As Good As Dead is a stunning conclusion to one of the strongest YA mystery series out there. This is a book that leaves you stunned in silence. I’ve been a massive fan of the A Good Girl’s Guide To Murder series since I first heard about it years ago. Every instalment has been revealed more and more original and gripping plot twists, culminating in an immaculately plotted trilogy. This series is refreshing in that you could read each book as a standalone, as they work as separate stories. However, I’d have to highly recommend that you read them together in order to fully appreciate the sheer ingenuity of Jackson’s plotting.
You heard it here first, Holly Jackson is an evil genius.
Her fiendish mind pulls out yet more amazing twists and turns that genuinely shock and surprise you. I loved how this ties the whole series together. This feels like a solid closing chapter with so many of the recurring storylines from across the trilogy paying off. Little details from the first case resurface in a different context. This level of attention to detail is so incredibly impressive and incredibly rewarding as a reader. The entire trilogy now feels so cohesive and instantly I wanted to reread every book to pick up every breadcrumb Jackson left behind. However, the ending does leave potential for some future stories in this word, which I would obviously love to devour.
Yet again, Jackson pulls you in with such a strong opening hook and never lets you off the hook from there in. It is so unsettling and creepy, setting the tone for the darker tale hidden within. You just have to know what happens next. I loved how Jackson is unafraid of delving right into Pip’s trauma and how that’s affected her life. The Pip from A Good Girl’s Guide To Murder has been fundamentally changed by the events of the books and so the Pip in As Good As Dead is very different. Jackson effectively and sensitively explores the trauma these events would have on Pip and it was so good to see an author acknowledge just how horrific her experiences were. There’s a real sense of actions having consequences and accountability that runs through the book. This eventually leads to a very very dark shift in the story, as Jackson goes even deeper into uncharted territory. The ethical and moral ambiguity of the book also increases, leading to some really thought-provoking discussions about justice and revenge.