Good Girl, Bad Blood

Fiction | Novel | YA | Published in 2020

A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.

Download PDF

Summary

Background

Chapter Summaries & Analyses

Prologue and Chapters 1-9

Chapters 10-19

Chapters 20-30

Chapters 31-43

Character Analysis

Themes

Symbols & Motifs

Important Quotes

Essay Topics

Symbols & Motifs

The Podcast

Pip’s podcast permeates every chapter of the book, with reference to both its first season and the ongoing investigation to find Jamie. The podcast is a symbol that relates to the theme of The Pursuit of Truth and Justice. It is the vehicle that Pip uses to achieve those ends. Her complicated relationship with the truth is illustrated by her equally ambivalent view of her own media creation. While publishing new episodes of the podcast generates productive leads, it also draws the attention of internet trolls who leave disturbing comments. Connor is particularly upset by speculation that his brother is already dead. Pip would like to shield the entire Reynolds family from such feedback, but she warns them before proceeding that their lives will become an open book for the good-hearted and the maladjusted alike.

Even though Pip knows all about the negative consequences of airing dirty laundry in public, she is committed to the truth. This ideal is challenged, however, when a podcast listener publishes a rumor that Pip and the Reynolds family are staging an elaborate hoax just to drive more traffic to Pip’s site. She becomes so furious at this accusation that she attacks a fellow student who accuses her of lying. While the podcast draws its share of unsavory listeners, it is highly effective in solving crimes. Charlie admits that he couldn’t have found Stanley without it. Pip is then left to consider whether the pursuit of truth might be at odds with the pursuit of justice.

Witness Interviews

Incorporated with the narration of events are Pip’s personal notes about the case and transcripts of her interviews with various witnesses. These witness interviews are sprinkled throughout the book. While they are a recurring motif that supports the procedural aspects of building a case and publishing a podcast, they also relate to the theme of Questions of Identity. Each interview gives a different view of Jamie.

In Pip’s initial interview with Joanna, the reader receives a baseline description of Jamie as unfocused, passive, sensitive, and gentle. Each succeeding interview contradicts this character sketch. Joanna admits that her son recently became depressed and withdrawn after Nat started dating Luke. Joanna later sees more aberrant behavior in her son when she finds a bloodstained shirt in the laundry and declares that she doesn’t know who he is anymore.

Connor says that his brother has been tense and has been fighting with their father more frequently. For his part, Arthur says that his son wanted to borrow a large sum of money but wouldn’t explain why. Pip’s mother adds to the confusion when she is interviewed and admits that Jamie tried breaking into her desk to steal a credit card. Jamie says that obtaining the money is a matter of life or death. The fragmented personality that emerges from all these witness transcripts is the result of a collision between Jamie’s real character and the fictitious persona that is Layla.

Texts and Photos

Texts and photos feature prominently as the tools Pip uses to solve her case. As well as being a recurring motif that speaks to the pervasiveness of digital media in our culture, they also drive the plot forward and relate to the theme of The Use and Abuse of Social Media. For the most part, graphic images in the book function constructively. The barrage of photos and videos that Pip receives from attendees at the memorial service and the calamity party help her build a timeline of Jamie’s movements on the night he disappeared. She also leverages these photos by using Realtor.com to get a floorplan of the party house, so she can compare Jamie’s physical location in the house with those of other partygoers. Pip then uses internet dating sites to trace Jamie’s first contact with the catfish known as Layla based on the photo of one of Pip’s classmates. All these images bring Pip closer to the truth.

Texts aren’t nearly as benign. These short messages most frequently illustrate the abuse of social media. Layla can write to her prospective victims and represent herself in any way she chooses. The men she targets have already accepted her identity as real based on photos of someone else included in her online profile. Layla’s persona is further split when Charlie answers texts while his wife answers phone calls. Using texts and phone calls, the Greens can manipulate the gullible Jamie into committing a series of crimes for them. Their methods illustrate the disturbing truth that nothing on the internet is necessarily what it seems.