Reviews tagging 'Murder'

As Good As Dead by Holly Jackson

991 reviews

treasureinbooks's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder

Moderate: Drug use

a_ira's review against another edition

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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Stalking, Torture, and Murder

Moderate: Rape

_pauline's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Loveable characters? Yes

4.75

loved it but GGBB remains my favourite.

The whole no-contact thing at the end just felt too far-fetched. I get the cover up; it was a little weird since imo it easily could’ve passed/been disguised as self defence, but I get that it was relevant to the plot. but why would she then need to distance herself from people who - unlike Ravi - didn’t even know about it, let alone were involved in it (like her family)? that felt a little forced in order to make the ending more dramatic and open.

Plus

the DT-scene

was a little intense for me at times but then again what did I expect seeing that title and cover (maybe a little too much for YA though? idk).

Still, nothing can keep me from reading every single thing Holly Jackson publishes, and I liked how seemingly irrelevant things from the previous books were resolved (

like the backstory of why Andie was the way she was and why Sal put up with her - I‘d been slightly confused/irritated by that in the previous books but didn’t expect it to be picked up again like that; or the way Barney died, breaking my heart AGAIN

), all without major plot holes or inconsistencies.
And I really liked the portrayal of

Pip’s ptsd, panic attacks, addiction etc as well as everything on sexual assault trials and the criminal justice system.

The best crime/mystery/thriller series I‘ve ever read 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Murder, Panic attacks/disorders, Stalking, and Kidnapping

Moderate: Addiction, Drug abuse, and Vomit

Minor: Sexual assault and Animal death

cbuchanan's review against another edition

dark tense

3.75

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Murder, Violence, Drug abuse, Death, Stalking, Injury/Injury detail, Cursing, Vomit, and Torture

Minor: Vomit, Rape, and Sexism

I really liked the previous books in the series, but this felt like an inadequate ending to the series. (Light, non-detailed spoilers ahead)

about halfway through the book, we learn who the DT killer is, and the turn the book takes from there is jarring. Pip was set up as a brilliant young woman, and the actions she takes don't feel like they track with her character from previous books. It's understandable, but seems highly illogical even with her explanation of her decisions.

Detailed spoilers below:

I loved that Jason Bell was the DT Killer, but I hated everything after Pip escaped and decided to turn back and kill him and then pin it on Max Hastings. I hated Max, he was written to be incredibly hateable and explicitly bad, but setting him up to take the fall for killing Jason just doesn't feel satisfying to me. The decision will haunt Pip forever, and she's already struggling with her mental health after seeing Stanley die in the previous book, so it doesn't make sense to me that she's going to be okay with this for the rest of her life. I'm really disappointed with how this ended honestly, and I wish I'd liked it more.

florapatricia's review against another edition

dark mysterious medium-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? Yes

3.0

It took me two tries to finish this book. The teenage anxt was getting at me big times. 

ALthough, if I think about it, I would love me a partner who helps with cleaning up my murder without question. But the breakup scene at the very end reminded me of Twilight New Moon big times. Maybe I am just jealous of the teenage passion these characters embody.

Anyways; the narrators did a fantastic job, I recommend the audiobook if you're interested in an unconventional murder mytery book series. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Stalking, Mental illness, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Torture, Kidnapping, Animal cruelty, and Addiction

drjosh's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious reflective 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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Murder, Drug abuse, Drug use, Death, and Rape

kshurtz13's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Drug abuse, and Murder

Moderate: Rape and Vomit

eleos01's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional informative mysterious reflective sad tense medium-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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Murder, Grief, Gun violence, Kidnapping, and Death

Moderate: Drug use and Animal death

nele_281's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful mysterious reflective sad tense fast-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Hate crime, Violence, Murder, Blood, Confinement, Injury/Injury detail, Physical abuse, Death, Kidnapping, Stalking, Gore, and Torture

Moderate: Vomit, Fire/Fire injury, Grief, Mental illness, Sexual assault, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Addiction, Misogyny, Sexism, Drug abuse, and Rape

Minor: Animal death, Gun violence, and Cursing

salutemviv's review against another edition

challenging dark tense fast-paced

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

3.0

this book was… something.
(general spoiler-ish content ahead)
i had put off reading the third installment of agggtm for a while after hearing how dark it was compared to the first two, but eventually curiosity/fomo got the better of me. so i decided to pick it up.
knowing in advance that the book had a much darker tone, and that pip would be out of character probably helped prepare me to read this. i think if i had gone in blind i would have been much more upset about how the story unfolded.
that being said, i still have very mixed feelings. from a story perspective, i will probably want to forget that any of this is canon because i absolutely hate what pip turned into. without saying too much, a lot of the plot felt very outlandish, out of character. was it somewhat enjoyable because of how fast paced and crazy it was? oh definitely. but on a moral basis i fundamentally disagree with pretty much all of what happens in the second half.
however, turning on my literary analysis brain that LOVES to read into themes and character studies and all that jazz: i think in a way, the overarching plot of the trilogy was probably intended from the very beginning. the first book established pip as a “good girl” who gets straight a’s and makes all the right choices. very black and white. but as she gets more involved in this world of crime, lines begin to blur. where she once saw justice and truth as black and white (represented in the justice system), she sees the flaws in the people and systems around her, blurring those into gray. and the black and white of her character muddles into gray right along with them in this story, representing her loss of hope and faith in the concreteness of good and bad.
so from that perspective, i do appreciate pip’s character development and what holly jackson did with this story. 
still- my heart hates everything that happened and it hurts for ravi because he is probably the most good character and he didn’t deserve it.
so in conclusion, my feelings about this book are definitely not black and white either LOL. if i were to rate it on a pure enjoyment/subjective likability level, it would probably be 2 stars. but the metaphorical themes bump it up to a 3 because im a literary nerd too.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder and Stalking