friendship

Minor: Cancer, Vomit, and Dementia

lana_e's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious sad 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? It's complicated

4.75

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder

Moderate: Child death, Death, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, and Abortion

Minor: Dementia

isaile's review against another edition

adventurous emotional hopeful mysterious 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? It's complicated

5.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug use, Emotional abuse, Suicide, and Murder

Moderate: Bullying, Child death, Sexism, and Sexual assault

Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Animal death, Body shaming, Cursing, Racism, Violence, Dementia, Kidnapping, Grief, Stalking, Death of parent, and Alcohol

fanboyriot's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious 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? No

4.0

♡ Cold Case 

♡ Small Clues

♡ Murder Board

The plot was a bit cliché but entertaining enough.  It is unfortunate that the US edition had so much edited out, there are just moments that feel skipped over or some parts that seem missing general.  But in the end it was a good story.

I loved the formatting of this book, all the extra details like the schedules, text messages, were all formatted nicely.  It was an entertaining to read, it had twists and turns, an unlikely friendship, a killer hiding in plain sight, and a school project that turned into solving a murder.

Spice Level: n/a

POV: Third Person

Release Date: 05, January 2021

Rep: BIPOC (Main Character and Side Characters), Lesbian (Side Character)

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Racism, Violence, Grief, Stalking, Murder, and Gaslighting

Moderate: Animal death, Body shaming, Bullying, Child death, Cursing, Drug abuse, Drug use, Misogyny, Blood, Vomit, Kidnapping, Car accident, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Dementia, Death of parent, and Toxic friendship

hellokatya's review against another edition

adventurous dark funny hopeful 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? It's complicated

4.5

this was a very good read - super easy to get through, and felt like a palette cleanser. 
only complaint is it felt a bit too YA for the mature topics that were in it, hence the lower rating, but overall i thoroughly enjoyed it and the ending was really nice! 
highly recommend

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Confinement, and Death of parent

Moderate: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Bullying, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Dementia, Car accident, and Alcohol

Minor: Body shaming and Blood

dixiecarroll's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional informative mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

Very excellent YA thriller. I clocked the killer pretty early on and one twist BUT it was still riveting and so fun. I downloaded it to keep me busy while running and then I went and barreled through it far too quickly. There are A LOT of trigger warnings - I’m tagging them all on StoryGraph

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Animal death, Bullying, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gore, Hate crime, Racism, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Violence, Blood, Dementia, Kidnapping, Grief, Stalking, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, and Murder