Book Review - As Good As Dead by Holly Jackson

 

As Good As Dead by Holly Jackson is the third book and last book of the series. We find Pip has finished her capstone project about the murder of Andie Bell. She even helped put away a few people, but the one person she was desperate (justifiably) to see behind bars was acquitted during their trial.  Pip is also still haunted by the way her last investigation ended. She felt that she could have done more to help.

Pip has been receiving a lot more death threats after her viral true crime podcast has skyrocketed in popularity. She has gotten used to ignoring it, but one anonymous person keeps sending one message that has her a bit worried. The person asks, “Who will look for you when you’re the one who disappears”.

The threats start to escalate in terms of frequency and how scary they are becoming. She feels that someone is watching and following her. Pip decides to go to the police to report her suspicions, but no one believes her. She decides to investigate the issue and notices that there are some similarities between her stalker and a local serial killer who was supposedly caught six years ago. Pip wonders if the wrong person might be behind bars.

This novel was the exciting conclusion of the series. I was surprised at how it turned out. The novel took an unexpected twist for me, and I could understand how it got there. In this novel, we can see Pip suffering from PSTD and not sleeping well.  However, I was surprised when she missed a few clues, such as when her brother said that some shadowy person was watching the house. I am very surprised that she wasn’t worried especially when she got the death threats. She didn’t even think about his comments. Then Pip wears noise-canceling headphones while someone is actively trying to hurt her. Previously, she had an incident in which she was almost killed, and she realizes that a serial killer might be out to get her, yet she wears headphones while she is by herself to block out any noise while in public. I didn’t think those were wise decisions and I felt like the earlier versions of Pip wouldn’t have made such choices. Granted, she was under a lot of stress and not sleeping well.

I thought there would have been a bit more of a mystery aspect to the book. The serial killer was easy to guess. I liked the creepy aspect of the clues that the serial killer was leaving Pip. I didn’t like that the book spent so many pages talking about Pip taking drugs for her trauma and it moved so slowly. I felt like the final book was a huge disconnect from the other books in the series. I would still be open to reading more books by the author.

Book Review - Glorious Exploits by Ferdia Lennon

 

Glorious Exploits by Ferdia Lennon is about two friends, Lampo and Gelon, who want to put on a play. After the Peloponnesian War in ancient Sicily, the Syracusans had an abundant number of surviving Athenians left in their city. They kept them as slaves in a rock quarry as prisoners of war and left them to rot.

Lampo and Gelon are two unemployed potters who love listening to poetry and drinking. They head to the quarry to find people who can recite lines from the great playwright Euripides in exchange for some food and drink. Originally, the two headed down to the quarry to pass the time but they decided to put on a full-blown production of Medea.

While most of the Syracusans are no fans of the remaining Athenians, they do enjoy watching plays by them. Lampo and Gelon work to secure funding and props for their production before opening night. They come across a mysterious man who seems to have a big interest in the play.

The novel was an entertaining read. Just a mild warning— It does have a lot of violence, abuse, and coarse language in the book.  The book had some funny moments, putting aside human suffering for one's own entertainment. It did make me wonder what people during that period did for entertainment. There were times that the book dragged and felt pointless.  The ending did leave more to be desired as a reader. However, I do like that the book had a different and unique premise and I would be open to reading more books from the author but, probably not with this storyline.