Reviews

As Good As Dead by Holly Jackson

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waffle_love's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional mysterious sad tense fast-paced

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

5.0

jupiters_alien's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

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

5.0

smoores415's review against another edition

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dark emotional 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

2.75

This is a book I was very close to DNFing, which I never do. The writing was just super repetitive and not as good as the first book especially. Pip was so out of character and the storyline was just wacky and unbelievable. I think the storyline could have worked as a separate book with new characters, but not with the characters that existed in this world. I also thought the ending was weird and out of character.

I find it hard to believe that Pip would stop talking to literally everybody to avoid suspicion, but that's shady as hell to just drop everyone after a murder when a cop suspects you're involved.

I did like how some things came full circle throughout the trilogy, and the last line absolutely wrecked me.

"Hey Sarge, remember me?"

I don't think I'll ever recover, that definitely bumped the rating just for that line alone.

bkc's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional informative 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? Yes

4.0

Rating: 4/5

The story flowed at a medium to slow pace, and I found the plot quite frustrating at times. Pip's inner monologue was very descriptive. This was great in Part 2 but made me quite bored in Part 1.

Pip's PTSD hit her hard, as I'd anticipated it would. The drugs were a surprise, but the lying was not. That was just sad. Although she was morally grey, I was very satisfied with her actions (I'm all for vengeance). She was determined, violent, and did what she had to do. I have a few questions though: why would she go out on her own if she knew she was a murder target? Also, why was she so defeated at the end, after she'd made it that far? It was disappointing.

Furthermore, how could Pip's mum be so blasé about the birds? And Hawkins was utterly useless at his job during the entire series. It seemed pretty clear to me that Jason Bell was the DT killer after the call with Maria - the killer was meant to be misogynistic and the tools were from his company. He absolutely disgusted me and I hated his part of the book. I also hated the police interview with Billy. It made me so uncomfortable.

Max was infuriating too and I was so glad justice was executed. It might not have been his exact crime but the justice system failed and vengeance had to be exacted somehow. Every time him, Ant, or Lauren were mentioned, I would feel a lot of anger.

On the flip side, it was lovely that Nat and Jamie were happy, and that Becca was managing well. I loved the way they all came through for Pip, as well as Connor, Naomi, and Cara. Ravi was such a great character too, and his unwavering support for Pip was heartbreaking.

Overall, this book was pretty good and I liked the actions Pip took. Unfortunately, there were too many points that frustrated me or bored for me to give it a better rating.

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