Hello dear readers!! I am back at it after quite some time with another book review. I’m quite sure you have heard it before. It’s one of the most famous Y/A, or, a ‘young adult’ fiction book. Written by Holly Jackson, I present to you- ‘A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder’’s review.
Firstly, let me just give a disclaimer that Young adult books refer to books read by people between the age groups of 12 and 18, but of course, older people can read them too. However, children younger than this age will have difficulty reading and understanding such books because they contain more mature content they wouldn’t understand.
A Good Girl’s guide to Murder- you know what, let’s just call it AGGGTM (partly because of convenience and partly since the internet calls it that and I want to be ‘#relateble’) tells us a story of a teenage girl, Pippa Fitz-Amobi who is investigating a cold case murder for her final year report.
Five years ago in the town of Little Kilton, Salil ‘sal’ Singh had allegedly killed Andrea ‘Andie’ Bell for reasons unknown. Why the ‘reasons unknown’ part? Because when Andie Bell went missing, a few days later the police claimed she was dead, as they found a supposed confession note in Salil Singh’s phone.
They closed the case.
Why?
Because Sal Singh was dead. He had killed himself.
And Andie Bell, after her death, was believed to be a Martyr, an ‘angel taken too soon’.
Or that’s what they thought.
Pippa believes Salil is innocent and wants to prove it. She, along with Ravi, Sal’s brother, investigate the case together. But, someone doesn’t want her to find answers. She’s being spied on. Left threatening notes. But she still doesn’t stop.
Will she be able to uncover this mystery and handle the horrifying truths she finds along with it? Or will her stalker manage to scare her into stopping?
I found this book awesome, and it’s something you can read again from the beginning just because of the beautiful way it’s written. I like how the author managed to weave the mystery into the story along with the casual teenage drama that occurs in life. And one good thing about it is that it’s exceptionally intriguing, and makes you want to read page after page without stopping.
Pippa’s production log and report drafts are included in the book, so you can read how she interviews everyone and collects information from both her point of view as well as third person narrative. It made me feel like I was solving the mystery alongside her.
I liked how her two best friends, Lauren and Cara play such an important role in the story. While at first you might think that they are just side characters and would have no sort of connection to the mystery, later on you discover just how well they are involved. Naomi, Cara’s elder sister, is also a major part in the story. We can see how Pippa is attached to them both and will do alot to protect them.
Ravi Singh is a crucial aspect in the story, as he is Sal’s brother and can connect better to the case than anyone else. Without his character most of the story would change drastically. He and Pippa grow closer and have a better bond because of this case-solving.
Another girl, Natalie D’Silva, is also included in the ‘major people’ list I have. Her backstory and relation with Andie is NOT good. Its reflects on cyber-bullying and harassment and brings you back to reality. This book also focuses on more of the modern problems in this world, like cyber bullying, backstabbing, fake friends, drug-dealing and alot more.
While the plot is actually serious and contains scary life truths, somehow it still contains humour and sarcasm, put in just the right places.
One thing to understand, however, is that because so many people, including Andie herself, her father, her sister, Naomi, etc were involved in different aspects of crime, there are a lot of clues, leading to a little confusion.
Most of it is very ground breaking and majorly theory-changing, which is impressive since I don’t know how the author managed to get so many ideas in the first place. It’s initially confusing how everything is linked to everyone. Towards the end of the story, we get to see who the real killer was, and I’m sure no one expected that, however, it fits perfectly.
A small problem was that I felt the author put too much evidence against everyone, and in the end, I feel some clues were unchecked, some leads were not followed up on, and some stories not match at all. It’s like: “OOOHHHH, So THATS why this was like this-” and then suddenly, out of the blue “oh wait, no.”
Otherwise, though, this book was one of the best murder-mystery-thrilller I’ve ever read. Would most definitely recommend it!
Well ‘fare thee well’, my dear readers! See you later in another review. Cheerio 🙂
A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder (Review)
