A Good Girls Guide to Murder: Worth the Hype?

A Good Girl's Guide to Murder by Holly Jackson, a Booktok favourite; The mystery thriller about a girl named Pip who is recovering a five year old mystery for a school project… when she realises some things don't match up. 

Initially I had found it as a popular book recommendation on Pinterest over the summer. Most of the time, I don't trust ‘viral’ social media book reviews because it rarely ever caters to my taste in literature. I've never been a huge fan of mysteries or thrillers- I'm more of a fantasy girl myself. Mysteries were too complicated for me and I’ve always been too slow to keep up with every new plot introduced. But when I received a recommendation for this same book again from a close acquaintance, I figured, ‘why not?’. I found a copy in a bookstore in Korea, naive to what would become my year-long brainrot.

I don’t know what I was expecting, but I loved it. I couldn't stop reading once I started, I had to bring it everywhere with me. This YA Thriller novel became an addiction, a drug I couldn't quit. When I finished reading it during my trip to the UK, I begged my mom to buy me the sequel and prequel books at the bookstore. I finished those shortly after.

From the start, we are introduced to our main character, Pippa Fitz-Amobi. She's a high achieving Straight-A student who is best friends with Lauren Gibson and Cara Ward. For her final year project at school she chose to do it on the murder of Andie Bell, a schoolgirl who went to the very same highschool she goes to 5 years ago. Under the guise that it was about investigative journalism and the media’s involvement in police investigation, she managed to sneak under the teachers’ radar. In reality, however, she seeks to solve the murder of Andie Bell; because she refuses to believe Sal Singh was actually a murderer.

Right away, Pip decides to break the one rule the teachers asked her to follow- to never contact either the Bells or the Singhs. To start her investigation, she makes her way over to the Singh household to interview a family member. Pip is taken aback by who opens the door: He had Sal’s messy hair, and his bushy eyebrows, but it couldn't be Sal. Sal committed suicide, right after Andie went missing. No, the person at the door was his younger brother, Ravi Singh. 

Pip and Ravi are the main characters of the narrative, self-proclaimed partners in crime. He agrees to help Pip for her research if in return, he could help solve the case. Ravi says he tried to solve the case years ago but the police wouldn't listen to the brother of a murderer. He thinks if Pip leads the project, he can pick up where he left off. 

Another thing to note is that Pip is really smart. She's very analytical and intelligent with high chances of getting into Cambridge. Naturally, she started welding dots together very fast. Despite her initial troubles in her investigation, she easily got ahead in her research and started making quick connections. Every little thing seems to go her way. She's confident that by the end of the EPQ Project, she’ll solve the case and prove once and for all that Sal Singh is not guilty of the murder.

But things start taking a turn when the real murderer- who apparently still resides in Little Kilton- finds out about Pip’s plans. Soon enough, she begins to receive threats for others’ and her own safety. Her seemingly silly school project has started taking a toll on both her mental and social health. Pip knows what these threats mean. The torment wont stop until she backs off.

Now, Pip has to make a choice- does she drop the case for the safety of those she loves? Or solve it for the safety of all Little Kilton residents?

That's where I’ll leave the story aspect of it.

Now, as I mentioned before, I loved reading this book. This was actually the book that got me out of my months-long reading slump. The main characters complimented each other so well and I really adored their dynamic. So yes, I would say this is one of my favourite books. I want you to take note of this before I continue- Because now I'm going to talk about some things I didn't quite like about it.

Firstly, I must preface by saying Pip is in no way perfect- she has her flaws and I respect that in a character. But what was really unrealistic to me was how everything seemed to go her way. Every lead she opened, every theory, all of them seemed to help in one way or another, leading her further into the case. It felt way too easy as a reader. Yes, she's smart, but I dont think even that's enough to be right all the time. 

Secondly, I won't spoil it, but it wasn't that hard to guess the murderer early on. It was a bit disappointing seeing as that was meant to be one of the two big plot twists. It was too much of a cliche for me to not have guessed if I will be honest- After too many books (namely, Percy Jackson), the whole traitor thing got too easy to figure out.

Thirdly, this might be very specific and picky but I really wanted to know more about Daniel Da Silva. If he was as relevant to the case as Pip said he was, why didn't we get to know more about him? They set him up as such an interesting character- just to barely show up for the entire book. I read the other two books in the series, both also amazing by the way, but the questions I had for Daniel were never answered.

But with that being said, I still believe that this book earns a solid 4 stars from me and it's one of the first things that comes to mind when a friend asks for a recommendation (... this and Percy Jackson. I love Percy Jackson). I actually enjoyed the second and third instalments of the series even more, which really says something about how well written they are. 

All things considered, A Good Girl's Guide to Murder by Holly Jackson is a beautifully written and scarily addicting novel, with dynamic characters and smart dialogue. So whether you read this review to get a recommendation or for no reason at all, at the very least I hope this has convinced you to give this book a try. A Good Girl's Guide to Murder is definitely worth the hype.