A GOOD GIRL'S GUIDE TO MURDER

A GOOD GIRL'S GUIDE TO MURDER by Holly Jackson

It's Pippa (Pip) Fitz-Amobi's senior year of high school and time to declare her Senior Capstone Project topic. Pip's not the typical run-of-the mill student, and her project proposal reflects that.

Five years ago, the most popular girl in high school, Andie Bell, disappeared leaving copious amounts of blood behind in her abandoned vehicle's trunk. Even though her body was never found, it was ruled that she was murdered. A few days later her boyfriend's (Sal Singh) body is found in the woods with a text message on his phone confessing to Andie's murder. Pip always questioned if Sal really could have murdered Andie and has decided it's time to find out what really happened that night by way of her Capstone Project. Ultimately, Pip is a "good girl" looking for justice and restoration in her community.

GGGTM is a read that will leave the reader hanging on by their thumbnails to try and find out what happened. Twists and turns abound as more and more clues and connections come to light. When Pip starts receiving threats to back off of her investigation, it is confirmed that there is someone out there that knows about what really went down the night Andie disappeared, and they might be willing to do just about anything to keep the truth hidden away.

HEADS UP- GGGTM has about every thing you can imagine, but not necessarily in detail. Partying, drug use and trafficking, alcohol, sex (no in the room scenes - just references in multiple relationships), mention of use of the morning after pill, sexting, rape, language including f-bombs, violence (not gory), minor reference to a gay relationship.

So here's the struggle that you have to decide. The truth is most of our teens are encountering the environment that this book is set in in their everyday life whether it's through school, work, etc. I graduated in 1994, and even then you knew who the partyers were, who was strung out on drugs, etc. It's just expanded. One could argue that a book like this is just the "normal life" they encounter everyday (minus the murder part) so why does it matter if they read about it as well, and that is a valid point. The two questions that a person must wrangle with then are, do I just accept this as "normal life" and is that what my entertainment life should look like as well? That, my friend, is your decision.