3.5 stars
This was just okay. I have loved everything I’ve read by this author however this book was not my favorite of hers. I enjoyed the story aspect of this one, but I really didn’t like the main character Jet which made it hard to rate this higher.

Thank you to Random House Publishing Group - Ballantine and NetGalley for the arc in exchange for an honest review.

I love Holly Jackson’s writing and I was so happy to receive an advanced copy of this. Her writing is captivating and this book was no different than her others!

Wow, what a ride! I thought I outgrew the YA murder mysteries since they all follow the same script, but holy moly, Holly Jackson is back!!

The first 30% was super fast paced and it took a bit to chug through after that to the 70% mark. These books tend to follow a script where if they’re investigating the current person, it’s not them. I love the Easter eggs and how it was executed so well where I suspected the “killer” already.

It’s the worst when it makes no sense and blind sides you, but this was perfect and I crushed through the rest of the book way past my bedtime because I couldn’t put it down.

Holly Jackson’s adult debut is perfect for fans of her previous works, as well as ones new to her books.

From the start of this book I was invested in the story. It immediately feels tense and urgent, the main character on a ticking clock basically from the start. There were definitely times when this did give me a YA vibe, which isn’t a bad thing, but I would have enjoyed a little more maturity from the characters. I guessed the ending pretty early on, but it was nice that everything gets wrapped up very clearly and doesn’t leave the reader with questions.

I read this very quickly and would recommend it!

Firstly, thank you so much to Random House Publishing- Ballantine, Holly Jackson, and Netgalley, for providing me with an e-arc of this book in exchange for an honest review

Some books are well worth the wait, and this book is the PRIME example of that. This book has been one of my most anticipated reads of the entire year, so when I saw the email that I was approved, I actually screamed, so thank you so much for the arc, truly.

After finishing this book, I had to lie in bed in silence for a bit, just ruminating on the ending I just finished. The twist and the turns throughout this book made the ending so satisfying for me. Although there were things I was able to guess, it was disappointing to me that those ending up being the actual answers. I felt so smart when those guesses came to fruition.

Jet was the type of main character I absolutely adore. She is so different from me where she actually can speak everything that's on her mind. So while we are thinking similar thoughts, she actually says them out loud. I also LOVE that Holly Jackson was able to curse in this one. It was everything and more getting to see our main characters say the F word.

Of course, the writing style of the book was stunning; you can always trust Holly Jackson to deliver. The book, being written in the days that Jet had left, was both a terrifying and realistic way to format the book. Knowing that Jet's time was ticking down left me having to put the book down and just sit for a little bit. Jet is such a strong main character. She's a character who understands her faults and her experiences through the week she had left had her working through them. I believe we can all learn a lot from Jet, especially me.

We think there will always be a "later" just like Jet. But sometimes our plans in life are taken from us in one way or another. There is a huge lesson to learn from this book, not to trust that "later." Live for now, don't put things off cause you think you can.

5/5 stars

I always love twisty mystery thrillers, especially ones with a built-in deadline. This is definitely one of those, with plenty of suspects, bad guys (maybe a few too many...not a very likable cast at all), tension, and a ticking clock.

Jet's in her late twenties, but hasn't accomplished anything in life, always thinking she had plenty of time. Part of a family who owns a successful construction business, she is often called on by her family to help out at community events, which she does on Halloween. Afterwards, she heads home before the rest of her family, but is brutally attacked and left for dead. Luckily, a childhood friend Billy finds her and keeps her alive. In the hospital, however, she discovers she is an aneurysm waiting to happen: due to her skull damage during the attack, within seven days she will be dead. Jet decides this is her chance to do something with her life finally, and that she will use the coming week with Billy's help to find her killer (since she knows this will happen, she can already call this person her murderer). Along the way, Jet's life is threatened again and again while she works to solve the mystery. Every person (even Billy) becomes a suspect, with family, friends, an Ex, the police force, and neighbors all falling under the microscope. In the end, I was actually surprised by the Who and Why, but with such unlikable characters-including Jet-I didn't care as much as I should when this was revealed. One side note: even though there's some crying in the book: there were 88 instances of "he/she sniffed" instead of the less-distracting, "he/she said." Maybe a forewarning will keep you from being as bothered by this as I was.

Thank you NetGalley for providing me with an e-arc for this!

Holly Jackson needs to pay for my therapy bills. What do you mean Jet whom I've been told from the synopsis will die in 7 days actually dies? We're in a fictional world, yeah not a romance but I still want my happy ending. This was DEVASTATING to say the least, I was in tears and I fear I'm not recovering. It is so so SO sad to KNOW that you are dying and just accept that there is no way out of it, live the remaining few days with that knowledge but also to die without knowing who did it. I hope she did know, in her heart. I am so glad my trust issues failed me because I would have been even more devastated if it was indeed Billy although the truth wasn't any kinder...It was just all so unfair and meaningless.

P.S: the letters written with her left hand made me ball my eyes out.

Not Quite Dead Yet by Holly Jackson is a gripping thriller and murder mystery. In this case, the murder victim has a week to solve her own murder. The premise intrigued me from the beginning and the author delivered on it. The main character starts as not being likeable but grows on you and the supporting character is just so sweet - I loved the character development. The suspense and twists were well done. I really enjoyed reading this.
I got the ARC from Random House Publishing Group - Ballantine | Bantam via Netgalley. All opinions expressed are mine

4 ⭐️

First off, thank you to NetGalley for the digital arc of Not Quite Dead Yet by Holly Jackson.

There were many moments I wanted to DNF this book but I’m glad I didn’t. This for most of the book, Jet annoyed me with her consent F Bombs ( there are other curse words you can use), the story felt very predictable and I was getting bored.


But the ending saved this book. It felt like Poetic Justice for Jet and Billy. I bounced from suspect to suspect, but after finding the twist, I had pretty much solved it. ( I watch too many crime shows/ read many thrillers)
Jet at the start was obnoxious, but I did like the bit of character growth towards the end. The constant joking, I get it was her way of coping, but at some point it gets old.
The bouncing between this book feeling adult and sometimes feeling YA, was a headache.

I had my doubts with this book at the beginning. The last few Holly Jackson books just haven’t been giving me the same thrill as the first GGGTM. But overall this book did okay enough to earn 4⭐️

Whew! This book was intense and emotional chaos!
On Halloween night, someone bashes Jet in the head. She lives...kinda. The doctors tell her that she has an aneurysm that will burst and kill her within the week. So what does she do? Try to solve her murder of course!
This book read like watching those Fear Street movies that Netflix is making (I mean that in the best way).
Jet was not very likable for a while, but she grew on me. Billy 😍 He's the best.
This book was full of twists and the hits kept coming. While I guessed a part of the ending, it definitely kept me on my toes.

Thanks to Netgalley and Random House for an early copy for review.

This book absolutely gave me the five star feeling, even though there were some flaws that I couldn’t help but notice. I just didn’t care because I was having such a good time reading it, and I decided to ignore everything that I noticed until after I was done with it. Now that I’m done with the book, I have some things to say.

First of all, when it comes to the plot as a whole, I think that it was incredibly unique. I loved the idea of Jet getting a second chance at life so that she’s able to not only figure out who attacked her, but also have time to mature through the experience. At the beginning of the book she was genuinely insufferable. She was rude, manipulative, immature, and treated everyone around her badly. When it was first mentioned that she was supposed to be 27 years old, I was flabbergasted that someone could act like that at that age. BUT it made watching her realize some of her flaws all the more satisfying to read. Also finding out that pretty much all of the people she’d been treating terribly deserved it in some capacity made her personality easier to swallow.

Now as far as characters go, Holly Jackson knows how to write a man that every girl reading will be obsessed with. Billy is perfect in every aspect of the word, and he deserved for things to be different. A dad who’s a cheater and a criminal, a mom who left because of those things, and a blaming mindset his entire life because he was under the impression that he was unlovable. It’s truly a tragedy, and Holly fleshed that out so well. All of the other characters as well were written well. It tended to remind me of watching Riverdale, and I’d never complain about that. The intertwined drama, the secrets that got uncovered, realizing that everyone has a bit of a dark side…it’s all so good.

Also a little side note: this was absolutely not a YA novel just because of the language alone. I was quite shocked by the amount of f words that were in it, so if that’s bothersome to anyone, you might not want to read it.

Overall, I was completely and fully entertained the whole way through, I read it in around 12 hours (during a work day), and I’ll be thinking about it and recommending it to all of the true crime lovers in my life.

Holly Jackson does it again! I’ve been an avid fan since A Good Girl's Guide to Murder and was beyond excited to be approved for this ARC.

Not Quite Dead Yet is a gripping, thrilling, and suspenseful novel about what you do when your time is running out and the only way to survive is to uncover the truth. Jet Mason, daughter of one of the wealthiest families in Woodstock, Vermont, has always believed she had time. “I’ll do it later,” she says. At 27, her life feels like it still hasn’t begun.
Until Halloween night, when she is violently attacked and left with a traumatic brain injury. Doctors tell her the injury will trigger a fatal aneurysm within a week. Jet never thought of herself as someone with enemies. But as her time slips away, she begins to question everyone around her—her powerful family, her ex-boyfriend, even her former best friend, now her sister-in-law. Everyone is hiding something. With only her loyal childhood friend Billy by her side, Jet is determined to spend her final days doing something she has never done before. She is going to solve her own murder.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book. It did not disappoint. Fast paced and full of tension, it was packed with action, twists, and emotional depth. Every chapter kept me hooked and I couldn’t stop turning the pages. Jet is a total badass and I loved watching her character grow. The only reason I am giving this 4 stars instead of 5 is that I was able to guess the killer based on the clues Holly Jackson planted. But honestly, that just shows how well crafted the mystery was.

A massive thank you to Holly Jackson, Random House Publishing Group, Bantam, and NetGalley for the advance reader copy in exchange for an honest review.

Be sure to grab a copy when it hits shelves on July 22, 2025.

Trigger warnings: murder, emotional distress, discussions of death, violent injury, drowning.

I really enjoyed this one! The whole concept of solving your own murder was such a fresh take. I also loved the entire cast of characters. Sometimes thrillers start to blend together for me, but this one felt so unique, and that made it way more fun to read. Definitely would recommend.

https://www.tiktok.com/t/ZTjpN2qDJ/

I feel guilty giving Holly Jackson less than a 5 star review but I explained why I did so in my GoodReads review. Unfortunately I cannot share without spoilers.

What I did love? Billy. I stayed for Billy. Sweet Billy who would do anything for Jet; I wish every book had a Billy.

My opinion would not dissuade me from reading another Holly Jackson book - she is an extremely talented writer!

Thank you to NetGalley and Random House Publishing group for this ARC in exchange for an honest review!

Holly Jackson definitely knows how to write a gripping thriller. Not Quite Dead Yet is a fast paced story filled with incredible twists. I enjoyed it a lot and you can easily read it in one sitting to find out what happens to the characters. I highly recommend it and can't wait to read more from her. Thanks to NetGalley and Random House Publishing Group - Ballantine for the ARC in exchange for my honest review.

Oof, buckle your seatbelts because you're in a for a bumpy ride! All I could do was hang on while Holly Jackson drove through the twist and turns of her latest novel, Not Quite Dead Yet. I wasn't prepared for how suspenseful and emotional this novel would be. The ending left me with a slight pain in my chest. Emotions? Anxiety? A mix of the the two? At the beginning of the novel, Jet, becomes seriously injured and is given a week to live. This novel delivers on what you might expect form a character that is only given a week to live; however, I did not expect the level of growth and reflection that I received from Jet. I was expecting a typical thriller; formulaic and lacking in character development. Holly Jackson did not give me a typical thriller. I was enthralled. I couldn't put the book down. I ignored all of my responsibilities to finish this book in one day. I can normally figure out where a book was going and I did have an inkling in the beginning, but it wasn't solidified until almost the end! I will be thinking about this book for a while.

Another great thriller from Holly Jackson!! This book was very fast paced and I was drawn in from start to finish. We follow Jet who is trying to solve her own murder and in the process uncovers many family secrets. The only feedback I have is that I wish we had one additional chapter at the end tying up some additional loose ends. However, I still had a really fun time reading this book. Thank you NetGalley and the publisher for the e-arc.

I often say that I don't read murder mysteries/thrillers because I can't handle how stressed they make me, but Holly Jackson's books will always be the exception. She hooked me with A Good Girl's Guide to Murder, and everything I've read by her since that has just gotten better and better. Not Quite Dead Yet is classified as her adult debut, but I think the only think that differentiates it from her YA work is the amount that her characters are allowed to use the F bomb. This book makes you face the question of what would you do if you knew you would be dead within the week? Our main character, Jet, decides that she'll solve her own murder.

In terms of plot, the twist of letting the main character solve her own murder combined with the added pressure of her looming death ensures that readers will be invested in every step of the story. I felt like I was trying to solve the mystery right alongside Jet and Billy. In terms of characters, Jet might just be one of my new favorite female characters of all time. She's smart, determined, funny, and badass. If you've read AGGTM and love Pip, you'll love Jet even more. Her counterpart (and literal partner in crime), Billy, was just as endearing to me. He was caring and hopeful and truly the bright spot in this otherwise dark and twisty story. I loved how unique this plot was. Holly Jackson is a wonderful storyteller and I hope other readers enjoy going on this journey with Jet and Billy just as much as I did. 4.5 stars.

Thank you to NetGalley for this ARC! Not Quite Dead Yet by Holly Jackson is a razor-sharp, fast-paced thriller packed with unexpected twists and dark humor. Jackson expertly blends mystery and mayhem as a seemingly ordinary teen finds herself entangled in a deadly game of survival. With her trademark wit and tension-filled plotting, this gripping read keeps you guessing until the final breath.

I loved Holly’s last release, The Reappearance of Rachel Price and I really enjoyed this one as well. Excited to see hopefully more adult fiction from her in the future. There wasn’t just one mystery, there were several. I’m glad there wasn’t a cop out at the end with some miracle cure taking place for Jet, even though she was a great FMC.