I really loved this book. This series has been great. I like the characters so much. Pip is such a badass antihero and I love her. Ravi is adorable, but I feel like he was pushed to the side in this book, probably because it made sense that Connor was helping Pip. This one did seem to really zero in on Pip and the aftermath of the first one and her coming to terms with who she is as a person. 

In this book, Pip has set up a podcast (cleverly named “A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder”) to tell the whole story behind the Sal and Andie murders she solved in the Fall/Winter of the previous year. It’s only been a few months between the first and second books. Pip is finishing out her senior year as a mini celebrity with her well received podcast. She doesn’t think she’ll do a second season of the podcast, but that all changes when her best friend, Connor, asks her to help find his missing brother, Jamie. This book is a little random in what happens to Jamie since the entire time I was thinking it would have something to do with Max Hastings or even the accident everyone got into years before. 

This books touches a lot on the issues with the justice system and believing rape survivors. It kind of takes a step back when Pip has Ravi break into a house after the first book when he makes it clear that as one of the few POC in their small, white town, this is not something he can just do and it be okay. Where the first book looks at the issues with the justice system as it pertains to race, this book looks at the issues of the justice system as it pertains to public opinion and when a wealthy, cishet white man is being accused for a crime. The fact that the police didn’t take Jamie’s disappearance seriously, leaving the case in the hands of an 18-year-old girl who nearly died the last time she looked into a case, just goes to show how screwed up the system is, in not just this town, but throughout the country.

This book had me crying for Nat and Pip, frustrated to hell with how people treated Pip and just all the women in this book who told the truth, and I got at least one moment of stomach dropping fear. Like a “holy shit wtf” moment. I’m not sure I liked that Jackson tried to redeem Stanley’s character. It seemed like his issues with the Singh family were racially motivated not because of his personal issues and history. 

Pip is there to tell the truth, she holds the truth to such a high standard, and between the first book and this one, she realizes that the truth doesn’t always matter in the eyes of the law. And that really breaks down her belief system. She’s young, white, and privileged so it makes sense she’s having this moment after the first book where she successfully redeems an accused POC and his family. I’m curious what the next book is about! I’m ready for more Pip! She’s too unethical to ever be an investigative journalist, but I love that she gets results. The use of multi media in these books are another thing I like, it really makes you feel like you’re apart of the investigation.