I can’t explain how devastated I am that this series is over, and boy, Holly Jackson knew how to end it. This book is the last book in the Good Girl’s Guide to Murder trilogy. Obviously, huge spoilers from the first two books here so please beware and just go read the first two books – they’re amazing!
Goodreads Blurb
Pip Fitz-Amobi is haunted by the way her last investigation ended. Soon she’ll be leaving for Cambridge University but then another case finds her . . . and this time it’s all about Pip.
Pip is used to online death threats, but there’s one that catches her eye, someone who keeps asking: who will look for you when you’re the one who disappears? And it’s not just online. Pip has a stalker who knows where she lives. The police refuse to act and then Pip finds connections between her stalker and a local serial killer. The killer has been in prison for six years, but Pip suspects that the wrong man is behind bars. As the deadly game plays out, Pip realises that everything in Little Kilton is finally coming full circle. If Pip doesn’t find the answers, this time she will be the one who disappears . . .
Rating: (5/5)
This novel was an amazing read. I ate this book in 24 hours and gave myself a migraine because I couldn’t put it in. I didn’t realise how much I missed the adventures of Pip Fitz-Amobi and within the first few pages, I was enthralled. In this finale, we follow Pip as she looks to move on from the traumatic ending of Good Girl, Bad Blood, where she watched Stanley Forbes die from a gunshot by none other than her neighbour. She’s struggling with PTSD and has even started taking medication to help her sleep. However, it looks like Pip may be the next target and she needs to start solving who’s actually after her this time.
The plot always had me on my toes, I didn’t know where any of it was going and I had about 5 suspects on my list the entire time that I couldn’t figure out who was who until it happened. Holly Jackson crafted this book so well and she handled gory and dark themes incredibly well. It was very dark for a Young Adult novel and it went way further than anticipated, to really push the boundaries of the plot and Pip’s personality. Jackson’s writing was impeccable and continued to incorporate mixed media in the podcast transcripts, documents, notes and graphs that have worked so well for this series.
A huge part of this book was also the continuation of the Max Hastings arc that began in the first book. His character just continues to breed hatred and I could feel Pip’s wrath seething from the pages every time he came up. He was a perfect villain because he was so realistic, and that almost made his character scary even if he technically was no longer a threat to Pip and her friends. I was glad to see that Holly Jackson didn’t forget about him and really incorporated his storyline with Pip throughout the series so the true concept of justice is consistent and adamant.
“Her judgement day would come, but for now, Pip walked and she promised. That’s all.
Holly Jackson, As Good As Dead
I also loved Pip and Ravi’s relationship in this book. They’re such a cute couple and they have such a healthy relationships – it was such a breath of fresh air compared to other YA books that have toxic or just relationships with horrid communication and/or vanity. Theirs had such substance and it reminded me of my relationship a bit. This book also brought back the cast of friends and other side characters we have met before, and it was definitely wholesome and added depth to the story. It did focus a lot on Pip for majority of the book but it felt so cohesive and put together. I was on the figurative edge of my seat until the end and the ending made me want to cry. It was beautiful, not quite satisfying but enough.
Overall, it was truly a banger of an ending for this trilogy, and I’m really going to miss Pip, her family and friends and this wonderful world Holly Jackson has created. This is now one of my all time favourite series and I’m certainly going to reread them again in the future.
If you’ve read this series, what did you think? What did you enjoy the most about it?
Until next time.
