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A review by keysmashhh
As Good As Dead by Holly Jackson
adventurous
dark
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.75
Plot: 4/5
Characters: 4.5/5
Relationships: 4/5
World-Building: 3.5/5
Genre: 4.5/5
Plot: This was the perfect finale to the trilogy, the combination of elements from the first two books, the haunting presence of Max Hastings and Pip's continued search for justice was so cleverly integrated into the new mystery. I loved how the evidence of the past two mysteries actually mattered in this book, like the photo of the hairbrush, which was so clever and genuinely gave me chills. I also loved that Andie's email account really helped highlight her motivations for trying to leave in the first book. It was interesting to see the sub-plotlines like her drug addiction and the trial be integrated into the main plot. I also LOVED the concept of her having to use her skills of solving murders to try and cover one up, honestly a genius plot idea!
Characters: Pip is still the best example of a strong female main character I don't utterly despise, she is a perfect balance of relatable and funny and just genuinely someone who I would want to be friends with. I was living for the morally grey Pip we saw in this book, she really had an edge to her that wasn't there in the other two books, highlighting how the murders had taken their toll on her. Ravi continued to be lovely, again such a contrast to the usual badly-written-one-dimensional love interests of a lot of other books. Pip's family are such a small part of the book but such a big part of why I enjoy this series SO much. They are the most relatable fictional family I've ever read, their family banter is so lovely to read. I have to say this book felt a lot more focused on Pip compared to the last two but I don't think that's a detriment, just an observation.
Relationships: Pip and Ravi's relationship, is still adorable. I loved that instead of placing strain on their relationship, Holly Jackson chose to make their relationship stronger after the murder, as surreal as it was lovely to see them work together to cover up a murder. The end bit where they aren't allowed to speak to each other was... meh, I don't know, it didn't make me sob, and it was nice to see the very last bit where he texts her but to me, it felt like Pip's paranoia was taking over.
World-Building: Realism works in this book, the small English town vibes were there (as someone who lives in a small English town, I can confirm) Other than that, it's hard to rank books like this on World-Building because that really isn't the primary focus of the book.
Genre: OK so I love murder mystery books, they are amazing. That's what drew me to AGGTM initially when I first read it, I'd never seen anyone talk about it online or recommend it to me, I just picked it up and read it. I love the way the trilogy has gone since the first book and this book almost felt like a love letter to the world of AGGTM. This one just worked, like it wasn't totally murder mystery and having the MC commit a murder defiantly flips the format on its head but I liked that. OK so that comes to my one problem with this book, it was predictable. I KNEW that Jason was the DT Killer, it was so obvious, like maybe not to everyone but when it was revealed I was like "Oh... that's disappointing, I guessed that ages ago" I think this was so disappointing because in AGGTM and GGBB I was totally in the dark about who the killer was and I really didn't see any of the plot twists coming where as this one I did, but other than that it was an amazing book!
Characters: 4.5/5
Relationships: 4/5
World-Building: 3.5/5
Genre: 4.5/5
Plot: This was the perfect finale to the trilogy, the combination of elements from the first two books, the haunting presence of Max Hastings and Pip's continued search for justice was so cleverly integrated into the new mystery. I loved how the evidence of the past two mysteries actually mattered in this book, like the photo of the hairbrush, which was so clever and genuinely gave me chills. I also loved that Andie's email account really helped highlight her motivations for trying to leave in the first book. It was interesting to see the sub-plotlines like her drug addiction and the trial be integrated into the main plot. I also LOVED the concept of her having to use her skills of solving murders to try and cover one up, honestly a genius plot idea!
Characters: Pip is still the best example of a strong female main character I don't utterly despise, she is a perfect balance of relatable and funny and just genuinely someone who I would want to be friends with. I was living for the morally grey Pip we saw in this book, she really had an edge to her that wasn't there in the other two books, highlighting how the murders had taken their toll on her. Ravi continued to be lovely, again such a contrast to the usual badly-written-one-dimensional love interests of a lot of other books. Pip's family are such a small part of the book but such a big part of why I enjoy this series SO much. They are the most relatable fictional family I've ever read, their family banter is so lovely to read. I have to say this book felt a lot more focused on Pip compared to the last two but I don't think that's a detriment, just an observation.
Relationships: Pip and Ravi's relationship, is still adorable. I loved that instead of placing strain on their relationship, Holly Jackson chose to make their relationship stronger after the murder, as surreal as it was lovely to see them work together to cover up a murder. The end bit where they aren't allowed to speak to each other was... meh, I don't know, it didn't make me sob, and it was nice to see the very last bit where he texts her but to me, it felt like Pip's paranoia was taking over.
World-Building: Realism works in this book, the small English town vibes were there (as someone who lives in a small English town, I can confirm) Other than that, it's hard to rank books like this on World-Building because that really isn't the primary focus of the book.
Genre: OK so I love murder mystery books, they are amazing. That's what drew me to AGGTM initially when I first read it, I'd never seen anyone talk about it online or recommend it to me, I just picked it up and read it. I love the way the trilogy has gone since the first book and this book almost felt like a love letter to the world of AGGTM. This one just worked, like it wasn't totally murder mystery and having the MC commit a murder defiantly flips the format on its head but I liked that. OK so that comes to my one problem with this book, it was predictable. I KNEW that Jason was the DT Killer, it was so obvious, like maybe not to everyone but when it was revealed I was like "Oh... that's disappointing, I guessed that ages ago" I think this was so disappointing because in AGGTM and GGBB I was totally in the dark about who the killer was and I really didn't see any of the plot twists coming where as this one I did, but other than that it was an amazing book!