Teen Tuesday and Audiobook Review: As Good as Dead by Holly Jackson

Image: Penguin Random House

As Good as Dead by Holly Jackson. Unabridged e-audiobook, ~15 hours, eleven minutes. Read by Bailey Carr and others. Books on Tape/ Penguin Random House, September, 2021. 9780593416761. (Review of e-audiobook borrowed from public library.)

Happy Tuesday! I hope you had a thoughtful MLK Day. My students were off, but we teachers had PD. Teen Tuesday features As Good as Dead by Holly Jackson. This is the third and final book of a trilogy that many seventh and eighth graders have been recommending to each other and me. 

Pippa is getting ready to go to college, but she's in a dark place since her last investigation. She's definitely suffering from PTSD and having trouble with flashbacks and is unable to sleep. In fact, she has turned for former suspect and drug dealer, Luke Hastings for a regular supply of Xanax when her doctor cuts her off. While she's used to death threats, thanks to her true crime podcast, she has been receiving regular messages asking, "Who will look for you when you're the one who disappears?" She is definitely feeling like she's being watched. This intensifies when she's asked by the mother of a man convicted of being the area's serial killer from a few years earlier. Pip believes the wrong man is behind bars and of course, Detective Hawkins doesn't believe her. So it's up to Pip. Will this investigation be her last because she's off to college or because she's dead?

I must say that this series took a very dark turn in this final installment. The first two books are borderline middle school YA, but the last is definitely DARK and twisty. While the credits list multiple narrators, this is mostly Bailey Carr's show. I really couldn't distinguish between the other narrators. Carr's delivery turned a bit annoying, sort of whiney while stretching out intonations. Not that subtle. The twist and the ensuing events just strained credulity for me.