Prepare yourselves for the biggest plot twist ever: Good Girl, Bad Blood is way better than A Good Girl's Guide to Murder.
Good Girl, Bad Blood is Holly Jackson’s second mystery novel and also the second part to her bestseller, A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder (AGGGTM).
In Good Girl, Bad Blood, Pip is not a detective anymore. She’s put that life behind her after everything she lost during her first investigation. She can’t go through that anymore.
With her boyfriend, Ravi Singh’s, help, she released a true crime podcast, detailing the process of how she went about solving the Andie Bell-Sal Singh case. The podcast has gone viral and everyone is wondering what Pip will do next.
But things change when her best friend’s brother goes missing. Jamie Reynolds does not return home on the day a memorial was hosted for the sixth anniversary of Andie and Sal’s death. The police won’t do anything about it, so Pip has taken it upon herself to find him before it’s too late.
I think we all get to decide what good and bad and right and wrong mean to us, not what we’re told to accept.
I'm a Good Girl
Good Girl, Bad Blood is so much better than A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder.
I know I was brutally hating on AGGGTM in the previous review but Good Girl, Bad Blood exceeded the very little expectation I had of it. Honestly, I was kind of hoping for the worse because other readers have mentioned that the books only goes downhill from the first one, but I'm pleasantly surprised by this outcome.
First of all, the pacing in Good Girl, Bad Blood was superb. There is a new revelation to uncover in almost every chapter, keeping the book fun and exciting. There was something for me to look forward to which kept me at the edge of my seat.
The characters in this book were slightly less memorable than those in the first book. In Good Girl, Bad Blood, we focus more on the Reynolds family—Connor, Joanna, Arthur, and of course, Jamie. We also get an introduction to new characters, Charlie and Flora Green, who are the Fitz-Amobi’s new neighbours.
I thought it was sad that Pip’s relationship with Cara sort of just died off in the second novel. There was a weird aura between them but it might just be Cara’s way of coping with her loss in the first novel. There was also less mention of Pip’s family in this one.
At least Ravi’s still here.
But I still got some Bad Blood
Unlike A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder where we uncovered part of the story through Pippa’s production logs, we now get the transcript of Pip’s interviews for her podcast. However, the podcast transcript does not feel the same as reading her production logs. It just felt like I had extra dialogue to digest which I found a bit over-the-top. The pictures were a fancy touch if it wasn’t taken on a flip phone.
I think there was a bit of confusion on the writer’s side of the story though. In the last novel, we understand that Pip “took on the case” as part of her final year project. But in this novel, she's somehow still in school? I thought we got that over and done with in the last part?
I also found it contradictory that Pip created a whole podcast detailing how she and Ravi solved the Andie Bell-Sal Singh murder when she said that she’s not going to involve herself in investigative work ever again after how it messed her life and family up. Make up your mind, Pippa.
I thought the ending to Good Girl, Bad Blood was done in an amateurish way. Of course, I am no expert in the art of writing but the overuse of dialogue made the scene fall flat.
The scene after the drama was where all the good bits were though. The sudden change in paragraphing and text. Love the delivery of the change in tone and emotion. This brings me to my next point in which Good Girl, Bad Blood was filled with emotion.
As opposed to A Good Girl's Guide to Murder where everything was very factual and straightforward, Good Girl, Bad Blood focuses more on the feelings of the characters. There were a lot of moments where I could really empathise as Pip descends into self-destructive behaviour.
And that ending. That hurt.
Despite all the good things, there were still a few shortcomings that failed to make Good Girl, Bad Blood a five-star read. However, I would still not recommend reading Good Girl, Bad Blood. There are a lot of references to AGGGTM in this novel and considering how mid I found the first novel to be, I would not bother putting in the effort to read that just so I can read Good Girl, Bad Blood.
But you bet I will still be reading the last two books in the series. I'm not expecting much from them but who knows? I could end up loving them more than I did for AGGGTM and Good Girl, Bad Blood.
★ ★ ★ ★ ☆
Genre: Mystery
Series: A Good Girl’s Guide To Murder #2
Number of pages: 433
Year published: 2019
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