By Gabrielle G., Glen Burnie High School
The book I read was Kill Joy by Holly Jackson, a novella that's part of the A Good Girl's Guide to Murder trilogy (which I have read). The story takes place before the main incidents in the first book as a prequel. The story follows Pip when she's invited to one of the main friend's murder mystery party for their birthday, with assigned roles for each friend invited. Pip is the detective and must figure out who the killer is.
What I liked about this book or rather something I think the author is just really talented in, is creating an engaging mystery. Despite the actual story being concise, the mystery Pip unravels is fun and pulled along by a fun game setup, clues, and unique interactions with players.
However, I also found this book to be redundant. As I mentioned, it is a prequel, and given that I read this book after finishing the entire series, it felt like a waste of time. There aren't any real stakes involved because it is just a game and doesn't evolve from that, so it pales in comparison to the rest of the trilogy that you can truly invest in. Neither does it offer you anything unique or jarring about the characters that you might've wanted to know.
Overall, it has excellent writing, and someone who reads this before anything else in the trilogy would get more out of it than I did.