Review: A Good Girls Guide to Murder

A Good Girls Guide to Murder
Holly Jackson

Published By: Electric Monkey
Publication Date: May 2, 2019
Date Read: May 26, 2019
Genre: YA - Thriller / Mystery
Source: Bought
Format: Paperback
Pages: 432

From Goodreads:
The case is closed. Five years ago, schoolgirl Andie Bell was murdered by Sal Singh. The police know he did it. Everyone in town knows he did it.

But having grown up in the same small town that was consumed by the murder, Pippa Fitz-Amobi isn't so sure. When she chooses the case as the topic for her final year project, she starts to uncover secrets that someone in town desperately wants to stay hidden. And if the real killer is still out there, how far will they go to keep Pip from the truth?

A debut YA crime thriller as addictive as Serial and as page-turning as One of Us Is Lying.

YA thrillers are far from my go-to genre. I'm a huge lover of YA books but I never really enjoyed thriller/mysteries all that much. But after absolutely loving the recent releases from Karen M McManus I decided it was time to broaden my horizens and try to read a few more. A Good Girl's Guide to Murder is a fun, unique addition to this genre and I really enjoyed it.

A Good Girl's Guide to Murder is wrote in such a unique way and that was one of the things that I loved most about it. This book follows the story of straight-A student Pippa who decides to complete her Extended Project Qualification (EPQ) on the crime that rocked her town five years ago when popular school girl Andie Bell was murdered. But as Pippa gets deeper into what actually happened she starts putting herself in danger.

One thing I loved about this book was that half of the book was wrote as an EPQ Production Log. As a sixth-form teacher I found this really interesting and actually preferred these parts to the actual narration. I was always looking forward to those parts so much more so we could hear what else Andie had got up to in the weeks before her death. I find this split in story-telling to give this book an edge that others in this genre don't have. The production log became your way of seeing what Andie had done and the narration was more what was going on present day with Pippa researching it. It was a really unique way to write this book and I loved how the narration and the production log came together to give you an overall view of what happened. It was a really great way to write this story.

I was completely taken by surprise by this book. I really enjoyed it and the more I read the more I couldn't put it down. I was completely gripped by it and I was dying to find out what had actually happened all those years ago. A Good Girls Guide to Murder was Holly Jackson's debut novel and I think she did an absolutely superb job. I will definitely be looking out for other books by her in the future.

YA thriller/mysteries are never going to be my favourite genre but I really enjoyed A Good Girl's Guide to Murder. I thought it was absolutely fantastic and one I will definitely be keeping this one on my shelf to read again in the future. If you're looking for an intriguing and fun read then I highly recomment this one. It was great.