Reviews tagging 'Confinement'

A Good Girl's Guide to Murder by Holly Jackson

181 reviews

singalana's review

adventurous mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

Dividing books based on the age of the protagonist has always felt a bit arbitrary to me: this book is young adult, but deals with some rather heavy topics, even more so that a lot of the thrillers directed at adults. 

This is Holly Jackson’s strong debut thriller. Five years ago a schoolgirl was murdered. Everyone knows who did it, and the case is closed. Pippa chooses the case as her final-year project and starts to dig deeper to what really happened. 

The characters in this book are mostly teenagers and the adults in their lives. The characters feel well-defined and authentic with their complex problems. The main character Pippa doesn't feel especially memorable, but on the other hand this gives more room for the story. I liked the family dynamics of the main characters, they were so wholesome. 

The book is told in mixed media format: there are notes, texts and diagrams as Pippa collects evidence in an attempt to solve the case. 

I found the book to be very entertaining, relatively fast-placed and at least I couldn't predict what had really happened that night five years ago. 

If you're looking for utmost realism in your books, be warned. As some reviewers have pointed out, Pippa does get into rather dangerous situations and there seem to be no repercussions for her actions. You'd think the police might have something to say about the way she acquires information.

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Content Warnings

Minor: Abortion, Vomit, Body shaming, Racism, Stalking, Child death, Death, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Blood, Confinement, Kidnapping, Mental illness, Cancer, Car accident, Rape, Adult/minor relationship, Alcohol, Animal death, Sexual assault, Suicide attempt, Self harm, Murder, Grief, Bullying, Dementia, Injury/Injury detail, Death of parent, Infidelity, and Violence

nukie19's review

adventurous dark mysterious sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.5

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Grief, Animal death, Drug use, Confinement, Death, Car accident, Murder, and Alcohol

eleos01's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful mysterious sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder and Death

Moderate: Drug abuse, Sexual assault, Rape, Xenophobia, Racism, Body shaming, Self harm, Emotional abuse, and Bullying

Minor: Adult/minor relationship and Confinement

sharlapeggy's review against another edition

mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

I liked it. A good feel to the book and I enjoyed the twists and turns as you accuse different people and you try to work it out. I wasn’t amazingly keen on the ending - I feel like it was a bit of a let down but I did enjoy it. Not sure I’d pick up book 2 hence why not 5 stars. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Car accident, Toxic friendship, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Child death, Confinement, Pedophilia, Rape, Adult/minor relationship, Blood, Death, Drug abuse, Kidnapping, and Murder

punchy_larue's review

adventurous emotional hopeful mysterious fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug abuse, Adult/minor relationship, Confinement, Animal death, Sexual assault, and Murder

ksamaine95's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

thrilling, misleading, complicated, and fully serving the gullible persistence of the YA audience.  

50% mark i didn’t know if i could/would continue, the repetition and messy plot twists were hitting a nerve. 

but we’ll worth seeing it through in the end! 

low key villains i’d like to see about in the sequel: the rookie cop & his wife, andie’s dad, definitely naomi and the loser journalist steve. i need them to get some straightening with all their closet skeletons

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide, Kidnapping, Pedophilia, Drug abuse, Murder, and Hate crime

Moderate: Animal death, Blood, Adult/minor relationship, Bullying, Car accident, Confinement, Death of parent, Death, and Gaslighting

Minor: Sexual violence

caroline_peacock's review

adventurous dark emotional mysterious tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug use, Death, Adult/minor relationship, Murder, Stalking, Blood, Child death, Bullying, Violence, and Suicide

Moderate: Panic attacks/disorders, Racism, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Vomit, Body shaming, Sexual harassment, Grief, Religious bigotry, Drug abuse, Kidnapping, Cursing, and Animal death

Minor: Fatphobia, Self harm, Emotional abuse, Infidelity, Confinement, and Death of parent

goldenjoy's review

dark tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug use and Gaslighting

Moderate: Car accident, Confinement, Death, Suicide attempt, Toxic friendship, Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Suicide, Vomit, Body shaming, Bullying, Pedophilia, Kidnapping, Murder, Blood, Drug use, Injury/Injury detail, and Rape

hellokatya's review against another edition

adventurous dark funny hopeful mysterious sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.5

this was a very good read - super easy to get through, and felt like a palette cleanser. 
only complaint is it felt a bit too YA for the mature topics that were in it, hence the lower rating, but overall i thoroughly enjoyed it and the ending was really nice! 
highly recommend

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Confinement, and Death of parent

Moderate: Dementia, Drug abuse, Rape, Bullying, Emotional abuse, Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Alcohol, Car accident, and Sexual assault

Minor: Blood and Body shaming

clynns's review against another edition

adventurous challenging funny mysterious tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.5

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Pedophilia, Stalking, Drug use, Fatphobia, Adult/minor relationship, Body shaming, Bullying, Racial slurs, Death, Self harm, Sexual assault, Emotional abuse, Child death, Confinement, Grief, Infidelity, Physical abuse, Animal death, Racism, Death of parent, Drug abuse, Kidnapping, Toxic relationship, Animal cruelty, Murder, Alcohol, and Suicide attempt