Hardcover, 387 pages
Release Date: February 4, 2020Published by: Delacorte Press
Read from: March 1-6, 2020Source: LibraryTW: Animal Death (Scene not pictured on the page tho)For fans of: Mystery, True Crime, Series, YA
For readers of Kara Thomas and Karen McManus, an addictive, twisty crime thriller with shades of Serial and Making a Murderer about a closed local murder case that doesn’t add up, and a girl who’s determined to find the real killer–but not everyone wants her meddling in the past.
Everyone in Fairview knows the story.
Pretty and popular high school senior Andie Bell was murdered by her boyfriend, Sal Singh, who then killed himself. It was all anyone could talk about. And five years later, Pip sees how the tragedy still haunts her town.
But she can’t shake the feeling that there was more to what happened that day. She knew Sal when she was a child, and he was always so kind to her. How could he possibly have been a killer?
Now a senior herself, Pip decides to reexamine the closed case for her final project, at first just to cast doubt on the original investigation. But soon she discovers a trail of dark secrets that might actually prove Sal innocent . . . and the line between past and present begins to blur. Someone in Fairview doesn’t want Pip digging around for answers, and now her own life might be in danger.
This is the story of an investigation turned obsession, full of twists and turns and with an ending you’ll never expect.
*MY THOUGHTS*
Ladies and Gentleman, we have our first 4.5 5 Star rating of 2020!!! I really loved this book so much, which I wasn’t prepared for. This wasn’t even on my radar. I heard about it last minute and almost didn’t read it, but then everyone was talking about it and saying so many good things and I knew I had to have it.
“As Pip watched them play-fighting, she couldn’t help but wonder whether the Singh’s ever laughed like that anymore. Or the Bells. Maybe laughter was one of the very first things you lost after something like that.“pg. 13
About 5 years ago there was a tragedy in Fairview. Sal Singh killed his girlfriend Andie Bell and then his self. Now a senior, a girl named Pip doesn’t really believe Sal did it… There’s too many inconsistencies. So she decides to do her senior project on the case. And even 5 years later, secrets come out about everyone involved in the case. Which means no one, especially Pip, is safe. They don’t want her to find the secrets they kept buried for 5 years.
“He did it, they say. Sal Singh killed Andie. But I’m just not so sure.“pg. 19
The thing that MADE this book was the characters. I LOVED Pip. She was persistent, smart, and super intuitive. Everything you need to make an amazing detective. But ultimately, that was what I didn’t like about her in the end. Something happens to her towards the ending, but after everything she’d been through in the whole story, she didn’t see that coming. It seemed like a really obvious way to advance the plot at the end and it made it super unbelievable. But everything else about her was stellar.
“Pip watched the woman’s face as it creased, folding with recognition and disgust. The woman scanned the milk, staring at Ravi with col noxious eyes. Fortunate, really that looks couldn’t kill.“pg. 57
The best thing about this was the way Pip got all her clues from things she thought about or from interviews. I HATE when mysteries and thrillers have characters work with detectives or find some kind of way to go into a place where evidence is ok and they can go tampering with stuff. It’s so unbelievable and doesn’t really make sense. This one wasn’t like that. Pip got all her evidence from social media and from her own intuition.
“Barney barged past with a tapping of claws and got there first launching his muzzle into Ravi’s groin. ‘No Barney, down!’ Pip shouted rushing forward. ‘Sorry he’s a bit friendly.’ ‘That’s no way to talk about your father,’ her dad said. Pip raised her eyebrows at him. ‘Got it, got it,” he said walking away and into the kitchen.“pg. 62
I also liked the different formats. Although I was upset with myself for reading this and not listening to this because of the different formats at first, I’m now actually happy I read it. The audio has a full cast, but the book has the “murder map” and other things in the book. Either one would be awesome to read. And because of this, I requested the audio from the library too lol
“Stop digging Pip.“pg. 99
The plot and writing style was awesome too. I liked the way Jackson made you keep guessing to the very last minute. Just when you think you’ve guessed it, something else is dropped. The clues keep pouring in till the last minute. Normally that bothers me because you don’t get a real shot at guessing who did it, but in the end, I know the object is to make sure you DON’T guess it. I guessed it, but only one small piece of it. There’s so much more to this messed up, roller coaster of a story.
“Can you please stop bleeding all over the murder board please?“pg. 311
The plot, the characters, the writing style, just everything made this story for me. As a lover of all things True Crime, I knew I would love this one. And knowing that there’s already an entire series of Pip, makes me super excited to see what trouble she is going to get into now! If you love good, believable mysterious, make sure you pick this one up!
Overall, I give this
Real rating 4.5 but I rounded up.