Thank you to NetGalley and Ballentine for an early eARC of this book. Holly Jackson is definitely one of my go to mystery/thriller authors. She knows how to get you with a good twist and just when you think you’ve figured it out she really gets you. This book was so good and I can’t wait for everyone to read it!

This book had me on the edge of my seat! Holly Jackson never disappoints. I genuinely could not put this down.

did this have its problems? yes. some plot holes, a fmc that didn't act 27 years old at all, and hated every single other character.

but billy? would die for him. the unexpected unrequited romance had me BAWLING my fucking eyes out.

this was addicting as the author's other books - i couldn't stop reading. i literally finished this in one day! this was still such a fantastic story and i ate this up!!!

Started off pretty slow but as the book progressed, it picked up the pace. I was so hooked after the 6th chapter because I stayed up until around 1 to finish it, on a work night!! That's how you know it's good. It got bingeable after that point.

The FMC Jet is one of my favourite female main characters, she was so witty and sarcastic, and it was just really fun reading from her POV. She didn't read like a 27-year old, though, because when her age was mentioned, I was a bit surprised since she sounded like someone in their late teens to early twenties, if that makes sense.

I also kind of guessed the ending because it took a few false turns but that didn't spoil the experience I got from reading this.

Billy you will always be in my heart:)

Holly Jackson is one of my favorite authors ever!! This book had me on the edge of my seat, I finished it incredibly quickly and it feels impossible to put down. The story was incredibly entertaining and I found myself rooting for Jet and Billy. My gripe with this book was that the side characters were incredibly one-dimensional and detracted from our MCs’ character growth a bit? But Jackson typically writes YA so it’s expected her debut into the adult genre comes with some YA-elements. I will happily read every single book she comes out with and I will be recommending this to everyone!!

Jet Mason — 27, privileged, a little lost — who wakes up after a brutal attack to find out she only has seven days left to live because of a brain bleed. Instead of waiting to die, she decides to figure out who tried to kill her.

Jet isn’t your typical “perfect” heroine. She’s messy, stubborn, sometimes selfish — and honestly, that’s what made her so fascinating to follow. I loved how raw and flawed she was, and seeing her slowly peel back the layers of her life and relationships was so addictive. Billy completely stole my heart (if you know, you know).

The pacing did lag in a few places, but when the twists started dropping, I could not put this down. That final reveal absolutely wrecked me — I thought I had it figured out, and I was so wrong (in the best way).

This is Holly Jackson’s first adult thriller, and she nailed it. She keeps all the tension and clever plotting we love from her YA books but makes it even darker and more emotionally complex.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️/5 — intense, messy, and impossible to stop thinking about. Highly recommend if you love twisty thrillers with a strong, complicated main character and an ending that hits hard.

Huge thanks to @randomhouse and @netgalley for the early copy!

This is the first book I’ve read by Holly Jackson. I started it last night and this afternoon when I picked it up I knew I had to keep reading until the end. I had to know what happened. The twists kept coming and most things came together for a satisfying, if not happy, ending. There are a few questions I would have liked answered…where is Billy’s mother is one. By the near end, I needed to reach for tissues as the emotional floodgates opened. Be prepared to stay up reading this thriller.

Not Quite Dead Yet is a razor-sharp, wildly original thriller that had me completely hooked. After Jet Mason is violently attacked on Halloween night and left with a fatal head injury, doctors give her just seven days to live, but Jet knows one thing for sure: someone tried to kill her, and she’s going to solve her own murder before it finishes the job. Holly Jackson masterfully blends dark humor, gut-punch emotion, and nonstop suspense in a premise that feels both clever and chilling. Jet’s voice is fresh and fiercely compelling, and the twists kept me guessing until the end. I absolutely loved this book. It is tense, twisty, and impossible to put down.

3 stars ꕥ
↳ ᡴꪫ ⸝⸝ ‘not quite dead yet’ turned out to be a lot better than i originally thought it was going to be. i haven’t had the best luck with holly jackson books in the past, but this one (thankfully) broke the cycle. one thing that i can always appreciate and recognize about jackson’s books is that she always incorporates the building of character relationships into the plotline. unlike some other thriller authors, *cough cough* freida mcfadden.

१˒🎐⋆ i genuinely enjoyed jet’s relationship with billy and the other characters. jet’s fierce nature and willingness to make something of her life was an aspect that i really admired her for and contributed to my overall liking of her. she has one week to live due to getting attacked, which resulted in a fatal brain aneurysm. honestly, if i was told this news, i would just lay in the hospital bed for the whole week and spiral into insanity. but jet, she got her ass up and started to solve her murder at whatever cost. and she was SO smart, more smart than i could ever be.

🛻 billy finney. ᝰ.ᐟ billy was SO CUTE. i adored him so freaking much. i can’t even begin to comprehend the feeling he had when he knew that his best friend (and love of his life), only had one week to live. i loved how he put her first even if the things jet made him do could’ve landed him in prison for life.

◟✦ one thing that i really didn’t love was how everything was solved. sure, there were a lot of tiny things building up to the big reveal, butt the big reveal LITERALLY happened in the last chapter. it was just a whole word dump by one specific character that we had to wait the entire book for. ‼️‼️

SPOILERS START HERE ‼️‼️

- ngl i thought jet would actually be able to live 🥲 when she started writing the letters, that BROKE me
- why did holly try to give luke a redemption arc 😭 like he was literally ABUSING his employees..
- honestly, i thought it WAS billy at times..

‼️‼️ SPOILERS END HERE ‼️‼️

𖠵 𓂃 although this wasn’t the most thrilling of thrillers/mysteries, it was still a solid book that i found myself invested in. safe to say i’ll be requesting the next ARC for holly jackson’s new release 🤪🫶🏻

Anticipated Release date: July 22, 2025 - this month!!
Genre: whodunit mystery
Series: standalone

“I haven’t laughed so much my whole life as I have the past few days with you. And that’s saying something, because I got murdered a week ago.”

This was going to be 4 stars until I got to the letters portion…, then I absolutely lost it (had to put my kindle down and get myself together) so I’m brining this up to 5 stars. If you plan on audio-booking this, please find a way to actually view the letters.

I think partially why this one hit me so hard because I can put myself in Jet’s shoes as someone who will be 27 later this year. With that being said, Jackson’s work is easily digestible and something about her writing has been a hit for me in the past, and that still holds true now. Not Quite Dead Yet was also hard to put down (spent a few nights staying up too late to read one more chapter) The cherry on top? this one was unexpectedly cathartic for me (?).

If you like HJ’s a good girls guide to murder, then I think you will like this one as well! The stakes? High. With potentially only a week to live, how far would you go to solve your own murder when there’s no regards to any consequences?

Tropes:
🔪High stakes murder mystery
🖤black cat fmc x golden retriever mmsc
🤐secrets upon secrets with a dash of blackmail
🏘️family/small town drama
⏩Fast-paced
🍂Halloween/early Nov setting

Thank you NetGalley and Random House Publishing - Ballantine for this eARC in exchange for an honest review.

Quote taken from an uncorrected proof subject to change in the final version.

🔔‼️SPOILER ALERT below that because I HAVE to talk about this‼️🔔

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What really sold it for me on Billy was when jet was dying and he was willing to let her think he was the murderer because he knew the importance to her that she solved the murder, YOU’RE JOKING that man was head over heals in love with Jet😭

This story emotionally recked me. A FMC with one week to solve her own murder before an aneurysm kills her? Sign me up. Not Quite dead Yet was so fast-paced and unique—I couldn't put it down and also hated to see it end. The way Holly Jackson wove together a twisty suspense with an emotional plot and relatable characters dealing with mortality, regret, family secrets, and justice was *chef's kiss*.

This book had it all, and Holly Jackson remains of my top "5 star" authors. Can't wait to recommend this new book to our library readers!

Many thanks to NetGalley and Random House Publishing Group - Ballantine for providing an advance copy of this book to review. It's expected publication date is July 22, 2025. #NotQuiteDeadYet #NetGalley

Okay, now I have proof that I do, in fact, like thrillers written for an adult audience. I just had rotten luck with a couple of stinkers earlier this year. Fortunately, <i>Not Quite Dead Yet</i> proved to not only be a blast, but surprisingly emotional at times. I was hooked beginning to end.

While I have not read Jackson’s YA books, I’ve heard about them and had her writing recommended to me. Here, she proves she knows how to mastercraft a plot, keep the readers on their toes, and keep the twists coming. She took what seemed at first like a relatively straightforward plot, then wove in a truly impressive number of seemingly disparate elements, and tied them all together by the end.

All books depend on their main character to hook the reader and keep them invested, and <i>Not Quite Dead Yet</i> is no different. I admit, I did not like Jet in the beginning, when she was first introduced. She seemed immature, self-absorbed, and sulky—annoying in an adolescent and almost unforgivable in a twenty-seven year old. But then, something happened. And by ‘something,’ I mean her murder and the main plot. Jet’s predicament was so profoundly horrible and told in such a visceral way, it dragged me kicking and screaming into her corner, instantly earning her my sympathy. The circumstances also made her flaws a lot more understandable. She says herself at one point: she’s got a week left to live and then she <i>will</i> die horribly. She’s allowed to make it all about herself. And you know what, she’s right. She really is. Moreover, being put on a timer forced Jet to grow as a person, and I, in turn, found myself happy to follow her on her journey. The state of emergency also brought out her determination and intelligence. Jackson did a terrific job of giving Jet a ton of agency in solving the plot, without ever forgetting the ways in which her body was breaking down around her. I especially enjoyed how she used technology to help propel her investigation. It was relatable, very believable in a Gen-Z protagonist, and not something you see a lot in older/less with-the-times books.

I also loved Billy. He could have so easily become an unintentional Nice Guy, but he was just so fundamentally un-entitled, loyal and kind, I couldn’t help connecting with him. He and Jet had a great chemistry as friends, partners, and two people who could have really loved each other given enough time. The bittersweet note kept the relationship from ever feeling too-good-to-be-true or overly sacharine.

The secondary characters were generally pretty good, though I do think Jackson leaned a little too into Female Exceptionalism for my tastes. Why are basically all women in this book either shit (Sophia, Jet’s mom) or dead (Emily, Nina… Billy’s mom isn’t dead, but she’s completely out of the picture in a way which doesn’t feel dissimilar.) Generally, when an author does this, it’s to make their female lead look better in comparison, by throwing other female characters under the bus. Needless to say, I don’t love this. Though I will say, technically Jet herself qualifies for the ‘dead’ category. So there’s that, I guess?

I also found Jet’s final confrontation with Sophia a bit weak. No, actually, decking her or spitting in her face would have made more of a statement than anything Jet could possibly say to her. Especially since there’s no sense Sophia cares or ever cared enough about Jet to be hurt by her words.

And now, I’m going to talk a bit about the ending. Jet's swan song and final scene with Billy was incredibly impactful. The letters Jet left for her family served as a great, heartbreaking denouement.

Unfortunately, the book was not over at that point. And I found the final confrontation melodramatic and unnecessary. I understand why Jackson included it. The fact that Jet didn’t quite manage to solve the mystery in time but found peace anyway was a powerful statement and a really satisfying, if heartbreaking, ending for her. But the readers would still want answers. I really do sympathize with Jackson knowing she had to resolve things. But also, everything preceding the confrontation made for a more effective and unique ending.

Nevertheless, I like most of what Jackson did in this book. I would happily seek out more of her writing. And that adds up to four stars.

Thank you to NetGalley and Bantam Books for the free ARC in exchange for an honest review. All opinions within are my own.

I enjoyed that the overall premise of this book was quite unique- a girl that is basically trying to solve her own murder because she’s got a countdown until her aneurysm ruptures!

The FMC was a little annoying with her sarcasm & lack of seriousness. I would’ve thought she was closer to 18-20 rather than 27.

It was a pretty gripping thriller/“who dunnit” type story. I did guess the murderer about 20% in so idk if it’s just predictable or maybe I alone thought it was obvious. Overall I’d say 3.5 stars rounded up to 4 for Goodreads. I think if the ending had been different or less chaotic I would’ve bumped my rating higher.

Thank you to NetGalley for the early copy!

Not Quite Dead Yet is Holly Jackson’s first adult novel. In it, Jet is seriously injured and attempting to solve her own murder. This was an interesting premise and I enjoyed the various twists. There were some things that I wish had been wrapped up a little more. I will definitely read future adult or YA from Holly Jackson!

Not Quite Dead Yet by Holly Jackson (SOME SPOILERS)

A story of a girl starting on Halloween, the night she is murdered. The detail her killer fails to realize is that Jet isn't quite dead yet, and she instead has a week before a deadly aneurysm takes her. In this week, Jet resolves to find her killer, and the novel follows her as she attempts to complete this mission.

I have read a few Holly Jackson novels, namely the first 2.5 books in the A Good Girl's Guide to Murder series. I found the first one interesting, the second one fell a little flat, and the third one was difficult to stay engaged in given that it was spoiled for me. This one, in my opinion, was far better than the others. Maybe it was just more adult, or maybe the writing actually was superior, but I devoured this novel in under a week, quite like Jet's lifespan in this book.

Something about the dark humor coupled with the thrilling search for the family secrets of the Mason house make this an unforgettable mystery. Although I thoroughly enjoyed this story, though, there were a few aspects left unresolved for me. I think the ending, with Luke turning on his father, felt a little flat for me, because it just felt unnecessary to add more action into the falling action. I also did not enjoy Jet's death before she could figure out the murder. Yes, I understand why the author did that, and there was no real need for her to stay alive because it did add to the story; however, in my opinion, the story would have been just as complete given she stayed alive. The ending would have felt much more satisfying and enjoyable if she did not die before the ending, though, once again, I understand why she did.

Overall I really would recommend this novel. Its conclusion is similar to the other Holly Jackson books I have read thus far, but I would not use that as a deterrent against this novel. I still had trouble predicting the ending, even if I guessed some details correctly, quite like Good Girl, Bad Blood. So, no matter your opinion on Holly Jackson's earlier books, I would definitely recommend this one.

It comes out July 22nd, but I personally would recommend reading it during Halloween just for maximum vibes. Halloween into November in Vermont with Stick Season references? Absolutely.

Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for the eArc in return for an honest review.

Well, this was great. Tragic, a little heartbreaking, but a wonderful story. I have a friend who devours thrillers and murder mysteries, he's always suggesting this or that title, saying "you're going to love this." Sometimes he's right, sometimes he's wrong; I don't read a lot of thrillers so I'm grateful for his guidance.
But I read A Good Girl's Guide to Murder back when I was working in youth services and thought it was very well done. When Jackson came out with an adult novel, I knew I had to give it a shot. I devoured it. I got about 60% through in one sitting. If Jackson plans to write more adult thriller/suspense/whatever you call this, I'm here for it. I've only read a smattering of thriller fiction but this is definitely among the best of them. I'm looking forward to more!

Jet is quirky and funny. She is such a likable character, she’s just so real and raw. The book is dark and just unlike anything I’ve ver read! It’s a good one!

Holly Jackson has been a very hit or miss author for me but I was truly surprised but just how much I ended up loving this book. I just thought this concept was so unique, and interesting. It was so incredibly well executed as well. It just immediately pulled me in. It was just so intriguing. The way the mystery unfolded was also incredibly well done. There were many twists and turns, and secrets revealed. There was quite a lot going on but it all managed to come together in an incredible way, and there definitely was one reveal that legit made me audibly GASP because it was just so masterfully done.
On top of that I also just loved Jet as a main character. She spend most of her life kind of floundering, and now that she is confronted with only one more week to live it really puts her entire life in perspective, and I really loved how that was done. Obviously this book is full of grief (and that is really well executed as well) but overall this book kind of felt like a love letter to life in and of itself. Towards the end Jet really prioritises making the most of her time left, and it is just so beautiful. I also really liked Billy as a side character, and the developement of their friendship/relationship was so incredibly well done as well.
The cast of side characters was also just incredible. We have a lot of different kind of characters, which makes it all very intriguing, and it overall made to story really come to life as well. The ending of this book also absolutely made cry, which just shows how invested I got in it overall. Highly, highly recommend this book because it was just SO GOOD.

3/5
This book took way too long to finish. I blame my reading slump. I have read all Holly Jackson published books so far. And honestly this is my least favorite. I wanted to like it but for some reason I didn’t. I liked the plot but I think the characters made me not enjoy it as much. I did like how the book was formatted for sure made it unique. I also liked how each character made you think they did definitely a true mystery. Even though you had a character or two it could be. Even though I didn’t enjoy the book as much as I thought I would it was very easy to read and everything flowed together. Nothing confusing at all. I will continue to read Holly Jackson’s books because they are unique and enjoyable. Thank you to NetGalley and Random House Publishing Group for sending and allowing me to read this ARC. Not Quite Dead Yet publishes on July 22, 2025.

Not Quite Dead Yet follows the story of Jet Mason after she is brutally attacked on Halloween night and left for dead. But she’s not quite dead….. yet. Her head trauma and other underlying health issues mean that she will die within the next 7 days when not if a large aneurism forms and ruptures in her brain. Jet decides with her remaining time to solve her own murder. This leads her down a twisty path of examining her family’s past and questioning everything she thought she knew. Is she prepared for all she will uncover?

I’ll start by saying the premise of this book is fantastic and so unique. I was immediately so excited to read it. Holly Jackson consistently writes good thrillers that definitely keep me invested throughout. Where this book falls short for me is with the main character. I am all for complex characters and Jet is definitely that but she’s also just extremely annoying to me. I’m not sure why but I find that I get irritated with Jackson’s main characters and their choices in several of her books. Will I still continue to read Jackson’s books? Yep, sure will because the woman knows how to write a mystery. Plus Jet gets a bit of a pass on her behavior because of the whole “dying” thing. The progression of her injuries and the emotion that’s comes with that is handled well and made Jet a more sympathetic character to me.

If you are intrigued by the premise like I was, give this one a read. 3.25 stars for me. Huge thank you to Random House Publishing Group-Ballantine for offering this title for review via Netgalley. All opinions are my own.