On May 2, 2019, author Holly Jackson published a nail-biting tale titled A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder. This fictional mystery book has a unique writing style and uses a courageous theme to portray the main character, Pippa Fitz-Amobi, or Pip for short. This story follows Pip as she uses her developing detecting skills to uncover truths about her suspicious small town, Fairview.
At the very beginning of the book, we are informed that years ago, a girl called Andie Bell was allegedly murdered in the town of Fairview where Pippa lives. According to police, the crime was committed by her then-boyfriend, Sal Singh who after the accusation “killed himself”. Although nothing was confirmed because Andie’s body was never found, police closed the case and the press exploded, portraying Sal as a monster. Resolutely deciding that Sal was unable to commit murder, Pip plans to investigate more about this case and use it as her school project. Through this project, she displays her self-confidence and intelligence. Then, with the help of Sal’s younger brother Ravi, she continues to unveil more and more secrets about Fairview, even putting herself and her family in danger as she becomes carried away.
This book is entertaining, encapsulating, and deserves more love and attention than it gets. It uses amazing language and has a good storyline along with an insane amount of twists. Overall, in my perspective, this book is very well done and almost amazing except for it is unrealistic. Although A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder is fiction, it is evident that it is supposed to be based on the real world, which is not supported by most situations in the text. I think that this book would benefit from either mainly supporting a topic more fully fictional like fantasy, or something more realistic. A good example could be The Hunger Games which is a very captivating book that commits to a specific theme or category. Even so, this tale has made me question the justice system and how unfair the police can be. I worry about people who might be facing shame or punishment for something they didn't do or maybe even people who are let free when they've done something very wrong. I wasn’t necessarily as aware before I read this book.
In short, A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder is a great book and worth a read. It confronts exciting parts of growing up and issues much greater than Pippa and her town. But, make sure, before you bury yourself in such a suspenseful account, you grab some popcorn, and a blanket because this story is a wild ride.
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