Reviews with content warning for Death - Good Girl, Bad Blood

Good Girl, Bad Blood is everything the sequel to A Good Girl's Guide to Murder should be; it's got the same awesome characterisations and a new mystery to hook you. After putting herself and her family in danger in her last investigation into Sal Singh's guilt, Pip has sworn off investigating. But when a friend's brother goes missing and the police are once more doing sweet sod all about it, Pip once more finds herself drawn into the mystery and again, nothing is going to be simple for her.

As Pip investigates she finds things that just don't seem to make any sense. Jamie is no saint, but his behaviour in the weeks leading up to his disappearance is out and out baffling. Slowly, piece by piece, she starts to put together the weeks before and begin to figure out the knots of tangled threads. Information is teased out and the reader is just as in the dark as Pip for most of the novel, leading to the final conclusion.

There are some niggles with the novel that shorted it of a five star rating. The biggest is the final reveal really could have been teased out and expanded on far more. It's dropped on you in the final pages and it felt wasted as a lot more could have been made of it. Without spoilers, it's a heck of a reveal and felt rushed. There are also a few loose threads that are just dropped; the one that instantly comes to mind is Pip's previous friends turning on her. It's mentioned once and then dropped, without ever being picked back up. Even a simple 'told you so' moment would have been satisfying.

But those are minor niggles in the grand scheme of things and didn't impact my overall enjoyment of the novel, so a solid four stars.

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dog5_4lif3's review

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mysterious fast-paced

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

4.5

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ananyaisnothere's review

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adventurous dark mysterious fast-paced

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

4.0

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coziebookclub's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional 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? Yes

5.0

as i continue reading through this series, i am left feeling more impressed and drawn in. holly jackson has a talent for keeping readers on edge and excited as each new twist and turn plays out in the story. you can never truly predict what is going to happen. there is also more of pip’s development as a character in this book. though sad and devastating what she goes through by solving this case, you can really see how a darker side of her is starting to unravel and how it is changing her. i also absolutely adore ravi and pip’s relationship. he has so much patience and is exactly what being someone’s home is. their relationship works so well and is an amazing grounding point for pip when things get intense for her.

this book is quite an emotionally intense one and highlights that justice doesn’t always prevail. it’s an unfortunate but very real thing which takes a toll on pip and finally makes her snap. i can’t wait to dive into As Good as Dead and see more of pip as she becomes increasingly unapologetic and grows from every new case she investigates.

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