Justice or Revenge? Breaking Down As Good As Dead 's Twisted Finale [Spoilers Inside]

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Want to read the finale!

Author: Holly Jackson

Genre: Ya, Mystery, Thriller, 

Page count: 480 pages

Spice Level: 🌶️

Trigger Warnings (This is just a short list, there could be more trigger warnings): 

• Graphic: Murder, Kidnapping, Stalking
• Moderate: Drug use, Addiction, Rape
• Limited: Animal death, Sexual assault, vomit

Tropes: Final girl energy, morally grey heroine, Stalker, Obsession, Revenge plot, Murder, Justice system fails, ride or die relationship

Pace-level: Medium-fast paced

Tells the story of how Pip is now trying to cope with the aftermath of her latest investigation. She is off to college soon, but there is one thing that is now bothering her. 

Pip is getting the same message, "Who will look for you when you're the one who disappears?". As time goes on, she realizes that someone is actually stalking her in real life and is taking the threats to a whole new level. As she starts to investigate, she sees similar connections to the killer who was arrested years ago. 

As the police refuse to investigate further into Pip's reports, she decides to take matters into her own hands. As she investigates, she notices that everything she once thought is completely different. Also, the mystery is unraveling, but it is coming full circle, and the protagonist is in a race against time to avoid becoming the next victim. 

THERE ARE SPOILERS MIXED IN THIS REVIEW!!!

The writing of this book was significantly more detailed than that of the previous two books. It is also worth noting that the writing was darker than in the second book, but this was not apparent until the second part of the novel. Jackson did add a descriptive feature, especially when Pip described Jason's death. I appreciated the writing in this novel more than in the previous ones, as it provided a more mysterious feel. 

Pip in this novel underwent a significant transformation, and I do not think she changed for the better. It can be seen that she was struggling with the fact that she had seen Stanley get murdered. As readers, we got to see the ups and downs that came with her struggling mentally and how much it impacted her overall well-being. As we head towards part 2 and the end of the novel, that is when we see the switch in her as a character. The biggest change for her was when she let her fears, personal justice, and her PTSD determine the next steps after she found her stalker. We can see that she is no longer morally straight due to her personal fears. She does end up killing Jason Bell, which was a significant departure for her. She has also used her knowledge to help her and Ravi come up with a plan on how to pin the murder on Max Hastings. 

Ravi remains the same person he has always been in the previous novels. It can be seen in this novel that he was more concerned about Pip's struggles. It was also noticed that he is willing to do whatever he needs to do in order to protect Pip. He had no hesitation in lying to Detective Hawkins about Pip's headphones. He also never hesitated in helping Pip cover up Jason's death, even though it probably could have been proven as self-defense. 

Pacing of the book was a mix between medium/slow to fast paced. It seemed as though part 1 of the book was the medium/slow pace, and as soon as we hit part 2, the pace picked up. The first part did start out slow, since we were getting a detailed run through of how Pip was suffering from the last case. Also, I felt like it was a bit slow because Pip's stalker was being introduced too slowly. I did understand some of the appeal of it but I did wish it was slightly quicker. As for the second half, the pace was way quicker than the first part. It did feel rushed at some sections because I would have preferred some more details to really pull me in. I did feel like the book was able to keep me interested enough but there were parts that kind of lost me and again that was mostly due to the pacing of the book.

The plot of the book was different than the first two books which did honestly make the novel more appealing to me. I am the type of reader that likes more of an emotional book than one that just focuses on facts. I liked how we got to see Pip struggling but at the same time her trying to heal. The plot was relatable in some aspects because she was trying to find a way to heal the hole that was made by something traumatizing but also knowing its okay that she is not okay. 

One thing this book was also good at was getting me to question aspects in the book. It made me question why was Pip hit so hard by Stanley's death besides the obvious reasoning like it happened in front of her. Also, why didn't she pick up on Jason Bell's strange personality before she decided to talk with him. I also did like that it made me question how far is Pip willing to go and if it was me, how far would I be willing to go.

" Hey Sarge, remember me".

-End of Novel

"She still spoke to Ravi every day. Not the real one, the one who lived in her head. She spoke to him when she was scared or unsure, asked him what he would do if he were there. He sat beside her when she was lonely, and she was always lonely, looking at old photos on her phone. He told her goodnight and kept her company in the dark while she learned how to sleep again"

-Unknown chapter/page

 Overall this book was good but it was not better than book 2. I think it was as good as book one which I did enjoy, so I did not hate this book but I wish somethings were different about the book. I did wish that we got to see more of Pip's journey through her struggles. I did also wish we got to see more of the direct affects of Stanley's death on Pip and other characters that may have been impacted. 

My rating for this mystery/thriller book is 💫💫💫 (3/5 stars)