As Good As Dead

The third book in the A Good Girl’s Guide To Murder series and the quality of Holly Jackson’s story telling is just as strong as the very first book, if not better. 

We are back with Pip in the aftermath of the death of Stanley Forbes and she isn’t coping well at all. She imagines blood on her hands all the time, she hears six gunshots all the time and she can’t sleep. She has turned to buying Xanax from the local drug dealer, promising herself each time will be the last time. She knows she needs to do something to go back to being her normal self, and that’s when she decides that she will do a third and final series of her podcast. She decides that she must find a case that is black and white, where there are no grey areas like her previous two cases, in order to help herself. 

However, while Pip is trying to find a case to fit her needs, she ends up with a completely different one, and one that she may be the centre of. She has been getting threatening messages but ignoring them, until weird things start happening at her house. Pip must then race against time to uncover a killer before she becomes his next victim. 

I have loved all of this series and this is no different. The text being broken up with emails, websites, texts etc make it so much more interesting to read. And Pip’s character development through the series has been interesting to see. It is obvious that she needs therapy but quit after not giving it a chance, which is believable for someone as independent as Pip. 

Ending with a “…” is both frustrating (I need to know what happens) and also leaves room for hope (that I will find out what happens) and I can only hope that Holly Jackson revisits Pip and Ravi’s story in the future. But for now, I am looking forward to reading whatever else she decides to write.