A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder by Holly Jackson
A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder #1
(2019) 433 pages
Final Rating: 8/10

Blurb:
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.

Review:
This was a great fast-paced book. Most of the time when I read, I normally think, “Wow, there’s still so many pages left. Can this book go any faster?” But with this book, I thought, “I wish I could read faster just so I can know what happens next!”

Although I know it’s not very believable how a high school girl solved a crime that went cold for five years, this was enjoyable to read nevertheless. In fact, this book is a wonderful example of a simple premise and great execution.

There were many great choices Jackson made when writing this book, but I think the best choice she made was Ravi Singh. Ravi Singh is the best. Hands down. He is the brother of Salil Singh and was outcasted by all the residents of Fairview due to the reputation of being “the brother of a murderer”. But at the end of the day, he’s just a normal guy who likes his coffee with milk and sugar and wants to know the truth behind the case of Salil Singh and Andie Bell.

For me, Ravi is one of the best love interests I’ve read of. He’s determined, brave, humorous, sarcastic, and understanding. And best of all, he’s not dark and brooding, he’s just an ordinary guy in the absolute best kind of way. He gets hurt when people he cares about push him away, he gets scared, but he tries to overcome his fears whenever he can so he can help the people he loves.

Jackson could’ve made Ravi just another person Pip had to interview, but instead, she included him in the entire book, which is a choice I greatly appreciate.

All the characters in the book were well-developed and interesting. Even the purposefully dislikeable characters played their parts well. I enjoyed that Jackson showed more of each character’s personality rather than explaining everything, slowing down the pacing. The quick yet revealing dialogue that unveiled a lot about each person’s personality made the book a better read.

I would say the ending kind of let me down a little bit because there were a lot of red herrings the author gave the reader to make sure that the ending was as unexpected as possible, but sadly that didn’t work for me. I had suspicions about the culprit(s) due to some clues that were analyzed and others that were ignored entirely by the main character, which left the ending a bit unsatisfying for me.