Pip Fitz Amobi is a top student at her high school, intending on applying to Cambridge University for future studies. Pip has her mind set on
investigative journalism, and has worked so hard all through school, her parents constantly tell her to put down the homework and go and have some fun!
A final senior project for High School is to choose a topic of one’s choice – there is only one thing Pip wants to research and present. Did Sal Singh murder his girlfriend Andie Bell and then kill himself, five years before.
Everybody in town believes he did it. There is so much evidence pointing to Sal Singh, that it’s an open and shut case. Or is it? Pip has never believed that the Sal who she knew as a kind, caring person, could ever do what the police said he did. As she begins to research the case, she finds another who doesn’t believe it either – Sal’s younger brother Ravi. He and his family have been completely ostracised since the murder/suicide, wrecking Ravi’s life.
Pip is meticulous, using good old fashioned sleuthing, interviewing and technology to help in her quest. After getting to know Ravi, she knows her quest is really to prove Sal Singh innocent. With the benefit of 5 years of time to help with the grief, disbelief and loss that Andie’s friends and family have felt, Pip can ask questions that the police never did. She breaks through some hurt and pain from back then, discovering that the town’s golden girl victim, was a whole lot of other things too.
Pip mines into a plethora of lies, crime, and a hidden layer of abuse and misery, caused by accident and design by those who knew Andie. At least until someone in town tells Pip to stop, or else…
I was riveted to this murder mystery from very early on in the story. I liked the character of Pip, who is an A grade student and a homework-a-holic, but still had fun with her friends and had a close relationship with her parents and little brother. She’s brave without being kickass, and loyal to her friends, even when something precious is taken from her.
Her lists, phone calls, notes and interviews all added tension to the ever-increasing twists and turns and layer upon layer of wrongs that compound along the way. So many secrets. So many lies. All essential elements to a gripping read!
WINNER OF THE BRITISH BOOK AWARDS’ CHILDREN’S BOOK OF THE YEAR 2020
SHORTLISTED FOR THE WATERSTONES CHILDREN’S BOOK PRIZE 2020
Loved it.
Author – Holly Jackson
Age – 14+
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(2019, Harper Collins, Murder, Secrets, Lies, Crime, Small Town, School, Siblings, Friendships, Loyalty, Family, Loss, Grief, Hate, Research, Technology, Award Winner, Courage, Suicide, Police, Investigation, Interviews, Call Logs, Drink spiking, Party Pills, Drugs, Cambridge, Study, Exams, Action, Betrayal, Popularity, TikTok)
I really enjoyed reading this book. I love how the author switched from third person to the production log or the transcripts for interviews and other bits like maps and that. This detective/thriller is full of twists and turns. I really like the character, Pip. She is so young yet very smart and brave, with a strong opinion. And she doesn’t back down or give up.