A review by kaynova
As Good As Dead by Holly Jackson

dark mysterious 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

i have so many mixed feelings about this book. there are elements that i truly enjoy and others i was deeply disappointed about.

i was happy to see a darker side of pip in this last book, it really shows how investigating murders has affected her mentally, emotionally, and physically. unfortunately, i think the author made her ptsd underwhelming at times and in other times, it felt like a plot device.
she kills jason bell YET she is not traumatized by it. like i get it, he kidnapped her and tried to murder her, so she shouldn't feel empathy for a vile man like him, but if she could get triggered and in her head about what happened with the characters in the last book, her murdering someone should amplify that.
her drug abuse was never resolved, because let's be honest that was a drug codependency, so she can go back to normalcy but again, it was NEVER resolved. she told ravi and that was it. never mentioned again and i was saddened by it. this book was meant to be heavier yet the author didn't resolve some of the darkness forming inside of pip.

which brings me to my next point, some things were very much underdeveloped to me in this book. like you cut ties with everyone you love IN THE MIDDLE OF INVESTIGATION AFTER YOU AND US, THE READERS, BELIEVE THAT THE CHIEF HAS HIS SUSPICIONS! wouldn't that be more reason to continue the facade that everything is alright? i get what holly jackson was doing because pip has ptsd and going through that, so she's not thinking clearly, but what in the actual fuck? i was like you're making yourself look guilty; you obviously haven't paid attention to true crime podcasts if you forgot to not look guilty! i was soooooooooooooooooooooooooooo annoyed about this, but not as annoyed as i was with the murder.

now, unlike a lot of the reviews, i didn't mind pip murdering
jason bell, the true DT killer
because the first book title is "a good girl's guide to murder". it never explicitly said how to solve a murder or hide a murder, it said a GUIDE to murder. jackson literally reiterates multiple times in the book this is A FULL circle, so we know how to uncover a murder mystery to actually doing a murder. i don't get the disappointment or anger from this, but i will say this: pip had AMPLE evidence to pin the DT killer and send him to prison. BUT NOOOOOOOO, she had to murder him because she wanted to stop the cycle. girl, *shakes my head*, i get it, the police system has failed you numerical of times, but this was stupidity at its finest. you did all of that to make sure the DT killer gets locked up in case you die, yet you have to clean all of that up to not be framed for a murder YOU committed. i was livid and almost DNF, but i had to see this through the end.

and what a disappointment the ending was. i'm going to say this once and i will not explain: PIP DOES NOT DESERVE RAVI! that man loves her, literally life AND death, and she thought so stupidly to break up with him. girl he helped falsify evidence for you, so YOU won't go to prison. i hated it. pip was always impulsive to me, that was her personality trait, but gosh, it was worse here and a lot of times, i was like she's not making any logical sense, someone send her off to college already so she can stop fucking up.

now reading this back, my feelings aren't as mixed as i thought. i kind of upset with this book, but i enjoyed the series for what it was.
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