When An A+ Student Becomes A Detective: A Good Girl's Guide To Murder By Holly Jackson

I have had this experience with a lot of books, but I found that with The Good Girl's Guide to Murder I felt more open to take choosing books a little less seriously. Typically I choose the same genre I usually like to read, and I avoid things that I feel I won't have much to say about in my reviews. But I realize that it's not fun to be like that. 

The Good Girl's Guide to Murder by Holly Jackson has some twists and turns, and has a cute romance and a well-developed main character. The love interest is also a person of color, but I will talk more about that in the character section.

Holly Jackson graduated from the University of Nottingham, where she studied literary linguistics and creative writing, and also got a master’s degree in English. The Good Girl's Guide to Murder is her debut novel. 

What is The Good Girl's Guide to Murder about?

The Good Girl's Guide to Murder by Holly Jackson follows 18 year old Pippa Fitz-Emoby, who is almost done with her senior year of high school and is working on her Senior capstone project. The story begins with her submission for this project, and her teacher's warning that she has chosen a sensitive topic: Andy Bell's murder. 

From the back of the book:

THE INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER EVERYONE IS TALKING ABOUT! 

An addictive must-read mystery with shades of Serial and Making a Murderer about an investigation turned obsession, full of twists and turns and with an ending you'll never expect.

Everyone in Fairview knows the story.

Pretty and popular high school senior Andie Bell was murdered by her boyfriend, Sal Singh, who then killed himself. It was all anyone could talk about. And five years later, Pip sees how the tragedy still haunts her town.

But she can't shake the feeling that there was more to what happened that day. She knew Sal when she was a child, and he was always so kind to her. How could he possibly have been a killer?

Now a senior herself, Pip decides to reexamine the closed case for her final project, at first just to cast doubt on the original investigation. But soon she discovers a trail of dark secrets that might actually prove Sal innocent . . . and the line between past and present begins to blur. Someone in Fairview doesn't want Pip digging around for answers, and now her own life might be in danger.

And don't miss the sequel, Good Girl, Bad Blood! 

"The perfect nail-biting mystery." --Natasha Preston, #1 New York Times bestselling author 

Main Character(s) in The Good Girl's Guide to Murder

Pippa Fitz-Emoby was the main character in the book. She starts off being cautious and empathetic towards both the victims family and Sal Singh, the boy accused of murdering Andy Bell (he was also Andy's boyfriend). Sal took his own life-or at least that's what the whole town thinks -a few days after he was confirmed to be a suspect in Bell's murder. 

The first person Pippa goes to interview is Ravi, Sal's younger brother. This is something I really appreciate because while I have seen more inclusive characters in terms of their cultures and skin tones, I have yet to see an author  prioritize Indians in a story-Holly Jackson is the first person who I have personally seen do that with this book, and I really appreciate it, even if Ravi was just Pip's love interest rather than being a main character.

Overall, I think that Pip was a well developed character because as a reader I saw her make mistakes, break down, give up, and get scared-all very real things for someone to feel in her situation. Halfway through the story, she lost her hesitation and became a lot more brave to the point of being a little reckless. She also seemed naive at understanding other people's intentions. But when her family dog, Barney, died it was like she had an awakening and was scared for her life and the lives of the people she loves. 

Holly Jackson's Writing Style

Something that I really loved about Holly-Jackson's writing style is that in some scenes, there was a lot more visual description than in others. You would think that would make it seem like her writing is inconsistent. But for me, it was fascinating to read because I allowed myself to incorporate my own visual descriptions as well.

Despite this positive experience, something that I found very annoying was the way the plot progressed. There were too many sub-plots which crisscrossed over one another and made a mess of themselves. As a reader, I felt my mind wandering away because of this and in some cases I was so bored that I would roll my eyes and skip past one or more scenes.

Ravi did not have any depth as a character other than his occasional goofiness, his feelings for Pippa, and the loss of his brother Sal as well as how much it affected him. He is a very lovable character, however, I think that there was a lot more work to be done for his character development. Throughout the whole story, the two of them seemed like best buds and there was no indication it would turn into a romance.

The fact that Ravi and Pippa finally got together in the very last chapter and probably the second last scene in the whole book made their romance seem like the pair had been taken out of a middle school novel and placed into this book. I was really put off by this and wished that Holly Jackson had just left the two characters to be friends instead of putting them together like a last minute ditch effort at pleasing the readers who would've wanted a romance. 

All that being said, this book is Holly Jackson's debut novel, and I think it was a really good attempt overall at writing a mystery novel. I cannot say that I disliked everything about the plot, because there were some aspects that I did actually enjoy. Even though Mr. Ward, who turned out to be someone Andy Bell had an affair with, and was also Pippa's best friend's father, I thought he was the most interesting of the three antagonists. The other two were Andy Bell's sister, Becca Bell, and an unnamed stalker who killed Pippa's dog, sent her threatening messages, and convinced Pippa to destroy evidence of Sal's innocence at one point. 

Mr. Ward was someone that I hoped was more grounded to reality, but unfortunately he was very far gone. So far gone that he picked up some random girl off the street who looked like Andy Bell, and kept her captive for years. I can't say that I was too surprised by this, but at the same time, I found it intriguing that he was so desperate that he did what he did. He murdered Sal, and the way he admitted to it was horrifying, but it was also clear that something was up with him even before Andy disappeared-it has to be the case when you're a father to two girls and probably in your mid-40's, and you decide to have an affair with a seventeen year old girl from the history class that you teach. 

Final thoughts on The Good Girl's Guide to Murder

I want to end this review on a positive note, so I will point out once again that this book was not horrible. The characters were, for the most part, good together, and I did like listening to the book via Libby. But would I pick this up and spend my own money on it?

The answer is no. 

But would I still recommend it? 

I would say that is dependent on who would be picking it up. I think that if you are looking for a read that you will fly through and can read just to pass the time, I would say you should pick up this book. It might also be a good book for someone closer to the age of Pippa-so a seventeen or eighteen year old. 

I would also recommend this book to someone who doesn't like novels with a lot of adult themes, because this book has darker themes like murder and infidelity, but there isn't detailed descriptions on the crimes to the point where if you had children who were a certain age, you may not want them to read the book.