By Aven S., teen guest blogger
We’re excited to feature a special guest blogger from our Teen Advisory Board, who will be sharing their thoughts on a captivating book that has recently been turned into a Netflix show. Get ready to dive into her review (spoilers included!), and perhaps discover your next great read! HEPL’s Teen Advisory Board (TAB) is a great way to serve your local community, help plan teen programming, earn volunteer hours, develop leadership skills, and make new friends. Teens in grades 6-12 are encouraged to join by filling out and submitting the online application available on the TAB page.
“Readers know not to expect great things when their favorite book gets a movie or TV show adaptation. However, fans of A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder by Holly Jackson were excited when it was announced to be released as a Netflix show in August 2024, with Emma Myers and Zain Iqbal playing Pippa (Pip) Fitz-Amobi and Ravi Singh. The story is about Pip, a high schooler, solving a five-year-old case for a school project about Andie Bell, who everyone—but Pip—believes was murdered by her boyfriend, Sal Singh. Once the show was released, though, it seemed like a completely different story was being told. From taking away Pip’s agency to enormous changes in the plot and characters, the show demolished fans’ hope.
Pip from the book is a rule-follower who, over time, decides to follow her investigation instead of the rules, working endlessly to find the truth. The Pip from the show is a different character. In the first episode, Pip helps her friends illegally buy alcohol from a store and takes shots at Max’s house—a guy she is investigating—instead of knocking on doors and exploring the case like a detective should. She is even missing her microphone that she uses to get good audio for the interviews! Where is the Pip who is a hard worker and is determined to solve the case?
Another example is when Daniel da Silva, the police officer who worked on the case five years prior, took Pip in his police car and showed her the video of Sal’s police interview in episode four. The book has Pip requesting the video and forming her own opinions, not listening to an outside source trying to stop her. The ending is also obvious in the show, constantly showing Elliot Ward’s (Sal’s killer) and Becca Bell’s (Andie’s killer) opinions on Pip investigating, both telling Pip to stop looking for answers. All of this made Pip a passive character. Instead of Pip searching for answers, the answers came to her.
One part of the book that fans adore is the characters and the relationships between them. A favorite character of many is Barney, Pip’s golden retriever. The show made Barney a different dog breed, kind of looking like an old mop instead of a cute and happy fluff ball. The book has Barney run away while on a walk, and he is later found drowned in a forest. Pip blames herself for this, but this is also framed as an accident when Becca reveals that she took him to prevent Pip from continuing to investigate but peacefully released him. The show took a different approach by having him “escape” during her little brother’s birthday party and have him found dead near her house. Her parents think it was a car that hit him, but the threats about Barney came from Becca, so it’s assumed that Becca purposely killed Barney, making her more of a contemptible character.
Another character that was changed was Nat da Silva. In the books, Nat is a girl who used to be bullied by Andie and was known for photos of her being sent around the school. She went to jail and is under house arrest, which makes her a suspect that Pip heavily investigates. In the show, she is a tennis player and one of Andie’s best friends. Ant was also changed from being in Pip’s friend group to being a jock that her friend Lauren likes.
Ravi’s personality was also very different. He had many good lines removed, such as “Real men always wear floral while trespassing,” which outraged many fans. Ravi is also a bit more bitter and sassier than he was in the book. In the show, when Pip tells him about how she witnessed Sal and Andie fighting, he starts making fun of her angrily, shocking fans with an immature version of Ravi. Ravi’s personality in the show made his relationship with Pip seem fake and forced, leaving the show with a bad feeling.
The biggest character change is Stanley Forbes. His change is that he does not exist in the show. He has a significant part in the later books, so this left fans questioning how the other seasons will happen without him. It is confusing why these changes were made because it does not keep the characters similar to the original and changes the plot entirely.
Changing the plot of a story is a bold move, which is part of the show’s downfall. The show added a random plot line of Pip thinking her dad cheated on her mom because she found out he was at a hotel instead of visiting his family, as he said. Turns out, her mom and dad were just fighting. There was no point in adding that to the show; it just filled space that could have been used to leave parts of the book in, like her investigating more. Also, Pip’s dad called her chicken in the show instead of pickle, making another unnecessary change.
Another needless change is when Becca tries to kill Pip at the end. The book had Becca chasing Pip through the woods, but the show had them in a weird cave, with Becca trying to throw Pip in a well. The show had been in the woods before, so this change most likely cost them more money than if they kept to the original.
A mind-blowing change they made is having Pip witness Andie and Sal fighting the day Andie disappeared. Pip sees Andie run down the hall, crying and signaling to her to be quiet, but when Sal asks her where Andie is, Pip points him in the right direction. Contradicting the other changes, this heavily impacts the story because it changes Pip’s motives for her investigation. Instead of Pip doing it because she believes Sal is a nice person who would not murder his girlfriend, she is also doing it because she does not want to feel guilty for telling Sal where Andie is. This comes up in the argument between Pip and Ravi about continuing the investigation and puts a dent in their relationship. It also changes Pip from being a random girl investigating to a possible witness, which makes Pip less relatable. The show would be better if the writers used the time they spent on making random parts on making the show more accurate to the book.
Thus, all these differences make the show almost entirely its own story from the book. They kept the names of some of the characters and the idea but went on their own path. However, Holly Jackson is not to blame for this because she most likely could not stop the changes the director and writers made. Unfortunately, this has happened and is still happening to many authors, despite their fame, from Rick Riordan with the Percy Jackson movies to Ray Bradbury’s Fahrenheit 451. It is simple to stop this from happening: follow the book.”
Books Like A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder
About the Author
Aven is a high schooler book addict who also loves writing. You can usually find her reading whatever and whenever she can. She prefers reading young adult, fantasy, and sometimes dark academia.