Book Review: Good Girl, Bad Blood by Holly Jackson

‘Good Girl, Bad Blood’ is the second book in Holly Jackson’s ‘A Good Girl’s Guide To Murder’ trilogy. It was released in YEAR and is concluded by ‘As Good As Dead’.

Due to the episodic nature of each of these books, I felt it was best to review each novel separately, my review of the first book, ‘A Good Girl’s Guide To Murder’, went live in January.

This book had a lot going for it. To be honest, I was concerned for the first half of the story that it may fall into the dreaded second-book-in-a-trilogy-slump. I was afraid that everything that happens is intrinsically related to segwaying the events from book one into book three. But I was very pleasantly surprised.

When reading ‘A Good Girl’s Guide To Murder’, I was convinced that the majority of Pippa’s social circle at college were fundamentally irrelevant, and only really served the purpose of setting her apart from loner girls like Nat Da-Silva. But, I was wrong. In ‘Good Girl, Bad Blood’, some of the supporting characters show their true colours, from Connor Reynolds and his unwavering love for his older brother, to Lauren and Ant and their general scepticism. They seemed to have more personality since Pip’s newest investigation was far closer to home. Though, I have to admit, it took me a while to warm to Connor as a main character.

In the end, I really enjoyed this book! The way Jackson explores the criminal justice system, and is super critical. I really appreciated how she was able to shine a light on the way in which the institution actively fails victims of sexual assault, while not only highlighting that it may not be intrinsically a fault with individual officers, but the system in itself, and the constant trend of reducing funding, while expecting people who are already stretched thinly to do even more with less money. The way that Jackson highlights the trends of victims being mistreated by the legal system and the way that the judicial system works is so sad but raw, and true to life. Nat De-Silva absolutely destroyed me in this book. From being initially rather indifferent to her, I found myself crying with her and Pip when the verdict came to pass.

Ravi Singh’s character development in the second book, although subtler, was definitely poignant. I appreciated his sense of duty and obligation in this book, as opposed to the sheer determination and devotion to his brother and his legacy in book one. To know that Ravi wants to do better by people who knew Sal was a positive motivator to keep him involved in this investigation.

This book was very twisty and threw me off the scent a few times. The pacing, the questions, the thrills were incredible and I loved how, in the end, I was sympathetic for a character that I really didn’t expect to be. I cannot wait to read the finale ‘As Good As Dead’.