Book Review: A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder

Hey booksworms! It’s been a while since I’ve done a review and my goodness I loved every single page of this one. Last month, February, I read A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder by Holly Jackson and it exceeded my expectations. I will keep this review spoiler free, but in the grand case that I don’t, I will provide a warning.

Title: A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder

Author: Holly Jackson

Publication Date: February 4th, 2020

Genre: YA Mystery, Thriller, Contemporary

My Rating: ★★★★★/ 5

Trigger Warning: mentions of suicide, drugs, sexual assault

A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder follows Pippa Fitz-Amobi as she looks into a cold case that happened five years ago in her hometown for her Capstone Senior Project. Pippa researches the murder of a young girl, Andie Bell, whom everyone believes was murdered by her boyfriend, Sal Singh. Little does Pippa know that the more she discovers, the less everything makes sense and the more risk she puts herself in to figure out the truth.

I was really intrigued by the plot and it very much did deliver. Pippa is a very likable character. She’s very intelligent although, like most teens, she can be very naive at times. At the start, she did have limited resources since her teacher did warn her against contacting the victim’s family or close friends. So it made me wonder how is she going to solve one of the most tragic things to have happened in her small town. The more Pippa discovered, the deeper it got. There were times I found myself thinking, “is it this person? It has to be! Wait, no it must be this person!” or (*excuse my language) “what in the fuck does this have to do with that?” This book definitely had me on my toes the entire time, but in the end, Jackson was able to pull it all together somehow. Although, there are small baby plot holes that can easily be overlooked, but after all there is another book in the making so maybe they will be answered then. When I did find time to read, I read it chunks at a time, so it’s a pretty quick read.

What I found interesting is that the author used multiple forms of telling the story. For example, for the most part Jackson wrote in 3rd person, but also included “official” documents, interviews, emails, texts, and Pippa’s log entries for her project. I love this and I thought it made the plot more interesting than just reading it from 3rd point of view. This may not be for everyone, but it is neat.

Overall, I thought this book has a great premise and executed it really well. It was very intricate, detailed, and well planned out without being too overwhelming. If you are a fellow crime/thriller/mystery lover, I highly recommend this.