A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder by Holly Jackson

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Title: A Good Girl's Guide to Murder
Author: Holly Jackson
Series: A Good Girl's Guide to Murder #1
Published by: Delacorte Press
Release Date: May 2, 2019
Format: ebook
Pages: 389
Genres: Mystery, Crime, Thriller, Young Adult
Source: cloudLibrary
Reading Challenges: Lenoreo's 2022 Backlist Reader Challenge, Lenoreo's 2022 COYER Fall, Lenoreo's 2022 Diversity Reading Challenge
Find it: Goodreads ✩ Amazon ✩ B&N ✩ Google ✩ Kobo ✩ iBooks ✩ IndieBound ✩ Book Depository
My rating:

Blurb:

THE INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER! 

For readers of Kara Thomas and Karen McManus, an addictive, twisty crime thriller with shades of Serial and Making a Murderer about a closed local murder case that doesn't add up, and a girl who's determined to find the real killer--but not everyone wants her meddling in the past.

Everyone in Fairview knows the story.

Pretty and popular high school senior Andie Bell was murdered by her boyfriend, Sal Singh, who then killed himself. It was all anyone could talk about. And five years later, Pip sees how the tragedy still haunts her town.

But she can't shake the feeling that there was more to what happened that day. She knew Sal when she was a child, and he was always so kind to her. How could he possibly have been a killer?

Now a senior herself, Pip decides to reexamine the closed case for her final project, at first just to cast doubt on the original investigation. But soon she discovers a trail of dark secrets that might actually prove Sal innocent . . . and the line between past and present begins to blur. Someone in Fairview doesn't want Pip digging around for answers, and now her own life might be in danger.

This is the story of an investigation turned obsession, full of twists and turns and with an ending you'll never expect.

"Fun, gripping, and skillfully constructed." --Emily Arsenault, author of All the Pretty Things

4.5 stars — I will admit, I’m not good at reading mystery/thriller books.  I find myself to be too impatient, just wanting to know the answers, and getting frustrated knowing that I probably don’t have a chance in hell because my mind doesn’t work that way.  And while I had a million suspicions, I can say that I never came up with any concrete answers.  BUT, that doesn’t mean the final solution was unreasonable, or that I couldn’t follow it.  It definitely made sense and worked with the story.  And while this book still had me desperately wanting to flip to the end for the solution, I was still eventually engrossed enough that I was okay going on the journey and waiting it out with Pip.

Part of that is that Pip is just pretty entertaining.  An idiot at times, but very likeable.  You could feel how this was taking over her life, and bringing out sides to her she didn’t know she had.  But under it all, she was a girl with a thirst for the truth.  A girl who saw things others didn’t, and didn’t just let them stand.

There were a ton of other characters that really added to the story — from suspects to family to friends.  I especially loved her Dad and obviously Ravi.

I just realized I don’t know how to review mystery/thriller books, b/c there’s so much you can’t talk about.  But this one had characters I connected with, a plot line that was easy to follow (necessary for me), and a hook to keep me interested and absorbed.  I really am grateful for book club challenging me to read books that are outside my norm, because you do find gems that you wouldn’t have necessarily gone for otherwise.