A Good Girl's Guide to Murder by Holly Jackson is a thrilling young adult read that brings a cold case back to life. I will admit I had a slow start with this book. Don't get me wrong- it's a great book. But my Summer Reading List has been stacked with back to back nail biters and page-turners. Maybe it was that I'm still reeling from having just finished My Dark Vanessa by Kate Elizabeth Russell. I needed something fun and easy to digest after that book, and A Good Girl's Guide to Murder satisfied that hunger.
Pip is a straight-A student turned young detective when she decides the topic of her school project will be to prove an alleged murderer innocent. Popular student Andie disappeared, and her boyfriend Sal has confessed to the murder in a text message before taking his own life. Pip teams up with Sal's brother Ravi to find out what really happened five years ago in their hometown.
This was an impressive debut by Holly Jackson. It's a classic YA, which is a nice change considering a lot of YA books straddle the line between teen-friendly and adult content. It has simplicity in the writing style, yet the way the book is structured makes up for it's simplicity and makes it unique. The way the author incorporates Pip's entries from her capstone project and other pieces of evidence into the story to give it an eerie realism.
Just when I thought I had predicted the ending, the story throws a new twist in the investigation. As an adult, I really enjoyed this book, but for the teen reader, this is a murder mystery that parents would approve of. There's no lued or overtly sexual content, or extreme violence. The book doesn't have to rely on sex and gore to make it good. It's an old-fashioned whodunit with a modern twist.
Check out more books on my Summer Reading List!
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