A Good Girl's Guide to Murder by Holly Jackson Review

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.

Like my other reviews for very popular books with numerous reviews, I’ll be skipping my editorial-style intro and go right into my general thoughts and impressions. I really liked Holly Jackson’s A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder, particularly the whodunnit mystery investigation and the way the story effortlessly shifts suspicions and new reveals across its large cast of characters. Full of excellent twists and featuring a focused narrative that doesn’t ever stray too far from its core premise and mystery, I thought it was a solid mystery thriller and fully understand why its popularity contributed to its pick-up for a Netflix adaptation (also on my to-watch list).

As a YA novel, the book is very easy to read and strikes a tone that balances its YA appeal without feeling too juvenile or silly. Although the book’s language, content, and character flaws aren’t overly graphic considering its intended readership, the story doesn’t shy away from addressing material that can be considered triggering (as with most crime books, sensitive readers be sure to check your trigger warnings). While its two main characters Pip and Ravi are decidedly high school and collegiate age respectively, the novel doesn’t treat the reader like a sheltered child and goes through morally questionable and distressing situations that teenagers can experience. Additionally, the murder mystery story is just really solid all-around and is compelling from start to finish. The mystery thriller genre used to be one of my favorite genres to read when I was younger but in recent years, I feel like I’ve been repeatedly burned by many adult novels in the genre that suffer from irritating or stupid character logic, or slow and uninteresting investigations. A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder makes the mystery investigation premise look easy, though its ambitiously crafted crime and heavily interwoven connections between characters are anything but easy or simple. The reveals at the ending and the unveiling of the final timeline of events is complex and I flew through the book’s excellent plot to get there.

One aspect I found particularly interesting was the way Jackson presents the story, both through different forms of narration as well as visually within the book itself. Majority of the story is written in a 3^rd person past tense perspective commonly used in many popular YA novels, but A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder frequently breaks up many chapters by switching to a 1^st person perspective presented from Pip’s point of view shown through her typed capstone project entries that function like a journal. These numerous progress entries do a lot to keep the novel fresh (not that the story on its own isn’t interesting enough), and the addition of each entry’s date also helps add extra context to Pip’s movements. While occurring less often, the book has quite a few other clues and written documents that are also represented visually such as Andie’s calendar, Pip’s evidence board and notes, a Fairview map with notes and scribbles added, etc. While not necessarily a must-have to enjoy the story, these visual additions add so much to the reading experience and for readers that have a hard time visualizing character movements, the timeline of events, or where various places are located, it makes everything easier to understand and follow.

While I loved mystery investigation and the overall scope of the novel, at times the story occasionally felt a little young for my current and personal reading tastes. While I appreciated that the story didn’t deviate or wander very far from Pip’s investigation into Andie’s disappearance, I felt quite understandably old whenever it went in more drama-filled areas. I enjoyed reading about Pip’s internal struggles with finding herself and navigating the tricky teenage years, but some elements such as her familial grief towards the end of the story just don’t quite resonate with me being a reader nearly twice Pip’s age. While I found the mystery to be very well done, I also felt that the characters in general maybe could’ve been developed further, particularly Ravi and some of the others who had lasting trauma from the events five years ago. The motivations contributing to Andie’s disappearance also felt a little weak compared to how solid I found the timeline of the events and Pip’s investigation to be (the whodunnit is excellent, the why done it is good but could’ve been better). The character motivations technically fit and they are certainly unexpected and surprising, but I was a bit letdown by one of the concluding reveals and perhaps was expecting a more ambitious or involved background leading up to what actually happened. The details and character development are certainly far above what most YA novels deliver, but my reading preference tends to skew a bit older than who this novel is intended for so I can’t really fault Jackson too much for it, especially considering it’s a debut novel. I imagine this would’ve been a 5-star rating had I read this when I was much younger. However, perhaps it’s a sign that I need to read Not Quite Dead Yet, Jackson’s first adult suspense novel. Overall, these are very minor nitpicks however to what is otherwise an excellent mystery thriller/suspense story!