A Good Girl's Guide to Murder (A Good Girl's Guide To Murder, #1)

by Holly Jackson

[lessthelonely]

This book had quite a pair of shoes to feel for me. I don't know how to feel on whether or not it did do that.

I found this to be a little bit more tightly paced than my few other references for YA thrillers - namely, "The Inheritance Games" series by Jennifer Lynn-Barnes. I enjoyed that, even if this book felt like it took a bitt of a slow start for the plot to actually start moving - I'd say the 1st part is how long the book needs to actually find its footing and for the enticing parts to start coming.

What do I feel like this book suffers from? Having a secondary plot that is a little more interesting and shocking than the book's main plot itself - the main mystery surrounds the dissappearance and supposed murder of Andie Bell, but as suspects get introduced, a more intriguing plot seems to happen, even if the Andie Bell one is also interesting.

By the time the first big moments of the book happen - which is when this secondary plot gets mostly solved -, I found myself thinking "Oh, that's it?", because the secondary plot, though incredibly YA thriller-like, felt more interesting and intriguing than the others, and I started thinking about what could've been if that plot was, in fact, the main plot.

I also totally caught on to the foreshadowing, and predicted the first big reveal regarding the main story. It was glaringly obvious, in my opinion, and, in a way, purposefully so, so the actual climax was a little bit more surprising. I must admit it didn't really make me that interested. I just felt like.. Oh, so that was what happened. OK.

At the same time, this book tries to create suspense by basically threatening the main character's life and family, a bit. I found it incredibly dull, sorry to say. I can understand risking a character's pet and stuff like that, but it felt cheap and I wasn't that invested in those parts. It wasn't as much of a gag as the book seems to think it was.

I might read the following installments, as this was satisfying enough, but I can't help thinking there was something missing in this whole book.