Reviews tagging 'Mental illness'

A Good Girl's Guide to Murder by Holly Jackson

157 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

lavenderprince01's review

dark emotional 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

5.0

Omg! This book was so good!
When I wasn't reading it, I was thinking about it and discussing it with my friend who had read it
It was so tense and stressful in the best possible way

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Death, Drug abuse, Child death, Violence, Kidnapping, Mental illness, Sexual assault, Vomit, Death of parent, Fatphobia, Blood, Car accident, Drug use, Racism, Bullying, Emotional abuse, Murder, and Animal death

Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Animal death, Body shaming, Cursing, and Self harm

lriveraf22's review against another edition

dark emotional hopeful mysterious sad fast-paced

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

4.25

Loved the book. It kept me hooked the ENTIRE time. Trying to plot out the murder as they did was so fun. The balance between revelation and character build was quite nice.

It only gets points off because of the ending. The love story between Ravi and Pippa felt rushed and weird. Age gap is old, how they developed felt odd… it felt to far-fetched for me. But maybe that’s what book #2 is all about…

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Adult/minor relationship, Murder, Kidnapping, Toxic relationship, Suicide, Toxic friendship, Pedophilia, Infidelity, Emotional abuse, Vomit, Drug use, Death of parent, Animal death, Sexual assault, Fatphobia, Violence, and Mental illness

bookishdiya's review against another edition

adventurous dark fast-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death

Moderate: Blood, Mental illness, and Sexual assault

sjepp's review

adventurous dark emotional hopeful mysterious medium-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

4.0

This book is bussin. Took me a minute to get into it. I haven’t been on a fiction kick in a hot minute, but I can honest to goodness tell you I was hooked after page 67. When Pip shares her four theories of the murder, I knew I’d finish the book before the day was over

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Alcohol, Bullying, Drug use, Grief, Death, Death of parent, Drug abuse, and Murder

Minor: Suicidal thoughts, Mental illness, Kidnapping, Animal death, Panic attacks/disorders, Suicide attempt, Vomit, Toxic relationship, Toxic friendship, Violence, Sexual assault, Self harm, Rape, Medical trauma, Bullying, Body shaming, Blood, and Adult/minor relationship

eclipse_the_bookworm's review

adventurous dark mysterious 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? Yes

5.0

This book kept me guessing right until the last page! I couldn’t put it down

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Sexual assault, Injury/Injury detail, Animal death, Body shaming, Pedophilia, Kidnapping, Murder, Mental illness, Adult/minor relationship, Bullying, Car accident, Self harm, Addiction, Rape, and Emotional abuse

Minor: Death of parent

bethaniell's review

dark emotional funny mysterious tense fast-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder

Moderate: Animal death, Rape, Racism, Grief, Sexual assault, Kidnapping, and Mental illness

Minor: Death of parent, Car accident, Self harm, and Emotional abuse

ashley_anne_reads's review against another edition

mysterious medium-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder

Moderate: Stalking, Gaslighting, Drug use, and Suicide

Minor: Animal death, Mental illness, Sexual assault, Self harm, Domestic abuse, Child abuse, Rape, and Bullying

redempta's review

adventurous dark emotional mysterious reflective tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

5.0

5 🌟

It's my first murder mystery book and i loved it. The writing, the format, the intrigue were perfect. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder

Moderate: Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Toxic friendship, and Toxic relationship

Minor: Rape, Sexual harassment, Self harm, Mental illness, Sexual assault, Suicide, Pedophilia, and Kidnapping

icedlemonade's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny informative mysterious reflective sad tense fast-paced

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

5.0

IT WAS MR WARD I SWEAR I NEVER WOULDVE GUESSED

I would give this book as many stars as I could, all of it goes to Holly Jackson herself, the wonderful author of this masterpiece 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Suicide, Rape, and Death

Moderate: Kidnapping, Body shaming, Bullying, Eating disorder, Animal death, Toxic relationship, Stalking, Sexual assault, Toxic friendship, and Mental illness

Minor: Vomit, Self harm, and Racism