Audiobook Review: A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder by Holly Jackson

Posted by Jessi (Geo) on April 17, 2020 | 3 Comments


Audiobook Review: A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder by Holly JacksonA Good Girl's Guide to Murder by Holly Jackson
Series: A Good Girl's Guide to Murder #1
Published by Delacorte (5.2.2019)
Genres: Mystery, Thriller, Young Adult
Format: Audiobook, 433 pages
Length: 10 hours, 53 minutes
Narrator: Bailey Carr, Full cast
Source: Library


4 Stars

Pretty and popular high school senior Andie Bell was murdered by her boyfriend, Sal Singh, who then killed himself. It was all anyone could talk about. And five years later, Pip sees how the tragedy still haunts her town.

But she can't shake the feeling that there was more to what happened that day. She knew Sal when she was a child, and he was always so kind to her. How could he possibly have been a killer?

Now a senior herself, Pip decides to reexamine the closed case for her final project, at first just to cast doubt on the original investigation. But soon she discovers a trail of dark secrets that might actually prove Sal innocent . . . and the line between past and present begins to blur. Someone in Fairview doesn't want Pip digging around for answers, and now her own life might be in danger.

This is the story of an investigation turned obsession, full of twists and turns and with an ending you'll never expect.

My thoughts

Holy crap, this book was so addicting!! I’ve seen it compared to One of Us is Lying, which I enjoyed, but I think this one was even better!

In the beginning, it starts off as a typical mystery – popular girl is murdered, her boyfriend is the supposed killer. Okay, I can see which direction this is going. But as Pippa started digging and uncovering secrets, shit got crazy! The list of suspects grew longer and just created more and more questions. What really happened to Andie? If Sal didn’t kill her, who framed Sal?! It was so intense! When I wasn’t listening, I was thinking about it. By halfway through I was helplessly engrossed. I was invested. I needed to know the truth as bad as Pippa did!

The more clues Pippa uncovered, the more unsure I was of what actually happened. It’s hard to talk about the rest without giving anything away! View Spoiler »

The main thing that keeps me from giving this 5 stars is that I didn’t connect to the characters like I’d hoped. I did like Pippa, but I wasn’t attached to Ravi any of the side characters, and I really didn’t care about the romance between Ravi and Pippa. It didn’t do anything for me. View Spoiler » I was also left feeling unsatisfied in some nameless way after the end and I don’t really know why. View Spoiler »

The audio

This book is marketed as a full cast audiobook – and in a way, it kinda is. But that’s also kinda false advertising. The book is predominantly narrated by Bailey Carr. The only scenes with any other narrators were the interviews, which were only a small part of the book. Not that it’s a bad thing, Bailey Carr is fantastic! She reminded me a lot of Carla Corva (Hanna Donnelly in Gemina), who is one of my favorite narrators. But it’s definitely not what I expected when I saw it labeled as full cast. I still highly recommend it, though!

Overall Assessment

Plot: 4.5/5
Premise: 4.5/5
Writing style: 4/5
Characters: 3.5/5
Pace: 4.5/5
Feels: 3/5
Narration: 4/5
Cover: 4/5
Overall rating: 4/5

Jessi (Geo)

Posted in: Book Reviews | Tags: , , , , ,

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3 responses to “Audiobook Review: A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder by Holly Jackson

  1. YESSSS I was waiting for H.H. at the hotel to be someone of importance and thought I was so clever picking up on it but then it went…nowhere lol. I really can’t tell if it was just to throw readers off or if it was accidentally left out of the rest of the plot!

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