Viewing a single comment thread. View all comments

madmagazines t1_jecrzsr wrote

Good Girl, Bad Blood by Holly Jackson

She investigates the disappearance of her friends brother and finds that he was talking to a strange catfish. It’s really intriguing bc it makes it look like he was involved in something really horrible.

But the most bizarre reveal comes about. Apparently there was some serial killer who murdered teenagers in the 90s with his 10yo son as his accomplice. People were mad that the son didn’t get punished so he was given a new identity. WE HAVE NOT HEARD OF THIS AT ALL! Like we literally only learn the SK existed at all during the reveal in the form of a shitty news article the MC reads. There isn’t even one offhand mention.

The catfish was the sibling of one of the teens who died and is trying to message guys who could possibly be the son as an adult and kill him. The missing guy found out about that and worked out who the son was and attacked him. (not going to get into how unrealistic and theatrical the whole situation is written lol)

The son actually is the asshole racist journalist from the first book, who is now made out to be a tragic hero. Honestly he had a complete personality transplant from the guy who was spewing racism and calling the MC “babes” in book 1 to suddenly being so gracious and polite. There’s not really any point on them being the same character. He locked the missing guy in a cellar so he wouldn’t reveal his identity but is actually really nice you guys and we should feel very sorry that he died.

Where did this bullshit ending come from, Jackson?? The first book in this series was astounding, and the ending was just perfect. The joy of the first book is that you could predict the ending with the clues you had, but no one could have predicted this ending bc it literally came out of left field. So disappointing.

8

Maeghuanwen t1_jeesb2s wrote

I actually hated the ending (or most of the whole book) of As Good As Dead more.

While I kind of get why it happened I somehow still think it goes agains everything we learned from the previous books. It was unsatisfactory to me and so over the top.

2

madmagazines t1_jeex927 wrote

Is AGAD worth reading if I didn’t like the second one? I also thought the 2nd one was pretty unsatisfying generally- way too much focus on Max Hastings who I didn’t give a shit about. Of all the characters in the first book she could have developed further. Also I thought Pippa profiting off the events with her podcast was nasty and OOC for someone who seemed to strive so hard for morals in the first book. Why did she even put the Reynolds story on public blast when she could have just helped them out of the goodness of her heart lol.

1

Maeghuanwen t1_jeflxi4 wrote

That’s a tough one… I think if you like conclusions you should read it. From a theoretical point of view the way the knowledge is put to use (I hope I’m bout spoiling anything) is brilliant and one thing that happens is nice for a certain group of people but like you said, Pippa has strong morals and a big chunk of the book goes against that.

2

lilac_mascara t1_jeetx3a wrote

The third book has an even worse ending in my opinion, the series started out strong but it went downhill so fast! Fun fact the third book has another serial killer we never heard about before.

I clocked the new neighbor being the catfish almost instantly, it was too obvius (as most things in the series are not that is necessarily a bad thing) but the reporter being the son came so out of left field it felt like it was just a twist for the sake of the book having a twist.

I honestly feel bad for the cop she accused in every book, turns out he was just an asshole. The mc went from mildly infuriating to absolutely insufferable tbh.

Overall I am frustrated by how this series went I need someone to went to. I still enjoyed it, but fuck what a way to ruin a good thing

2

madmagazines t1_jeezhxw wrote

Literally. The whole Brushwick (whatever his name was) reveal was a fever dream and didn’t really feel like something that would actually happen. I don’t really see how this 10yo helped lure all these victims that were like 17 and help dispose of their bodies. Would have worked better if he was closer in age to the victims like the case it was based on.

I’m not sure I’m ready for the third book now you say it aha, is the serial killer in book 3 also an awkward pastiche for a real life case?

2

lilac_mascara t1_jef2p4h wrote

Actually I can see how a 10yo could lure in the victims (i don't really remember the specifics of it in the book anymore so i could be wrong with how I'm picturing it now), helping dispose of the bodies is far fetched tough I'll admit.

The serial killer in the third book has the same mo as the duct tape killer. I can't vent my frustration with that whole storyline properly without spoiling the entire book, but it gets so far fetched it made the second book look realistic

1