Holly Jackson

The third thrilling book in the bestselling, award-winning A Good Girl's Guide to Murder series

As Good As Dead

Ivy Dena

Pip had asked for a way out, one last case, and something had answered her. Now it was even more perfect, even more fitting. Because DT was the origin. The end and the beginning. The monster in the dark, the creator, the source. Everything that had happened traced right back to him.

Andie Bell knew who DT was and she was terrified, so she sold drugs for Howie Bowers to save up money to escape, to get far away from Kilton. She sold Rohypnol to Max Hastings, who then used those drugs to rape her little sister, Becca. Andie pursued Elliot Ward in her desperate plan to escape to Oxford with Sal. Elliot thought he accidentally killed Andie, so he murdered Sal to cover it up, Ravi's brother dead in the woods.

But Elliot didn't kill Andie, not really, it was Becca Bell, too angry and shocked at her sister's role in her own tragedy that she froze and let Andie die from her head injury, choking on her own vomit. Five years went by and then Pip came along, uncovered all those truths. Elliot in prison, Becca in prison though she shouldn't be, Max not in prison though he should be. And, most importantly, Howie Bowers in prison. Howie told his cellmate that he knew the real Child Brunswick. The cellmate told his cousin, who told a friend, who told a friend, who put the rumour online. Charlie Green read that rumour and came to Little Kilton. Layla Mead, wearing the face of Stella Chapman. Jamie Reynolds missing. Stanley Forbes with six holes blown in him, bleeding out on Pip's hands.

Three different stories, but one interconnected knot. And in the centre of that writhing knot, grinning at her from the dark, was DT.

HE WAITED ONE YEAR 8 MONTHS AND 16 DAYS FOR HER 😭 NEVER HURT HIM AGAIN PLEASE RAVIPIP ♾️

Luoyi

3 minutes after the verdict was read in The Crown vs. Hastings:

Ravi was on his knees in the leaves, face hidden bawling into his hands. It hurt more than anything, to see him that way, and her chest opened up, reaching out to him, trying to drive her back.

“I suppose if you were ever involved in anything like this”, he said, after-laugh smile stroll on his face, “you’d know exactly how to get away with it.”

Until Ravi threw it on to their new river, and that small flame exploded into the inferno, high and angry. The screaming of ghosts as it melted plastic and began to twist metal. 

bro this whole section of the book was actually so crazy

He was her best thing, and now she would always be the worst thing that had happened to him. 

‘Howie Bowers. Max Hastings. Elliot Ward. Becca. This is why it all happened. Everything. Full circle.’ She added quietly. The beginning was the end and the end the beginning, and DT was both.

if they don’t end up together forever i will actually cry 

It was sudden and unexpected, the feeling that stirred in her chest, watching him. That feeling that dawdled there, took its sweet time. A slow burn. It was just an unexpected nice thing, to know that some parts of her loved inside him too. Team Ravi and Pip.

isha

You’re my Pip and I’m your Ravi. We’re a team.

Annika McClintock

Two monsters and a ring of dead and dead-eyed girls of their making.

Disappearing wasn't mysterious, it wasn't thrilling; it was cold bodies with stiff limbs and purpling patches as the blood inside pooled

alexys <3

She closed her eyes and made a new silent promise to him, because he had chosen her and she had chosen him: they were going to get away with it. 

Alone, even though Ravi was right here. Her thoughts in his voice. Her lifeline. Her cornerstone.

Ravi already knew all that, he'd been there for it too. "I’m staying with you, until the very end,” he promised, and Pip wanted to cry but she couldn't, her eyes were force ed shut. “You wont be alone, Pip."

“Who will visit you when you’re in a cage?” she asked. 

 "It's scary, to know that someone might want to hurt you, or make you scared. You're my person. My little one. My Sarge. And I'm supposed to protect you."

Pip could feel Ravi's arm tensing against hers. He hated confrontation, hated it, and even so, Pip knew he would go to war for her if she ever asked. 

Vanessa

Who will look for you when you're the one who disappears?

Neyla 

The third thrilling book in the bestselling, award-winning A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder series.

Reagan

"..Don't be like that." [He] said, the words too careful and too soft.

WHAT I MEAN YES QUEEN BUT WHAT THE FUCKKKKK

Anika P

 “Pip throws him out into the road in front of the too-big lorry and he explodes, raining red down on her as she stands there, smiling.”

The highly anticipated finale to the A Good Girl's Guide to Murder series, the instant New York Times bestsellers that read like your favorite true crime podcast or show. By the end of this mystery series, you'll never think of good girls the same way again... Pip is about to head to college, but she is still haunted by the way her last investigation ended. She's used to online death threats in the wake of her viral true-crime podcast, but she can't help noticing an anonymous person who keeps asking her: Who will look for you when you're the one who disappears? Soon the threats escalate and Pip realizes that someone is following her in real life. When she starts to find connections between her stalker and a local serial killer caught six years ago, she wonders if maybe the wrong man is behind bars. Police refuse to act, so Pip has only one choice: find the suspect herself--or be the next victim. As the deadly game plays out, Pip discovers that everything in her small town is coming full circle . . .and if she doesn't find the answers, this time she will be the one who disappears. . .

The Finale to a Good Girl's Guide to Murder

Crying... Tears streaming down my face...

3 minutes after the verdict was read in The Crown vs. Max Hastings:

The twists and turns just kept on coming right until the very end and I was so excited to see how she wrapped it all together and it was done so well!!! 

Brittany Peterson

This series was sooooo good!!!! 

A perfect finale to a great series!!!

The twists and turns just kept on coming right until the very end and I was so excited to see how she wrapped it all together and it was done so well!!! 

this wasn't the greatest honestly, i was a bit disappointed by the ending. the book seemed both rushed and drawn out, focusing more on the boring parts than the parts that needed to be fleshed out. also, i hate time skips and ambiguous endings. altogether, it wasn't the worst, hence the 4 star rating, but the other books were better :)

kaii

"The game had changed. Her against them. Save herself to save herself."

Phew, that was a stressful read, I was on the edge of my seat for this entire book and I never wanted to put it down. That being said, I am disappointed in this one and not completely happy with how this book handled certain topics and how it concluded the series. I just don't think I can suspend my disbelief quite this far... So this is your fair warning that this review is going to have spoilers, because I can't realy think of a way to speak about this book without talking about the major plot points. This review will also have spoilers for book 2 as well.

 ended, with Stanley's murder and Charlie Green escaping - I didn't particularly love how this was handled. Pip has always been a very reckless and relatively selfish person throughout all of these books, she's selfless in a lot of ways but she also acts impulsively without really, fully giving a thought to the people around her that care about her until it's much too late and this book really showed that in black and white. Pip is struggling to cope with her involvement in Stanley's death, the blood on her hands and the gunshots echoing inside her heart, she's struggling to sleep and clearly suffering from PTSD. So, in a truly Pip fashion, I guess, she just deals with it all on her own. The girl who supposedly knows a lot about everything just completely ignores professional advice and therapy and instead takes Xanax peddled from Luke Eaton (Nat's ex boyfriend) and lies to Ravi and her friends. She thinks solving one last case will "save her" but in reality she is spiraling. Then by the end of the book, after all of the horrid traumatic things she goes through, she isolates herself and this tauma is never resolved in any type of healthy way. This is a pretty terrible representation and handling of mental health in my opinion, and if you're going to go down the morally grey route then you HAVE to have the side characters being more worried about her condition and trying to be the voice of reason instead of acting like everything is resolved by the end, when it very clearly is not.

Through the middle of the book I was really enjoying it. The tension of her being stalked, the threatening messages, the connection to the DT Killer and an innocent man behind bars was really thrilling and interesting. As she started to uncover things about the connection I thought it became pretty obvious straight away who the stalker was, but Pip was still blinded and accusing the wrong person. When she got kidnapped I was absolutely hooked and terrified for her and thought Part 2 would switch POVs and be about her friends figuring out how to find her, because that seemed to be the direction the book was heading with the 

"who will look for you when you’re the one who disappears?"

 tagline repeated again and again - but unfortunately this book really switched it up, in what I am assuming was meant to be a shocking twist, she miraculously escapes. I found this whole sequence pretty unrealistic to be honest, you're telling me a practised serial killer wouldn't have perfected his craft after five victims, even rusty after a few years out of the game? Hmmm...

The she murders him, and I'm thinking, ok, self defense, this is fine. But then she's talking about covering it up and how she doesn't trust the police and I GET that, I totally understand it, and I get overreacting in the moment and making things worse. But my gosh... what an absolute mess. She then breaks another dozen laws, incriminating Ravi and every single one her best friends... I was absolutely shocked at how this was handled and then played off as if Pip was some type of hero. No. Nope. I'm sorry, this is where the book lost the plot. Pip was clearly suffering a LOT of trauma and for everyone to just enable her to make things worse, a lot of them trusting her blindly, just rubbed me the wrong way. There was some degree of satisfaction with how she managed to get two birds with one stone by framing Max, but it was overshadowed by how ridiculous the rest of the plot was and how it was written as if this was all totally fine as long as she got away with it... I dunno... I am pretty pissed off at that ending to be honest. 

There were parts of this book I did like, the writing, as always, was gripping and had me glued to the page, parts of the storyline were really well thought out and pieced together, the loose threads were all succintly tied up and I was pretty hearthbroken by the end, Jackson really did a number on me with those emotional last few pages. But... wow... yeah, I wanted to love this book, I really, really wanted to but I just can't overlook all the things I thought were badly handled and problematic, the message this book portrays just didn't really work for me. I will definitely be reading more of Holly Jackson's books because I do think she is a fantastic writer, I just think she lost the plot a little bit with this one when she had a really fantastic opportunity to make this series end on a better note. She had the opportunity to make a really stong message about friendship, family and about the reform needed of the police and their poor handling of these types of cases.. and we got some of that shining through, but it was overshadowed by all of the other messiness. I'm so sad to write this review... 😔

Genevieve 

"The game had changed. Her against them. Save herself to save herself."

3.5 ⭐️

Phew, that was a stressful read, I was on the edge of my seat for this entire book and I never wanted to put it down. That being said, I am disappointed in this one and not completely happy with how this book handled certain topics and how it concluded the series. I just don't think I can suspend my disbelief quite this far... So this is your fair warning that this review is going to have spoilers, because I can't realy think of a way to speak about this book without talking about the major plot points. This review will also have spoilers for book 2 as well.

>>>SPOILERS 


Firstly, Pip's reactions to how Good Girl, Bad Blood ended, with Stanley's murder and Charlie Green escaping - I didn't particularly love how this was handled. Pip has always been a very reckless and relatively selfish person throughout all of these books, she's selfless in a lot of ways but she also acts impulsively without really, fully giving a thought to the people around her that care about her until it's much too late and this book really showed that in black and white. Pip is struggling to cope with her involvement in Stanley's death, the blood on her hands and the gunshots echoing inside her heart, she's struggling to sleep and clearly suffering from PTSD. So, in a truly Pip fashion, I guess, she just deals with it all on her own. The girl who supposedly knows a lot about everything just completely ignores professional advice and therapy and instead takes Xanax peddled from Luke Eaton (Nat's ex boyfriend) and lies to Ravi and her friends. She thinks solving one last case will "save her" but in reality she is spiraling. Then by the end of the book, after all of the horrid traumatic things she goes through, she isolates herself and this tauma is never resolved in any type of healthy way. This is a pretty terrible representation and handling of mental health in my opinion, and if you're going to go down the morally grey route then you HAVE to have the side characters being more worried about her condition and trying to be the voice of reason instead of acting like everything is resolved by the end, when it very clearly is not.

Through the middle of the book I was really enjoying it. The tension of her being stalked, the threatening messages, the connection to the DT Killer and an innocent man behind bars was really thrilling and interesting. As she started to uncover things about the connection I thought it became pretty obvious straight away who the stalker was, but Pip was still blinded and accusing the wrong person. When she got kidnapped I was absolutely hooked and terrified for her and thought Part 2 would switch POVs and be about her friends figuring out how to find her, because that seemed to be the direction the book was heading with the "who will look for you when you’re the one who disappears?" tagline repeated again and again - but unfortunately this book really switched it up, in what I am assuming was meant to be a shocking twist, she miraculously escapes. I found this whole sequence pretty unrealistic to be honest, you're telling me a practised serial killer wouldn't have perfected his craft after five victims, even rusty after a few years out of the game? Hmmm...

The she murders him, and I'm thinking, ok, self defense, this is fine. But then she's talking about covering it up and how she doesn't trust the police and I GET that, I totally understand it, and I get overreacting in the moment and making things worse. But my gosh... what an absolute mess. She then breaks another dozen laws, incriminating Ravi and every single one her best friends... I was absolutely shocked at how this was handled and then played off as if Pip was some type of hero. No. Nope. I'm sorry, this is where the book lost the plot. Pip was clearly suffering a LOT of trauma and for everyone to just enable her to make things worse, a lot of them trusting her blindly, just rubbed me the wrong way. There was some degree of satisfaction with how she managed to get two birds with one stone by framing Max, but it was overshadowed by how ridiculous the rest of the plot was and how it was written as if this was all totally fine as long as she got away with it... I dunno... I am pretty pissed off at that ending to be honest. 

END SPOILER<<<

There were parts of this book I did like, the writing, as always, was gripping and had me glued to the page, parts of the storyline were really well thought out and pieced together, the loose threads were all succintly tied up and I was pretty hearthbroken by the end, Jackson really did a number on me with those emotional last few pages. But... wow... yeah, I wanted to love this book, I really, really wanted to but I just can't overlook all the things I thought were badly handled and problematic, the message this book portrays just didn't really work for me. I will definitely be reading more of Holly Jackson's books because I do think she is a fantastic writer, I just think she lost the plot a little bit with this one when she had a really fantastic opportunity to make this series end on a better note. She had the opportunity to make a really stong message about friendship, family and about the reform needed of the police and their poor handling of these types of cases.. and we got some of that shining through, but it was overshadowed by all of the other messiness. I'm so sad to write this review... 😔

I loved book one. Matter of fact it is one of the reeeally few murder mysteries I really like. Book two was a bit underwhelming in my opinion, but it happens with the second book in a trilogy. But this one…

Initially it was good, but after the murder I found it a bit far fetched. I don’t mind the character development in someone who doesn’t trusts the law, I actually found it pretty realistic after the first and second book, but I don’t believe two teenagers could get away with non premeditated murder with a twenty minute conversation and just a few hours to execute the plan.

Also I don’t think pulling everyone in would be the choice Pip would make in this situation. I can understand Ravi, but they pulled in EVERYONE and the author kind of used it as a showing of their friendship (?) kinda (?)

I would have understood trying to get away with it, getting rid of the body and all that, but framing someone? Even as hateful as Max? I don’t know.

And also, she doesn’t feel remorse, doesn’t have a nightmare about the violent murder itself, doesn’t feel fear if not of being caught or getting her friends involved with the police. Mmh, I don’t know. I feel like there’s some reality missing.

I’m a bit disappointed in the finale of this beautiful story and I’m not even gonna talk about the last few pages.

I’ll give it three stars cause I loved the journey and the characters, especially Ravi.

Rio (they/them)

Well… I don’t know about this one.

I loved book one. Matter of fact it is one of the reeeally few murder mysteries I really like. Book two was a bit underwhelming in my opinion, but it happens with the second book in a trilogy. But this one…

Initially it was good, but after the murder I found it a bit far fetched. I don’t mind the character development in someone who doesn’t trusts the law, I actually found it pretty realistic after the first and second book, but I don’t believe two teenagers could get away with non premeditated murder with a twenty minute conversation and just a few hours to execute the plan.

Also I don’t think pulling everyone in would be the choice Pip would make in this situation. I can understand Ravi, but they pulled in EVERYONE and the author kind of used it as a showing of their friendship (?) kinda (?)

I would have understood trying to get away with it, getting rid of the body and all that, but framing someone? Even as hateful as Max? I don’t know.

And also, she doesn’t feel remorse, doesn’t have a nightmare about the violent murder itself, doesn’t feel fear if not of being caught or getting her friends involved with the police. Mmh, I don’t know. I feel like there’s some reality missing.

I’m a bit disappointed in the finale of this beautiful story and I’m not even gonna talk about the last few pages.

I’ll give it three stars cause I loved the journey and the characters, especially Ravi.

Initially it was good, but after the murder I found it a bit far fetched. I don’t mind the character development in someone who doesn’t trust the law, I actually found it pretty realistic after the first and second book, but I don’t believe two teenagers could get away with non premeditated murder with a twenty minute conversation and just a few hours to execute the plan.

Well… I don’t know about this one.

I loved book one. Matter of fact it is one of the reeeally few murder mysteries I really like. Book two was a bit underwhelming in my opinion, but it happens with the second book in a trilogy. But this one…

Initially it was good, but after the murder I found it a bit far fetched. I don’t mind the character development in someone who doesn’t trust the law, I actually found it pretty realistic after the first and second book, but I don’t believe two teenagers could get away with non premeditated murder with a twenty minute conversation and just a few hours to execute the plan.

Also I don’t think pulling everyone in would be the choice Pip would make in this situation. I can understand Ravi, but they pulled in EVERYONE and the author kind of used it as a showing of their friendship (?) kinda (?)

I would have understood trying to get away with it, getting rid of the body and all that, but framing someone? Even as hateful as Max? I don’t know.

And also, she doesn’t feel remorse, doesn’t have a nightmare about the violent murder itself, doesn’t feel fear if not of being caught or getting her friends involved with the police. Mmh, I don’t know. I feel like there’s some reality missing.

I’m a bit disappointed in the finale of this beautiful story and I’m not even gonna talk about the last few pages.

I’ll give it three stars cause I loved the journey and the characters, especially Ravi.

Stella 💫

it seems i wasnt familiar with your game holly jackson

khush

So good it was amazing and an emotional roller coaster  😭😭🫶🏻

Honestly, it’s crazy to see this other side of Pip and can’t say she was wrong with what she did but I blame Hawkins for never believing her and leading her to do what she did. I will say it was quite repetitive which made sense with what she had gone through and her thoughts. But the ending, after the clean up and alibis, seemed to drag a bit and I ended up skimming through just to finish the book. Overall, really good series and good closure for it all. 

lily

Really liked the book, but definitely not my favorite in this series. It took me a very long time to finish it. 

And that ending tho... I am not a fan of this ending. That's why I gave it 3,5 stars. If the ending was (in my opinion) good it definitely would be a 4 star. 

Anja ✨

Really liked the book, but definitely not my favorite in this series. It took me a very long time to finish it. 

And that ending tho... I am not a fan of this ending. That's why I gave it 3,5 stars. If the ending was (in my opinion) good it definitely would be a 4 star. 

the best open wnding out there periodt, pipravi pave the way

Mharie

Jessica

OUTSTANDING!!! The ending is like no other (spoiler alert) I would’ve never thought that pip would kill someone!! I love how pip and ravi work together to solve cases throughout the whole trilogy-Holly Jackson’s books are SO heartwarming and I would DEFINITELY recommend to read them.

Evie ruby bevan

The beginning was super slow, but halfway through I could not put it down. 

The ending, I needed more pages than that 😭. 

Elin Hakvoort

The beginning was super slow, but halfway through I could not put it down. 

The ending, I needed more pages than that 😭. 

The highly anticipated, edge-of-your-seat conclusion to the addictive A Good Girl's Guide to Murder series that reads like your favorite true crime podcast or show. By the end, you'll never think the same of good girls again. Pip's good girl days are long behind her. After solving two murder cases and garnering internet fame from her crime podcast, she's seen a lot. But she's still blindsided when it starts to feel like someone is watching her. It's small things at first. A USB stick with footage recording her and the same anonymous source always asking her: who will look for you when you're the one who disappears? It could be a harmless fan, but her gut is telling her danger is lurking. When Pip starts to find connections between her possible stalker and a local serial killer, Pip knows that there is only one choice: find the person threatening her town including herself--or be as good as dead. Because maybe someone has been watching her all along...

ang 

Laure Decaluwé

H O L Y S H I T 

D I D N O T E X P E C T T H A T

This book took a turn I wasn’t expecting & the ending left me 🤯. I loved this series. 

Edna Aviles

"Who will look for you when you're the one who disappears?"

What a ride! I'll admit that despite being so disappointed in Pip, I enjoyed the thrill of this third book. There's so many lessons to pick up, especially on the last few pages; to never take anything for granted, that's one. 

I just couldn't fathom how an eighteen-year-old girl could be so clever at getting away with murder. I also dislike how Pip turned out to be. I can remember how I mentioned after reading the second book that Pip is changing and that the change is not for the better. And now, everything is here. The results of her wrong decisions. While I understand how desperation can get the best of you, it will never be right to set someone up for a murder that they never committed. Yes, Max sexually abused women, but murder is another crime. 

"One foot in front of the other." That's one of Pip's mottos, but would she be able to experience the normalcy of her life ever again? Just like she said, she's like a ticking bomb. And even though she chose to protect the people she loves by not giving them the idea of what she's getting them into, she still dragged them into something that they had no idea about, and I think it will haunt them until the very end. Will "team Ravi and Pip" have their normal relationship and life back?

All in all, I liked the book. I decided to read the third book of the AGGGTM series before August since the series will be available on Netflix by then. I just wanted to have a fresher memory of Rav and Pip 🫡

Kath

"Who will look for you when you're the one who disappears?"

What a ride! I'll admit that despite being so disappointed in Pip, I enjoyed the thrill of this third book. There's so many lessons to pick up, especially on the last few pages; to never take anything for granted, that's one. 

I just couldn't fathom how an eighteen-year-old girl could be so clever at getting away with murder. I also dislike how Pip turned out to be. I can remember how I mentioned after reading the second book that Pip is changing and that the change is not for the better. And now, everything is here. The results of her wrong decisions. While I understand how desperation can get the best of you, it will never be right to set someone up for a murder that they never committed. Yes, Max sexually abused women, but murder is another crime. 

"One foot in front of the other." That's one of Pip's mottos, but would she be able to experience the normalcy of her life ever again? Just like she said, she's like a ticking bomb. And even though she chose to protect the people she loves by not giving them the idea of what she's getting them into, she still dragged them into something that they had no idea about, and I think it will haunt them until the very end. Will "team Ravi and Pip" have their normal relationship and life back?

All in all, I liked the book. I decided to read the third book of the AGGGTM series before August since the series will be available on Netflix by then. I just wanted to have a fresher memory of Rav and Pip 🫡

** spoiler alert **
           "Three different stories, but one interconnected knot. And in the centre of that writhing knot, grinning at her from the dark, was DT."

this was really a full circle. damn what a series. having read this i now think i can getaway with murder 😭😭 i have no ravi and im no pip anyway so maybe not lol.

felt sick and cried a lot reading all three books. holly jackson, the author that you are! team ravi and pip forever <3

Jennifer Gosnell

** spoiler alert **
           Wowowow this was a wild ride. I didn’t expect this one to take the path that it did… but it was very interesting! 

(view spoiler)[ I will say, though, that the reveal of who the DT Killer was was not at all a surprise. I pretty much knew from the mention of his company name… and then Andie’s email was a dead giveaway.  (hide spoiler)]

But overall… I was very sucked in to this story and I thought the portrayal of Pip’s trauma was well done. Kind of sad the series is over, but what a conclusion!!!

Nala

** spoiler alert **
           Omg I loved this so much. Pip's friends really helped her without hesitation, it made me sob because I love genuine friendship so much. I was soo panicking when she was trying to escape I couldn't even sit still. Oh Ravi my baby is soo darling

so, so, good! best book in the series, even. 

As Good As Dead

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