This Book’s Full of Lies. And I Ate It Up. | A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder Review (Book 1)

A Good Girl's Guide To Murder Book 1

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Author: Holly Jackson

Genre: YA, Mystery, Thriller

Page Count: 433

Five years after the death of Andie Bell, the case is reopened — unofficially. Everyone believes she was murdered by Sal Singh, but Pip Fitz-Amobi isn’t convinced. For her final school project, Pip makes it her mission to uncover what happened to Andie that fateful night.

SPOILERS AHEAD! BE WARNED!!!

I have never read a Holly Jackson book, but I had seen A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder talked about all over YouTube and Reddit. I decided to take a chance when I was searching for a good mystery or thriller novel during a book slump. This book was definitely helpful in getting me out of that slump since it was a page-turner.

The plot of the story was captivating and held my attention the entire time. There were some points in the story after the halfway mark where the plot was absent. This was intended because it gave the reader more insight into each character and the mystery that was taking place. The plot was fast-paced through most of the story. It was sometimes difficult to keep up with everyone and who is who because there were many moving parts.

The characters were well developed throughout the entire book. Pip, who was the main narrator, was shown to be very mature for her age.  We see Pip taking on the job that the local police had believed was already done. Pip read into Andie's case and knew that something was missing or had not been looked into. Pip can be seen taking risks like talking to the Signh family when told not to, talking to drug dealers, and even getting into some serious situations. Ravi was another main character since it was believed that his brother, Sal, killed Andie. We got to see his grieving process in the middle of healing, but then brought it all back to the beginning when Pip "reopened" the case. Each of the characters can be seen going through the ridicule that encompasses each of their lives. Ravi lived with people looking at him and his family horribly, just because there was basic evidence pointing to Sal as the murderer.  Pip was looked at differently, mostly by the local police, because it was considered to be insane to open a closed case. No one believed either main character until the end, when it was proven. 

The ending of this novel was so insane that I couldn't believe what twist came. This is where the spoilers come, so if you haven't read this yet, please stop here! 

Okay, I did not believe that Elliot Ward played a part in killing her. He was a teacher at the local high school, and he was also Andie's love interest. But he wanted to end it, supposedly, and so they had gotten into an altercation, causing her to get a head injury. But that isn't what killed her; she then came home, which led to a fight with her sister Becca over drugs. Max Hastings used to help him assault Becca. Becca was unaware of her sister's head injury, so when she pushed her, she ended up falling and dying on the floor. Her sister did nothing but stand there, which honestly was quite insane. Then her sister decided to throw her dead sister's body into a septic tank. Like that was the thing that got me because I was like, of all places, that is where you want to dump her. Back to Elliot Ward, though, he actually thought he killed Andie, so he went and killed Sal. He wanted it to look like Sal killed Andie, and out of regret for doing it and the public eye he committed suicide. But no, because Elliot drugged Sal and suffocated him after forcing sleeping pills. So all in all, Max Hastings, Elliot Ward, and Becca Bell all played a part in her death. 

 This book was amazing, and I was pleasantly surprised by how much I enjoyed this book. I picked up book two right away after finishing this book, cause I couldn't get enough of Pip and her cases. I highly recommend this book to any young adult who is looking for a quick-paced thriller. Also, for any adult who is looking for a quick read, but also a good thriller/mystery. 

My rating for this book is: ⭐⭐⭐⭐.5 (4.5/5 stars)

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