As Good As Dead

As Good As Dead

"...Another dead pigeon. Pip approached it slowly, steps
careful and silent, as though not to wake it up, bring it crashing
back to life. Her fingers fizzed with adrenaline as she towered over
the pigeon, expecting to see herself again reflected in its glassy,
dead eyes. But she wasn't there. Because there were no dead eyes.
Because there was no head."
Creepy, huh?
Are you a fan of Holly Jackson's A Good Girl's Guide to Murder
and Good Girl, Bad Blood? Have you been waiting anxiously for the
final volume in this trilogy? Your wait is over. As Good As Dead is
here. It will will easily live up to your high expectations.
Here's some back story for those who haven't discovered the
previous volumes. Pip, Jackson's protagonist, is an amateur
detective, uncovering the dark secrets of her town, truths some of its
residents have gone to great lengths to scare her away from finding
out. Someone even killed her beloved dog. And she's come pretty darn
close to losing her own life. Her podcasts, based on her exploits,
have earned her quite a few death threats too.
Now a new threat is emerging. She's been getting tweets and
emails with a menacing message: Who will look for you when you're the
one who disappears? Then there are headless chalk figures scrawled on
her driveway, moving closer and closer to her house. Two dead pigeons
are left there also, about a week apart, the second one decapitated.
The next message bears a postscript: Remember to always kill two birds
with one stone.
When Pip follows her boyfriend, Ravi's advice to go to the
police the officer she speaks to basically discredits her.
Neighborhood kids could have drawn the pictures. The pigeons could
have been the victims of a cat. Menacing messages come with the
territory for Internet public figures. He thinks she's reacting to
trauma, seeing a nonexistent pattern to unrelated events.
Pip knows that the author of the messages has become a very
dangerous stalker who knows where she lives. She and Ravi, searching
online for other stalking incidents involving headless chalk figures
and dead birds, are led to the murder of Julia Hunter by the man
nicknamed the DT (duct tape) Killer, a serial murderer...
...Only he's in prison. Looks like a dead end...
...Except his mother believes he was coerced into confessing.
When she sends a transcript of his interrogation Pip is inclined to
agree.
So is the wrong person in prison? Could the real DT Killer be
on the loose and coming after Pip?
Will she be able to get out of yet another potential brush with
death?
Who else among the memorable characters in her town may be
implicated?
Of the three books As Good As Dead is by far the most spine
chilling. Read it if you dare. If you haven't read the two previous
books, take them in order. You gotta work your way up to the
terrifying grand finale.
On a purrrsonal note, well Halloween is getting off to an umpromising
start. It's been pouring rain since I woke up a few hours ago. But
the local news meteorologist and my smartphone are well in agreement
that the weather will clear up in time for trick or treating. Let's
hope so. Last year the kids missed out. And this year Dr. Fauci has
given it his stamp of approval.
This review makes the (Yikes!) 26th book I've shared in my lead up to
Halloween. I hope you've enjoyed some of these books yourself. I've
done my best to include a range of ages and degrees and sources of
scariness. Hope you've enjoyed it. Maybe this is the start of an
every year tradition. (Jules)
Well I don't need a costume. Cats are a prime Halloween icon. I've
been promised cat candy. Party on! (Tobago)
A great big shout out goes out to you, our readers, with best wishes
for a safe and happy Halloween!
Tobago and Jules Hathaway





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