On Aug. 1, Netflix released the teen thriller “A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder” in all countries. The show is based on the first novel in Holly Jackson’s trilogy.

Jackson’s “A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder” is about an 18 year old detective, Pippa “Pip” Fitz Amobi, investigating the disappearance and murder of Andie Bell, a case that was closed five years ago. Everyone in Pip’s small town believes it was Andie’s boyfriend, Sal Singh, who killed her and then killed himself—although Andie’s body was never found.

Pip’s investigation takes dark twists and turns with a new shock every episode. The ending seamlessly ties together the theme of the “gray area” between good and bad while proving Sal innocent.

But Netflix’s adaptation can’t be praised too highly. Oversimplifying Jackson’s complex plot made finishing “A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder” disappointing. Producers changed core aspects of the mystery so that it didn’t even make sense leaving book fans like me wondering when the plot would tie itself together like the novel did. Unfortunately, it never did.

Here is my list of changes, smallest to largest, in the adaptation that ended up hurting the series:

6. The Sal Innocence scene
In the novel, Pip finds out Sal is innocent by looking at a Facebook post and realizing his friends lied about his alibi. She then confronts Sal’s friend, Naomi, about it—a dramatic and sob-worthy scene. But in the show, after Naomi confesses to lying about Sal’s alibi, Pip seems to forget about it and viewers are left wondering what happened to Naomi.

The scene itself fell flat in importance, considering it was the climax of the book. Pip did what she set out to do—prove Sal innocent—and Netflix’s adaptation breezed past it without second thought.

5. Nat Da Silva
Nat Da Silva was my favorite character throughout all three books. She was feisty, sarcastic, and hated Andie Bell with a scary passion. Her role is important throughout the seris especially after readers find out she was one of the many girls drugged and raped by Max Hastings.

But in the show, she is featured in one scene where she tells Pip how great of a friend Andie was and that Pip should quit investigating. From this information, Pip puts Nat on the suspect list which confuses TV show fans. The show deleted all the crucial parts of Nat, watering her down so much that I myself was unsure how she was important to the story.

4. Becca Bell and Elliot Ward’s antagonization
The supposed “antagonists” of book one are Becca, Andie’s sister and Elliot, a teacher whom Andie was dating. They were the ones who “killed” Andie Bell. But in both Becca and Elliot’s cases, it was an accident, covered up by hiding her body and framing innocent Sal.

Neither Becca or Elliot are good people but they had somewhat justifiable intentions behind their actions. Becca left Andie to die out of anger because her sister didn’t care she was raped, which she immediately regretted. Elliot, on the other hand, framed Sal to protect his daughters.

In the book, they are portrayed as sympathetic characters, but in the show, Elliot and Becca are so exaggerated that they come off as pure evil. Is it evil to not want to go to jail and abandon your daughters? It’s a gray area, and the show never managed to pull off that central theme of Jackson’s novel.

3. Max Hastings portrayal
Show producers barely touched on the fact that Max raped several girls and didn’t even consider that trauma. Instead, they used Max’s screen time to have him flirt with Pip. This frustrated me, because why is it that Becca Bell, the rape victim, was more antagonized, than Max Hastings, the rapist? While producers probably didn’t intend to have this effect, the careless plot holes in Max’s story made him out to be a saint compared to Elliot and Becca.

In the book, Max is Pip’s emotional cornerstone. He’s the reason for every horrible thing that happened, and the true exception to the gray area between good and bad (mad respect for Holly for considering rapists and misogynists the number one evil).

2. Pip’s obsession
Pip is a smart and stubborn feminist—the epitome of any female lead. She is unhealthily determined to prove Sal innocent, much to the point where she starts gradually getting obsessed with the case and spending days and nights on it. This gradual obsession paired with Pip’s insane intelligence kept me reading into the night, adding to the thriller aspect.

But in the show, Pip was never as tormented by the case, and there were scenes that seemed unnecessary when viewers were trying to solve the case. The show fell flat in its thriller roots, so much so I was scrolling through social media while watching some episodes.

1. Jason Bell’s abuse
Even though it isn’t apparent in the first book, serial rapist and killer Jason Bell is considered the true villain to most fans. While he hides in the shadows for most of the book, he is considered a prime suspect in Andie’s disappearance because Pip uncovers how verbally abusive he was to his daughters, constantly objectifying them.

But in the show, Jason Bell is on the suspect list for no clear reason. Viewers don’t understand for most of the show how evil he is, which undermines his importance and creates a major plot hole. Essentially, he was treated in the same way as Max Hastings. It’s disappointing that Jackson took her two most disgusting fictional men and undermined their wickedness.

I was incredibly disappointed by Netflix’s adaptation of “A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder”. They clumsily replicated Pip’s complex investigation, creating more confusion than intrigue. Let’s hope season two and three are more accurate.