The Mason family is one of the wealthiest families in Woodstock, Vermont. Jet Mason, the youngest, is 27 and still waiting for life to begin. She knows she has time to figure it all out though.....that is, until Halloween night, when she is violently attacked and left for dead. Jet suffers a catastrophic head injury resulting in a massive aneurysm. When she wakes up in the hospital, the doctor gives her two options: 1. surgery, which will almost certainly kill her, or 2. Seven days left to live before the aneurysm ruptures and she dies anyway. Jet chooses option 2, and chooses to spend her seven days trying to figure out who killed her.

I really enjoyed this one. The mystery kept me guessing until the very end. I had mixed feelings about Jet. She started out very self-absorbed and selfish, but as the week drew to a close she became much more likeable. I can't say the same for any of her other family members. The whole lot of them were terrible - especially her brother, and her sister-in-law/former best friend. I had trouble relating to the choice Jet made to spend her final days putting herself in danger over and over and running all over town chasing leads. That wouldn't have been how I would have chosen to utilize my time, but that is a personal choice. Overall, if you love a good mystery that will keep you guessing, you should check this out.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ (4/5)

“Jet mason will die in seven days.” Okay that’ll hook any reader who loves a mystery!👀🕵🏽‍♀️🫆

The first 20% was very slow for me for a few reasons. I wasn’t fully immersed in the story with focusing on spending time with family which resulted in me taking a long time to read this. When a book takes me awhile to read, I sort of loose steam. I think that kind of hindered my reading experience a little bit 😭 BUT once I got past the 20% mark I was fully engaged in the story and HAD to know what happened! This takes place during the fall in Vermont and I was looooving those autumnal east coast vibes 🍂🍁 This is definitely a read on a blustery fall night kinda book. It had the right amount of mystery without being scary.

Someone tried to kill Jet on Halloween night. She wakes up in a hospital room a few days later to have her doctor tell her that she only has seven days to live. She decides to use that week to solve her own murder.

The premise was very interesting and different from any other book that I’ve read before. There was a ticking clock, high stakes and a strong FMC who fights for herself. ALSO I did not figure out who the killer was so hats off to Holly! There is some romance going on which if you’ve followed me for more than five minutes you know I’m always a fan of 😏 this song!!! iykyk & now I’m crying 😭

Thank you so much @netgalley and @randomhouse for the ARC!! Make sure to preorder it!!
Out in the US on July 22nd!
🎃🍂🍁

Who doesn’t love a Holly Jackson novel? But this one... this one lurks with a different kind of energy. Not Quite Dead Yet is a masterclass in slow, creeping dread wrapped in the kind of sharp writing we’ve come to expect from Jackson—but now with the chilling maturity of her first adult mystery.
From the first page, you know this story isn’t heading toward a fairytale ending. Jet Mason has seven days to solve a murder—her own. And the countdown is ticking in real time. What follows is a haunting unraveling of relationships, secrets, and betrayals. Everyone’s a suspect. Everyone feels off. And you will start questioning everything.
Jet’s voice is raw and real, a woman on the edge of death who is finally waking up to life—and maybe to the truth. As her time runs out, the tension tightens with every chapter. It's clever. It's emotional. And it's absolutely ruthless.
This isn’t a cozy. This isn’t safe. It’s Holly Jackson, grown-up and unflinching, taking readers to the very edge of mortality and daring us to look over the cliff.
And by the final page, you might feel a little dead yourself.

4.5 Stars !! WOW !! What a wild ride that was ! I have not read a thriller with this concept of someone solving their own murder, It was such a unique concept and was written well by the author. The end had me feeling so sad. Some good twists and turns to keep you guessing on who the murderer was and how things would end. I highly recommend giving this one a read if you enjoy a good thriller/suspense novel.

Thank you Netgalley and Random House Publishing Group - Ballantine for the digital arc in exchange for my honest review.

Wow! What a roller coaster ride this book was! From the premise to the execution, I’ve never read anything like Not Quite Dead Yet.

Jet Mason is attacked in her home on Halloween night, but somehow survives. The caveat? A freak bone fragment will cause a fatal aneurysm within a week. She’s determined to solve her own murder in that time frame and embarks on a wild and crazy journey that unravels secret after secret in her little hometown and her family. With the help of her childhood best friend, can Jet find out who her killer is before time runs out?

My first five star read of 2025 and rightly deserved! Thanks to #NetGalley for the arc of this book in return for my review.

This is my favorite read by Holly Jackson and I've read most of her books at this point! This was just SO good! It was well written, fast-paced, and somehow so emotional I cried at the end. I loved the sass of Jet and I loved the sweetness of Billy. I think the dynamic between them two was really what sold the story to me, because it was beautiful and believable. I'm honestly just overwhelmed with emotions, I read it in one sitting. A solid win for Holly Jackson and I can't wait for her to write more in the adult genre!

Read this if: you enjoy purely plot-based mysteries and/or enjoyed One of Us Is Lying.

Skip this if: you prefer books with more character development.

Jet Mason is 27 and feeling aimless. Her family owns an incredibly successful construction company, but she has dropped out of law school and is still trying to find her way. But on Halloween night she is attacked and given only seven days to live before an aneurysm in her brain kills her. Racing against the clock she sets out to solve her own murder with her old friend Billy. As she uncovers secret after secret, she begins to question everything she knows about her family and town.

This book had such an interesting premise, but it rested on Jet making a choice that seems highly unrealistic. And while I know that in real life people make irrational decisions all the time, in fiction this works best when there is robust enough character development that a choice, while irrational, would at least feel believable and that did not happen here. This book was also about 100 pages longer than it needed to be; there was so much filler that by the time I got to the middle where things picked up I wasn’t as interested. This read a lot like YA (with 10 extra years and some cursing thrown in) which wasn’t totally unexpected but is worth noting. On a positive note, Billy’s character was heartwarming and I was definitely emotionally invested by the end. And once the twists started coming they were pretty good, it just took a lot of time to get there!

Thank you to NetGalley and Bantam for the electronic advanced reader copy!

Holly Jackson’s adult debut!! She has become a favorite author of mine when it comes to mysteries and thrillers so this book was easily one of my most anticipated releases.

I really enjoyed the premise and the main character Jet’s injury certainly lent a sense of urgency regarding solving the mystery. It was interesting to see her put the pieces together, though I did miss the interactive elements from the Good Girls’ Guide series. The characters were complex and getting to know more about them was definitely interesting. There are also a lot of secrets in the town as a whole and I enjoyed seeing those come to light.

However, while the twists were somewhat shocking, I wouldn’t say this was scary. Despite a sense of urgency and the fact that someone has almost murdered Jet, I never felt like there was a killer lurking around every corner which is something I personally enjoy when it comes to thrillers. Also as expected this book is VERY sad. Thrillers aren’t known to be light reads to begin with, but this one was just really unfortunate. Jet’s gallows humor didn’t really help lighten the mood either.

Overall it was a fast read and I liked seeing Jet put the pieces together, but this didn’t top Good Girls’ Guide for me personally. It would be a good read for spooky season though as the book opens on Halloween night.

originally thought this was a 3.5, its not

Let me sit with it for a bit

Update: I think this book being marketed as Holly’s first adult book is inaccurate and doing a disservice to both the book and reader. This is not an adult thriller. It’s a YA thriller in all aspects except the age of the FMC (which I kept forgetting was supposed to be 28, not 19). Sure, this book uses the word “fuck” more than most YA books (and honestly more than was necessary and I cuss like a sailor). As a YA thriller, this is an easy 4/4.5 stars. But a YA thriller this is (supposedly) not. And because of that, it falls flat.

This book! What an emotional rollercoaster! This young woman who something so scary and unexpected happen one night. And now she’s compelled to find out who harmed her and why. But the clock is ticking. So good!

This was such a fun, fast-paced read, and I flew through it. I was hooked from the beginning and determined to find this cruel person! I didn’t. 😂
Jet the FMC is spunky and hilarious, and there’s a great cast of well developed characters. I had a blast hanging out with them.

Holly Jackson did it again!! After her popular trilogy, A good girl’s guide to murder, which I devoured, I was scared this new book would not live to my expectations but oh boy, it did! Thank you so much to Netgalley for accepting my request and for providing me with the ARC, it was a pleasure to read it. The twists and turns, the characters, and the writing was absolutely incredible. If you’re lookforward your best next read, pick this one up. You won’t regret it.

6/5

» Best - Gracie Abrams «
1:59 ─〇─────3:54
↻ ◁ II ▷ ↺

· Find new stars, OK, I'm going. Wish me luck in your little blue truck ·

First off, that you so much NetGalley and Storm Publishing for giving me the opportunity to review this ARC!

jet mason always has "more time", until on Halloween night when she is brutally attacked and finds out that she only has a week left to live. The last thing that she wants to do with her life is find out who killed her with the help of her childhood neighbor, Billy.

I went into this book with high expectations, and every single one of them was fulfilled. Holly Jackson is the absolute QUEEN of thrillers that will keep you at the edge of your seat, while also making you sob uncontrollably in the end.

just when I thought that I knew what was happening in this book, a curveball was thrown, and I was shocked every time. Not only was the mystery in this book absolutely fantastic, but the surprising romance made the book even better.

I truly have never cried so much in a book before, and even now, after finishing it almost ten hours ago, I can't even begin to think about this book without crying. I will NEVER stop recommending Holly Jackson to literally everybody, but especially this book.

The plot twist at the end had me absolutely jaw-dropped with tears streaming down my face. I really thought that I knew what the twist was going to be, and boy, was I wrong.

If anyone is reading this right now, this is your sign to pick up this book IMMEDIATELY.

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, if @hojay92 writes it, I read it!
I finished this one like a day after receiving the ARC but needed some time to process..

Not quite dead Yet (5⭐️) is a very well written YA mystery/thriller that follows Jet, our FMC, as she investigates her own murder.. Jet was violently attacked on Halloween which led her to suffer a catastrophic head injury and have a finite number of days to live. In just 7 days, Jet needs to find out who murdered her and why.

I don’t want to say too much on it, the plot, etc. Because I don’t want to spoil anything but I will say that @hojay92 ‘s writing was great as usual, the twists had great foreshadowing so nothing came out of the blue, not saying anything about the characters to not give anything away but the letters 😭

Thank you @hojay92 @netgalley and @randomhouse Ballantine for the ARC

Jet Mason has seven days to live. And she’s finally ready to start paying attention.

On Halloween night, Jet — a woman who’s spent her life waiting for the right moment to begin — is violently attacked in her family’s estate. The injury leaves her with a chilling prognosis: a brain bleed that will kill her within a week. The countdown is set. And Jet refuses to go quietly.

What follows is a fast, propulsive unraveling of memory, betrayal, and old wounds. Jet doesn’t know who did this to her — but she’s certain the answer is close. Maybe it’s her ex. Maybe it’s her ex-best friend. Maybe it’s family. Maybe it’s all of them. And maybe it’s something she buried so deeply, she won’t see it coming until it’s too late.

This book isn’t just a race against time — it’s a woman reclaiming her narrative, piece by broken piece. Jet doesn’t want justice. She wants the truth, even if it kills her. And the way Holly Jackson builds that tension? Clean. Relentless. Brutal when it needs to be.

The real brilliance of Not Quite Dead Yet is how it refuses to follow the usual thriller formula. You’re not just reading a whodunit. You’re watching someone try to solve their own murder before they actually die — and somehow, that urgency makes every single relationship in Jet’s orbit feel both suspect and tragic.

This is the kind of thriller that doesn’t scream. It whispers. It stalks. It breathes down your neck and doesn’t flinch. Jackson delivers sharp dialogue, layered characters, and just the right amount of chaos to keep you on edge.

If you’re tired of thrillers that promise twists but never go for the jugular — read this one.

Jet Mason is running out of time. But she’s not going down without answers. And neither will you.

What a unique and compelling premise forms the backbone of this novel! An intruder attacks Jet Mason and inflicts a brain injury on her that has created a deadly aneurism that will basically explode in seven days, thus killing her. So, what does she do? She works on solving her own case. Because I was so intrigued by this premise, I really wanted to find this to be an outstanding novel, I was definitely disappointed. My main complaint is the overall tone of the book, with Jet being constantly flippant and acting so very immature (her dialogue is way over the top), even though she is in her late 20s and facing a serious dilemma. Yet, the overall mystery of Jet’s attack is an intriguing one, and the very last part of the novel seemed to finally deliver what I had found lacking all the way before that. Although the ending might have been a bit abrupt, it did seem to tie up everything rather nicely. All in all, this just wasn’t what I would classify as an adult mystery/thriller and so was not my cup of tea.

Jet trying to solve her own murder was incredibly interesting and I really enjoyed that part throughout the book. Did it somehow work out in ways that I'm about 90% sure it wouldn't in real life? Absolutely. But I can forgive that for the fun of it and it was really fun. There were heart warming moments, heart breaking moments, and a few huffs of air through my nose whenever Jet was particularly funny.
But why do I, as someone younger than Jet, act older than her? Jet is 27, but it truly felt like she was only 27 so that there wouldn't be complaints about teenagers not being able to do whatever she's doing. She acts 14. Billy acts 14. Their romance is cute - ish, but, again, feels very, very 14 year old crush. And the ending was wild. Not in a fun way. In a 'oh, I didn't realize Disney and CW combined and helped write this. ' Not great. Bummer.

Not Quite Dead Yet is a BLAST! This is a clean murder mystery (with a twist of course) that I can feel totally safe recommending to my teenagers at the public library. The added layer is that you can also be invested enough as an adult to get excited right along with them!

Not Quite Dead Yet is the story of Jet, attacked on Halloween, after leaving her family at a community event for cleanup. Jet’s families and neighbors have haunting pasts, and it doesn’t stop getting spookier with Jet’s attack.

One of the things that I personally loved about this story so much was that in setting it in a Halloween, we could really deep dive into the atmosphere of it all. It adds such a fun layer and so much whimsy to be solving a crime with skeletons and pumpkins lying about. There is a fun Scooby Doo vibe about DNA clues coming from Halloween wigs.

When Jet’s attacker didn’t do as thorough of a job as they thought in killing her, she recovers from the coma that they put her in just long enough to set out to solve her own murder. The following days are a complicated family drama, and love story unfolding. Clues are planted so that readers can definitely speculate realistically as they read, but the ending was absolutely still satisfyingly mysterious enough for me.

This read is action, packed, heartwarming, and uniquely fun. What an exciting read to have available to recommend this Summerween and fall season! Fans of A Good Girls Guide to Murder will eat this up.

This book was amazing! I loved AGGGTM and this book takes all the detective skills from that series and adds a fun twist. I thought it was really cool to have someone solve their own murder. The characters were well written and I enjoyed all the twist and turns of the murder investigation. It kept me guessing to the last page!

Jet has lived her whole life never finishing anything. She's always told herself and anyone else that she has more time and will get to the important things "later". But now, there are not many more "laters" because Jet was attacked on Halloween night and suffered a massive head injury, one that the doctors are confident will result in an aneurysm. Jet will be dead within the week. And for once in her life, she's determined to finish something and find out who murdered her.

With the clock ticking and her health slowly worsening, Jet and her childhood best friend, Billy race against the clock to solve Jet's murder and discover a lot of suspects and secrets. But can they find the murderer before Jet runs out of time.

This book was impossible to put down. I've read so many thrillers and after a while, you feel like you've read the story before. Similar plots, expected twists but this one was like nothing I've ever read before. The main characters are loveable, relatable, and hilarious with lots of sass. I enjoyed this not only for the unique story and twists but for the characters and their stories apart from the "whodunnit". A huge thank you to NetGalley for providing an ARC.