A review by l3t1c1a
A Good Girl's Guide to Murder by Holly Jackson

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

3.25

I’ll start with the good. First of all, kisses to Holly Jackson for her first book being pretty damn good. The ending was satisfying for the most part. The hints towards the next course of action were well written (to the point where i could guess what conclusion we will be coming to next). As a character, Pip is very distinct. She has a clear voice in this story which is really good seeing as she is the protagonist. At some instances though, it seemed like her logic was inconsistent with what “she knows” thus far. It read as if her new leads and conclusions were just tools to progress the plot with no deeper connection to the actual story. Also, some characters felt like unnecessary additions (most of all, Josh). And the scenes where we get to see the family dynamics of Pip’s family were not very useful. From her character alone and the instances where they intervene subtly during scenes that do not center around them, we can understand the dynamics of her family and get the hint about them being a pretty functional family. However, other families’ dynamics would have been a lot more interesting (the Bells which does appear briefly, the Singhs who are dealing with the loss of their “alleged murderer” son). Also the conversations between the teenagers felt very scripted and unnatural at times. I get that Pip is this supernerd but regardless she is a person. I got second-hand embarrassment from reading some of that dialogue. Another thing, that spur of the moment relationship was so frustrating: would’ve rather taken a sprinkle of the rohypnol pills in my tea than a sprinkle of the romance in my murder mystery book. It was way too quick and out of nowhere and unnecessary. There are a lot of little things like that that I wish were cut out. Regardless, there were memorable moments in this book and Ravi easily became one of my favorite characters from the get-go. I really appreciated the different methods Pip would go about solving this case; it was really successful in creating interest while basically doing the same thing: chasing a lead. The book starts off so strongly but it drags on for a while. It’s a slower pace than I expected. Thanks for reading this. I’m pouring my thoughts out here, waiting for my friends to finish reading this. I might add something later when I figure out the spoiler warning thing though. 
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