A Good Girl's Guide to Murder by Holly Jackson Book Review

 A Good Girl's Guide to Murder 

(A Good Girl's Guide to Murder #1)

By Holly Jackson 

Debut Novel 

Published Year: 2019

Page Count: 396 pages 

Medium Used: Kindle PW 

Genre: Murder Mystery, Thriller, Young Adult, Science and Tech, Detective, 2025-read. 

Rating : 5/5 

This happens to be my last read for the year 2025. Today is December 31st and I am super glad to wrap this year up with this sensational book. This story starts out with Pippa Fitz-Mobi, alias Pip, picking up a homicide case, that was closed five years ago, as her school project. The major focus of the plot is how she solves the case, finds the perpetrators who are still walking free, with little to no help from the police and all the while being haunted/chased by someone threatening/warning her to stop her research. She strongly believes in the innocence of the accused, Sal Singh, and resolves to prove herself right. She approaches and takes the aide of the accused's brother, Ravi Singh. There were two people who died(allegedly murdered) five years ago - the first was Andie Bell (Her body is not found/recovered in the last five years). She disappears/dies on a Friday night in April 2012.  It is followed by a text confession and suicide of Sal Singh on the following Tuesday. Since he has confessed and they found her blood and phone on his person, the police close the case as solved. Pippa and Ravi embark on a detective journey to first prove Sal's innocence and then solve the case, finding out who the true murderers were. 

This book is listed in the top ten Young Adult books of all time by the Forbes. I can totally get why. There are lot of elements involving teenagers here that are either wrong or that would warrant protection for them. There are secrets that are kept within families of these students like emotional abuse based on how they look and act, that shape the way they look at the world, at themselves and dictate how they react to trauma. Andie Bell, who is murdered, is not a perfect person. She suffers from paternal abuse and is herself a bully. She does drugs and sells them at parties with impunity. As the plot unspools, we see youngsters misusing highly dangerous drugs like Rohypnols(roofies, date rape drugs, sedatives) at late night parties and the disastrous consequences. But that's not all. There are many other questionable and objectionable items, involving these students, on the cart, which happens to be the plot. They are not just merely shocking - but also cringing. 

 Everytime it felt like I was drawing closer to the conclusion of the mystery, there was more Pippa was getting her hands dirty into. This felt unconventional because there are multiple murderers .. all not involved in the same case .. each a victim in his own way but also who chose to be destructive and protect themselves when the truth might come out. I liked the nativete Pippa had and her super smart brain that innovatively solved the case. I also liked how the tech - gadgets, apps, websites - are used by her to solve it. I loved the book very much. Do check it out.