A review by watermelleon
A Good Girl's Guide to Murder by Holly Jackson

dark mysterious sad medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

2.0

Edit: changed from 3.5 to 2*

Tldr review: "Its a book for teenagers/children/babies/young people" is not a good enough excuse for bad writing. Everyone should have the right to good fiction regardless of ages, and it already exists in the world.  

I'll be the one to say I'm disappointed in this book. So much potential that fell at my feet. So many promising moments that immediately disintegrated into pure frustration. I wasn't expecting a 5 star read, but I also wasnt expecting to feel so insulted.

The Good Bits!
  • Raj/Sal/their whole family tbh were so well characterised 
  • I had some strong emotional reactions and at one point gasped out loud on the bus!
  • loved the format of the book, pulling together different mediums was very interesting!
 
The issues:
  • The book had a huge issue trying to find the right tone. The jump to darker parts were not transitioned well and felt very sudden and 
  • The protagonist was completely insufferable, starts immediately breaking rules that are initially very sensible and ethical (i.e. her teacher gives her ethical approval for a school project on the condition that she does not speak with the families whose children DIED or she will immediately fail and get a zero??? and on getting approval she IMMEDIATELY does that?? and then no one really disqualifies her anyway because she's suddenly a 'local hero' who solved a murder case???
  • Pip is just insensitive in general, persistently stalks and harrasses people who clearly do not have the capacity to be talking with her including 
    calling her best friend 16 times and wondering why she isn't answering... AFTER LITERALLY GETTING HER DAD ARRESTED FOR MURDER?
    . This girl is not likeable at all, and comes across not only deluded, but as someone who is not supportive to her family and friends in the slightest if it doesn't allign with what she wants to do. 
  • Some things are completely left open. Leads that ultimately had no resolution or purpose at all, which is fine when they're addressed and cast aside. in this case, when it is clear they are no longer relevant, they are completely dropped.
  • Ableism :  I feel this wasn't immediately obvious, but I left this book feeling a bit sick about a disabled character being used purely as a plot device. 
    It's andie's "double", she appeared out of nowhere quite conveniently, with "the mental age of a child" and disappeared once the plot device was used. its explained who she is and where she comes from, but she doesn't get an ending past that. Does she get a care home, does she get left back on the streets? its an afterthrought, and the protagonist doesn't care.
     
  • Inappropriate Age Gap relationships made me feel uncomfortable throughout. I don't mean the 
    secret older man
    storyline, but the relationship between Pip and Raj. Raj is a great character and very likeable, but he is an adult that she looks up to (and likely has a crush on), and considering some of the other content within this book, you would think this would be more of an issue! a child is spending a lot of time with an ADULT MAN, but he's nice so its cool ig. but cool let this be an ideal relationship for the target audience (teenagers/ya!)
  • Characters for the most part were not fully actualised, and I found myself not feeling strong emotions towards them past annoyance or missing many of them by the end. 
  • There was missed powerful social commentary that could have been made. My favourite scene was 
    the confrontation with Becca, where Pip realised that a difficult life had lead to the outcomes that andie and becca faced. This could have been an excellent moment to view Becca as a victim, and change her future path, before a vilifying moment.
     
  •  
    The entire thing with Barney was completely unnecessary