A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder by Holly Jackson
Mystery/Young Adult/Thriller
433 Pages
Book #1 A Good Girls Guide to Murder series
Published by Electric Monkey (2nd May 2019)
Purchase from | Amazon AU | Amazon UK | Amazon US | Booktopia | Fishpond AU* | Book Depository | Dymocks | QBD |
My rating: ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐
Actual rating of 4.5
Five years ago, a small town was rocked to the core when school girl and all around general sweetheart Andie Bell was murdered by Sal Singh. He did it, the police closed the case because the proof was there. The Singh family forever more painted with the brush of evil. Having grown up in the same town where this case took place, Pippa has a different thought. Choosing the case as her final Senior Year Project, she is determined to find the truth, but if the real killer is still out there, how far will they go to make sure she doesn’t find it?
I’ll admit, this was another book that bookstagram made me buy. I kept seeing it everywhere, I even had a bookstagrammer who won my giveaway request this book as her prize. So it piqued my interest quite a bit. I’m a fan of mystery and this one sounded fantastic, so off I went, buying yet more books that I do not need. So sue me.
I powered through this book. It kept me glued to the page and I just had to know what would happen next. The story is fast paced and is very story focused while still giving us feels for the characters we meet. I really enjoyed the character of Pippa, she’s the stereotypical smart girl, but she’s liked by virtually everyone she meets. She’s a nosy Nelly when it comes to the mystery, and I really liked that about her. I also enjoyed the character of Sal’s brother, I feel like it added another layer to this story, bringing home the message of ‘don’t judge a book by it’s cover’. I absolutely ADORED her step farther, a Nigerian man with the most gorgeous personality, I feel like I could just see his gigantic smile lighting up the room. I really hope we get to see more of him as the series moves along because he was such a shining star for me. All of the characters were well written with distinct personalities and I feel like they really jumped of the page for me.
The story was well thought out. And while I did have an inkling for a particular character being involved with the case of Andie Bell, I didn’t know the extent of their involvement and it was still a surprise to hear them talk about what happened. There was a twist that I sort of saw coming, but not until it was almost revealed, so I chock this one up as a win on the mystery side of things. Do I feel like it was a little unrealistic for a teenager doing a school project to uncover things that the police couldn’t/didn’t? Yes. Did this take away the enjoyment of the story for me? Not a chance. Yes there were things in this story that were quite unrealistic and I don’t feel that things would ever go down this way, but honestly, it was just a damn enjoyable story and I couldn’t put it down. I know I like to put emphasis on things having a sense of reality to them, but sometimes it’s nice to just be able to enjoy a story for what it is and not focus too much on whether it would really happen this way or not. Yes suspects caved a bit too easy, and I feel like people were probably too willing to monologue or give away secrets to the MC, but then I also think, who would suspect that a teenager working on a school project would be able to succeed where the police did not?
I don’t want to go into too much detail, but I found this to be such an enjoyable read, I’ve already purchased the two follow up books in the series and I’m hoping they’re just as big a page turners as this one was. It was a riveting mystery and honestly kept me guessing until the end.
All in all, a fantastic addition to the young adult mystery genre. If you love a great mystery that keeps you guessing the whole way through, with a well rounded cast and likeable characters, give this one a go.
Read Book. Repeat 