What I adore about this series is that every book brings such a dramatic escalation that compels readers into these addictive thrillers. Each one keeps getting better and better. This last installment took a dark twist that I didn’t see coming. I enjoyed this book more than the first two just because Holly Jackson switched rails for a moment. Rather than making Pip the investigator who tries to bring justice to victims… She is the victim.
Except she doesn’t know this yet.
18-year-old Pip is about to head off to college. Except she feels like there’s a void inside her. Like she’s missing one last triumph that won’t allow her to leave her hometown until it is fulfilled. She determines the only resolution is to solve one last murder case.
Just one more investigation before she leaves for college, and that will give her some peace of mind. Right? Despite her family and friend’s objections telling her to stay away from another murder case, she can’t get the desire out of her head. Solving cases has become a sort of thrill and adrenaline rush for Pip. Along with the relief of saving lives and bringing justice, it brings her validation of who she is as a person.
This is why Pip embarks on her final journey to solve the case of a famous serial killer who has murdered victims all over England. Pip choosing to broaden her horizons and no longer focus on the mysteries supplied by her small town symbolizes that her character has grown, and is ready to move out of the small contaminants of Little Kilton.
Over the past decade, there has been a chain of grizzly murders throughout England that left the media shocked by how gruesomely the victims were killed. The person behind these atrocities? The “DT Killer”, short for Duct Tape Killer. He acquired the name by his signature methods of covering his victim’s faces in a mask of duct tape, then proceeding to strangle them to death with a blue rope. All his victims were women in their twenties, who were targeted for being perceived as “young and vulnerable.” As soon as I discovered the common trend among these women I was so concerned for Pip, considering she fit perfectly into the category. Especially with her decision to get back into solving murders, this couldn’t possibly be a good idea.
Right when Pip begins to research the murder case and announces the opening of her investigation on her podcast, she starts receiving disturbing messages. There are three significant actions done towards her that indicate this isn’t just some troll messing with her. This is the DT killer. The first message comes in the form of five stick figures without heads drawn in chalk on her front porch. One for each person he murdered. The second are decapitated pigeons on her lawn. And the last are three spam calls through an anonymous number. All these signs were given to his previous victims closest to the date he took them. Pip is still petrified. Who wouldn’t be? She feels as if she can’t confide in anyone for fear of sucking them into her twisted situation and endangering her loved ones. Just when she’s about to internally break she receives a chilling text from an unknown number asking “Who will look for you when you’re the one who disappears?” Pip’s resilience despite being the current target of a serial killer was remarkable. I do not doubt that I would have called out of the investigation as soon as I began to feel my safety was threatened. But Pip’s desire to bring justice to these victims and stop future homicides from happening wouldn’t let her quit. She truly set the bar for the most powerful literary heroine I’ve ever met.
These events serve to highlight how invested Pip has become in her investigations, that she has now made herself a target to a serial killer. But the question is, will she become another one of his victims? Or will she fight against the clock that ticks closer and closer to her inevitable abduction? In a terrifying turn of events, Pip gets kidnapped on the day she least expected.
She is taken to another location. Dread fills every fiber of her body as she knows the statistics of surviving an abduction after being taken to another location are less than zero.
During the excruciating ordeal, Pip begins to grasp and come to terms with the fact that her death may be completely unavoidable and out of her control. This is the Duct Tape Killer she’s dealing with. And unfortunately, she’s on his turf now. Pip is left to her defenses and forced to use her wits and strength to survive. I remember reading this scene at 1 am on a school night, unable to set the book down, despite my better judgment. I just couldn’t go to sleep in good conscience knowing that my favorite fictional person might die.
The climax of the book had me up all night trying to finish. Grappling with the fact that this iconic heroine may or may not survive, didn’t allow me to put it down. It became triggering and gorey at times, but what I found most disturbing was that the Duck Tape Killer’s motivation for targeting young women was rooted in a deep sense of misogyny and hatred for women. This makes it even more unbelievable once you find out who this killer really is behind the mask.
Holly Jackson’s writing is so authentic compared to other thrillers and mysteries because her world-building is impeccable. She only adds what is necessary for the progression of the plot without confusing her audience with unnecessary information. Not only are her plots incredibly captivating and have readers hooked by the first page, but her characters are down to earth, engaging and they make you just wanna root for them. I always say that a good book needs to have both an alluring storyline, as well as likable characters and the AGGGTM series has just that! These books will utterly blow your mind and I will never stop hyping them up.
