A review by nickoliver
A Good Girl's Guide to Murder, by Holly Jackson
dark
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
4.5
I've been in a bit of a reading slump recently, with none of my current reads interesting me. So I decided to start a new book that I was pretty much in the mood for, and it was definitely a good decision, because I really enjoyed it!
I was intrigued from the start. The chapters were really short and had an interesting format - they had interview transcripts and diary-like entries sprinkled in regularly -, which made me not want to put the book down (even though I did; it took me almost a week to finish it, but that was mostly due to the aforementioned reading slump). I also found the story surprisingly funny, though more in the first half than the latter. Pip and some of the side characters were amusing and lightened up the mystery sometimes. They had great banter, and I would've liked to see more of it. The mystery itself had me hooked, though I did not particularly enjoy the eventual murder reveal. And I feel like you do have to suspend your disbelief a little at times.
There were some other things that made me dock 0.5 stars, too. First of all, it got a bit annoying that none of Pip's friends - at most Cara, but not even her much - were fleshed out. They'd be mentioned every once in a while, but never to a big extent. Sometimes, one of them would try and talk to Pip about something that was going on in their lives - like Cara's love life, for example -, but because you'd never heard about it before, it was just weird and unnecessary. The book could've done well to develop side characters a bit better.
Pip could be a bit of a challenging protagonist in the first place. I really liked her for the most part, but the lengths she went to for her capstone project were insane and unhinged. She'd blackmail, break into places, contact people she wasn't allowed to contact - and while I know she investigated the murder out of genuine interest and not just because she needed a topic for the project, I never understood how she planned on eventually writing the assignment. Was she going to mention all the illegal shit she'd been up to? And if not, how was she going to convey everything she wanted to say? That was also not really mentioned at any point, so I was just constantly astounded and confused.
I also have to say I didn't particularly like that she and Ravi ended up together, just based on the fact that she was a seventeen-year-old girl and he was mentioned very early on to be twenty. Did that make anyone else uncomfortable, or is it just me? Especially considering the topic of part of the plot, I found it weird that Jackson acted as if this was in any way normal.
I was intrigued from the start. The chapters were really short and had an interesting format - they had interview transcripts and diary-like entries sprinkled in regularly -, which made me not want to put the book down (even though I did; it took me almost a week to finish it, but that was mostly due to the aforementioned reading slump). I also found the story surprisingly funny, though more in the first half than the latter. Pip and some of the side characters were amusing and lightened up the mystery sometimes. They had great banter, and I would've liked to see more of it. The mystery itself had me hooked, though I did not particularly enjoy the eventual murder reveal.
Spoiler
I am quite honestly tired of having to read YA thrillers where the murderer was a father who had sex with a teenager and then scrambled to cover it up.There were some other things that made me dock 0.5 stars, too. First of all, it got a bit annoying that none of Pip's friends - at most Cara, but not even her much - were fleshed out. They'd be mentioned every once in a while, but never to a big extent. Sometimes, one of them would try and talk to Pip about something that was going on in their lives - like Cara's love life, for example -, but because you'd never heard about it before, it was just weird and unnecessary. The book could've done well to develop side characters a bit better.
Pip could be a bit of a challenging protagonist in the first place. I really liked her for the most part, but the lengths she went to for her capstone project were insane and unhinged. She'd blackmail, break into places, contact people she wasn't allowed to contact - and while I know she investigated the murder out of genuine interest and not just because she needed a topic for the project, I never understood how she planned on eventually writing the assignment. Was she going to mention all the illegal shit she'd been up to? And if not, how was she going to convey everything she wanted to say? That was also not really mentioned at any point, so I was just constantly astounded and confused.
I also have to say I didn't particularly like that she and Ravi ended up together, just based on the fact that she was a seventeen-year-old girl and he was mentioned very early on to be twenty. Did that make anyone else uncomfortable, or is it just me? Especially considering the topic of part of the plot, I found it weird that Jackson acted as if this was in any way normal.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Murder, Animal death, Grief, Infidelity, Adult/minor relationship, Blood, Bullying, and Pedophilia
Moderate: Sexual assault, Alcohol, Death of parent, Racism, and Rape
Minor: Dementia, Car accident, and Self harm