Book Review | As Good as Dead

As Good as Dead by Holly Jackson

Series: A Good Girl's Guide to Murder #3
Published by Random House Children's Books on September 28, 2021
Genres: Young Adult Fiction / Law & Crime, Young Adult Fiction / Social Themes / Prejudice & Racism, Young Adult Fiction / Thrillers & Suspense / General
Pages: 464
Format: Hardcover

The final book in the series that reads like your favorite true crime podcast or show. By the end, you'll never think of good girls the same way again...Pip is about to head to college, but she is still haunted by the way her last investigation ended. She’s used to online death threats in the wake of her viral true-crime podcast, but she can’t help noticing an anonymous person who keeps asking her: Who will look for you when you’re the one who disappears? Soon the threats escalate and Pip realizes that someone is following her in real life. When she starts to find connections between her stalker and a local serial killer caught six years ago, she wonders if maybe the wrong man is behind bars. Police refuse to act, so Pip has only one choice: find the suspect herself—or be the next victim. As the deadly game plays out, Pip discovers that everything in her small town is coming full circle . . .and if she doesn’t find the answers, this time she will be the one who disappears. . .

ISBN: 9780593379875

Wow! The way everything ties together in the end. I loved everything about this book and series. Just so good, and I love how each book became darker.

I really appreciate how everything came back to Jason Bell, Andie and Becca Bell’s father, who ended up being a serial killer. It really does fit with how he acts throughout the series being this misogynist, controlling asshole. I’m disappointed I didn’t see it earlier. But even more than Jason being a serial killer is that the murders from book one lead back to him. Andie was selling drugs in order to save up money to get herself and Becca out from under their father, which is why she ended up trying to have Mr. Ward help her get into Yale. Thus when she went to his house that night, she was needing his help to escape her dad, which ended in her death (and therefore ended in Sal’s murder to cover up Andie’s murder).

It’s just so crazy! But so well-done too. And that’s only part one of the book. The next half is Pip and Ravi covering up Pip’s murder of Jason Bell, which I go back and forth on if I like this or not. Part of me is thinking that with everything that happened in book two with Max’s trial and what Charlie told her in their talk, it makes sense that she wouldn’t think anyone would believe her. Especially with the fact that most everything thinks she’s spiraling after Stanley’s murder and Max’s not guilty verdict. Plus the panic of killing someone doesn’t always make someone think clearly. But then, knowing that there was more evidence that wasn’t thought of (fingerprint that didn’t match Billy’s) and at the end of the day, usually no one can get away with serial killing forever (minus a few exceptions, but it’s the tech age, it’s super difficult to leave nothing). And we even know after they find Jason’s body that they did link him to the previous murders, found out he’s the DT killer, and release Billy….so she probably could’ve been believed.

But, again, the heat of the moment doesn’t really keep a clear head. I do think it’s quite brilliant to have Max take the fall for Jason’s murder. Pip and Ravi do save future victims of Max (I don’t think he’d stop raping), plus it’s a certain level of poetic justice that both of these men are dealt with in the end.

Still a really great series and a wonderful mystery!

Darcy