As Good As Dead
Holly Jackson
Book Review
As Good as Dead by Holly Jackson is the third and final book of the series.
By now in her town, Pip is known for investigating cases and sharing it on her viral podcast. While she received positive feedback, she gets a fair share of death threats too. But one in particular caught her eye. An anonymous user keeps asking her, “Who will look for you when you’re the one who disappears?”
At first, she brushes it off, but the threats keep escalating. She realizes she now has a stalker who knows where she lives. When she finds more and more connections between her stalker and a local serial killer who was put in jail six years ago, she wonders if the man behind bars is innocent.
When police refuse to act, she takes matters into her own hands to save herself from this possible serial killer. Who is this serial killer and why does he want Pip gone? To what lengths would Pip go to save herself from this danger?
You may also want to read the review of the first book of the series: A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder – A Good Thriller for Young Adults
“Our dad killed your boyfriend’s older brother and kept a girl in his loft for five years. You have yourself two experts at acting normal.”
― Holly Jackson, As Good As Dead
This final book opens with Pip reluctantly attending a meeting with Max Hastings in the presence of lawyers and a mediator, to talk about settling outside of court for the damage caused instead of court proceedings. Pip leaves the meet furiously and all she could think of is how the justice didn’t do its job right and how this entire thing is ironic.
Stanley’s death had clearly taken a toll on Pip’s mental health and she begins to self-medicate to get sleep. She is in a very bad place mentally but pretends she is okay to the outside world.
Pip begins to experience a few unusual things happen to her – like headless pigeon on her driveway, followed by headless chalk drawings, each getting closer and closer every time.
When she takes matter into her own hands, she discovers her little town had more secrets that she had imagined.
You may also want to read the review of the second book of the series: Good Girl, Bad Blood – A Satisfying Sequel
The final book is divided into two parts – Part I and Part II
Part I had a slow start and it began to pick up pace around page 80 or so. From there the story only went uphill. It felt like the story was going to reach its peak moment towards the end of part I and I was wrong. The story reached its peak in part II. I audibly gasped at the last page of part I.
I was not expecting the turn of events and I sat there trying to contemplate how the story would now unfold. It was a whiplash to me and it was very much needed in this book, considering it is the last book of the series.
Part II was my absolute favorite. I thought it would be a cliché “let me not drag my boyfriend into this. Let me clean up my own mess” – but no. It was the exact opposite and I felt relieved when Pip relied on Ravi and come up with ways to deal with the aftermath of this huge incident.
The planning and down to the minute detailing of their plan to make it foolproof was beyond my belief. I could see clearly that the author has researched and spent a lot of time to get the alibi right in a systematic way.
I just loved how the plot from the first part connects with the plot in this part. It is all tied together and feels like one circle of events.
“How did everything go with you?” Pip asked, leaning forward to press her forehead against his, in the way he always did to her. To take on half her headaches, or half her nerves, he said.”
― Holly Jackson, As Good As Dead
I could say I was trying not to have high hopes with this book since the plot could easily go astray in book series but Holly Jackson has proved me wrong, yet again.
The story just kept getting better and better with each book and my absolute favorite is the last book. I still cannot move on from the twist at the end of part I of the last book.
The characters and their growth from book one to book three is realistic and wholesome.
The last page of the book made me smile. It was cute.
I am now eagerly waiting to read her next work, whatever it is.
This is a five star read!!
You can get your copy of the book here: https://www.amazon.in/dp/B08T6YS245/ref=dp-kindle-redirect?_encoding=UTF8&btkr=1
