A review by cultbyproxy
As Good As Dead by Holly Jackson

challenging emotional hopeful mysterious sad 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

5.0

This book shot me in the heart and Holly Jackson pulled the trigger! The first half of As Good As Dead felt as close to your average mystery as you could get, with our honorary Sarge Pippa Fitz-Amobi absolutely spiralling and losing her shit. An almost The Woman In The Window atmosphere. 

But that all took a sharp turn. The second half made me cry, multiple times. It made me laugh, it made me hope. It made me questions right and wrong, and truth and justice. I was rooting for Team Pip and Ravi all the way and Holly Jackson made sure of it. Which made the last chapters even more gut wrenching. If Pip was a ticking time bomb then I was sitting right there with her, within the blast radius. Absolutely blown to smithereens. Every “Sarge”, “It’s me and you, trouble”, “I don’t want to lose you,” and “he was my best thing” completely shattered me. I wished to take away half their pain, to share in their fears and I did. Pip said, “If it was a choice between me and you, I choose you,” and I wholeheartedly choose them. Mariah Carey’s Always Be My Baby started playing as I read the last page and I sobbed for the entire song. 

The answer to the question, “Who will look for you when you’re the one who disappears?” was found family. It was to love and to be loved and the things we do for that love. I wasn’t sure what direction this trilogy would go in after Good Girl, Bad Blood. It simply felt impossible for it to get any better, but it did. And it has solidified itself as one of my favourite books of all time. And my favourite series. 
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