A Good Girl’s Guide To Murder by Holly Jackson

Photo Credit: Delacorte Press

Traveling With T checked this book out from the library.

A Good Girl’s Guide To Murder

Summary: For readers of Kara Thomas and Karen McManus, an addictive, twisty crime thriller with shades of Serial and Making a Murderer about a closed local murder case that doesn’t add up, and a girl who’s determined to find the real killer–but not everyone wants her meddling in the past.

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.

This is the story of an investigation turned obsession, full of twists and turns and with an ending you’ll never expect.

Traveling With T’s Thoughts:

Let’s file this book under 2 categories- Bookstagram Made Me Do It and Bookstagram Steered Me Wrong.

Ya’ll.

Ok, I’ll admit that I was a teensy bit apprehensive about picking up the book because of it being YA. But it sounded so good. And so many folks were raving about it. So I requested from my library pre-COVID. Then the library shut down. So I didn’t get the book. But then I decided to request again.

I liked the plot of the book- it really sounded good. But so much was “meh” or “ugh” or “Where the F was her parents when she was running around investigating?”

I normally divide my review up into what I liked, etc- but I’m just going to spew my thoughts.

First: Pip. Ok I get that was she (probably) 18. And a senior. And you know smart and all that jazz. I also get that even though she was close to her parents- she didn’t tell them everything. I just felt that at times maybe her mom and dad needed to have a better grip on where their daughter was. Like I know she’s got to spread her wings- but still.

Second: How basically everyone confesses something to this girl doing a senior project. It’s very Scooby Doo (in fact I think I recall a Scooby Doo reference.)

Third: Back to Pip. I get that she’s supposed to be like smart and driven to succeed (a good for her!) BUT sometimes I felt the book was trying to prop her up a bit too much.

Bottom line: For me, this was just not nearly as good as I had anticipated or Bookstagram led me to believe. Glad I checked it out from the library.

*Traveling With T checked this book out from the library. All thoughts and opinions are mine alone.*