A Good Girl's Guide to Murder

Solid 4 Stars. Really captivating for a YA mystery/thriller.

It was a fun read until it devolved into nonsense.

Holly Jackson nails this young adult mystery thriller with her first book. This story gives you a motivated teen on a mission to reveal truths about a small town murder and missing person. Her investigation tactics vary from somewhat questionable, resourceful, to tech savvy and very thorough. Having an intelligent and resourceful protagonist really propels this adventure forward from plot twist to plot twist. As a reader it was an enjoyable read and kept me guessing at every little detail or suspicion tossed into the story without muddling things so much as to confuse me. I loved the reveals, yes, multiple reveals. I also love how everything wrapped up nicely only to discover there's more leading into the rest of her series. Recommended read, well written, intriguing and didn't feel like a young adult novel at all.

Wow! Absolutely amazing! That was such a fun read! The writing and description of things was immaculate! This might be my favorite mystery novel!

I don't typically like YA books, especially since I have to take care of a few... But, I love thrillers and Jackson did a great job. She lured me in with Pip's capstone project for high school- on the murder of Andie Bell- where Sal Singh was pinned as the murderer. Lots of twist and turns, and this book keeps you on your toes. I did guess part of the whodunnit from the get go but not the whole thing. BTW never heard of high schoolers doing a capstone project- maybe this is a private school thing.
Interestingly, I found that the book was very reminiscent of the famous podcast "Serial". If you haven't heard it, highly recommend. Then watch the SNL parody of the show- hilarious and perfect timing with the holidays approaching. I was a little irritated with the 'white savior' aspect- poor brown family needs saving and redemption. Will watch the Netflix show, so we will see how they deal with it.