Holly Jackson’s “A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder” (AGGGTM) is more than just a best-selling YA book. It captures the reader with unforgettable scenes, amazing characters, and a thrilling mystery. It hooks the reader from page one. Jackson sold over half a million copies of the book, indicating its success.
In 2024, Netflix released the TV series based on Jackson’s book, starring Emma Myers. The series excited fans, and in the first week, the series had a total of 699.1 million minutes watched on Netflix. Even though the book captured readers, the show failed to impact them the same way the book series did, leaving fans disappointed because of the adaptations and plot changes.
Although the show isn’t bad, Myers brought the energy and played the role perfectly as Pip. They also brought great visual effects. The suspenseful and tense atmosphere really did set the mood, perfect for a murder mystery. Although these were great, it didn’t make up for how the story was handled.
As a fan of the book series, the TV series really does disappoint. Let’s talk about the storyline of both the book and the TV series. The series leaves out a lot of Pip’s key moments and fan favorite scenes. They also put new obstacles that Pip encounters that never were in the book, making it unorganized and unclear.
It is fast-paced and condensed in order to fit the six-episode length. The TV series does not have the same emotional influence that the book offers. In fact, the series leaves the viewer emotionally unaffected.
It does not go into depth on Pip’s interviews with her suspects. Pip’s interviews play such a key role in the book and it helps by making controversial opinions on who the murderer may be. Without that in the plot, the TV show makes it obvious for anyone to figure out who the murderer was. What’s a good murder mystery if it’s so obvious who the murderer is? It’s not much of a mystery book then and leaves viewers bored.
Moving on to the characters, Nat da Silva is one of Pip’s suspects in both the book and the TV series. This allows tensions to rise in the book and that keeps readers at the edge of our seats . So that is disappointing to say the least since she plays such a huge role in the book.
So, what’s new and what was missing? In the book, Stanley Forbes is a journalist that plays a very important role. Stanley was the journalist who covered the story that Pip is investigating, making him a source of information for her investigation. He also made up the plot and was another suspect of Pip’s. When the TV series left him out of the plot, it was so confusing.
Stanley is an important and pivotal character that plays a role which leads to finding out who the murderer even was. Without him, the TV series made no sense and was disconnected.
Additionally, Netflix put a new obstacle that Pip has to navigate through. Concerning her stepfather, the obstacle has nothing to do with the plot and is such a waste of time and adds no value or importance to the series.
Overall, the TV series is super disappointing and wasn’t anywhere near as good as the original book series. The plot isn’t interesting and disorganized, the characters played different roles, and they put and removed parts of the book that they shouldn’t have. This undermined the impact of the book.
The “A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder” book is worth the money and time. But the series? Don’t waste time or money watching it because it’s not worth it.
