A review by elliizzzabeth
As Good As Dead by Holly Jackson

adventurous dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

I really regret reading this book. From the first page it is obvious that Pip is struggling with some deep trauma from the end of the last book. What she desperately needs is some therapy but instead we get this shitshow. 
It's started slow and then it started to get interesting when she was researching the DT killer but then it took a nosedive in the second half. Pip makes a series of truly baffling decisions and drags all of us down into this madness. The whole time I was screaming at the book for her to stop making it all worse.
A lot of the plot felt very forced, as if Holly Jackson wanted it to go a certain way but had to make her characters do stupid things to make that happen. It also felt like it had odd morals
why was it not okay for Elliott Ward to frame Sal but it was okay for Pip to frame Max? Why was it not seen as justice when Charlie killed Stanley, but it was Justice to have Max arrested for a crime he didn't commit? And in the end she got away with it! I thought for sure she was going to get caught and she was going to see the error of her ways but nope! The story fully supported her actions. Maybe Holly Jackson was trying to do some sort of unreliable narrator but it really didn't feel like it. I lost all my respect I had for her - I desperately wanted her to get caught!
 
Overall, I really wish I hadn't read this book. It made me incredibly angry throughout and has tainted my view of what I had thought before was a pretty decent series. 
Expand filter menu Content Warnings