You have to suspend reality to get into this one and I just couldn’t. The main character is pretty insufferable as is her family. I just couldn’t.

7 days to solve your own murder. Interesting premise, This was supposed to be Holly Jackson’s first adult mystery/thriller. While I liked Jet’s sarcasm and tenacity to solve her own murder and the things she learned about herself along the way, I kept forgetting she was supposed to be 27 and not 17. Jet and Billy (her friend and investigating accomplice) just seemed immature. The plot twists were interesting, but I was able to figure them out. The big reveal of her murderer is wrapped up in the final chapter. I generally liked the book until the very last page.

Thank you to NetGalley for the ARC.

Thank you to NetGalley and Ballantine Books for this eARC. All thoughts are honest and my own.

This was my first Holly Jackson book. It took me a minute to actually sit down and read it but once I did I flew through this book, every page was a page turner. It’s very fast paced, the FMC only has a week left of living to solve her attempted murder.

It has twists that I didn’t really see coming, I was suspicious but I wasn’t 100% sure on them. It made me keep second guessing when something new would come up. I felt so many emotions for Jet and Billy during this, I really wish they had more time than they did so we could’ve seen their relationship grow. I definitely cried when she was writing the letters and still tearing up towards the end as well.

Overall, this was a great fast-paced, emotional thriller book and I would highly recommend it.

3.5 stars, rounded up - Thank you to Random House and Ballantine Books for the digital ARC!

Not Quite Dead Yet has one of the most original premises I’ve read in a while: on Halloween night, Jet suffers a traumatic head injury and is told she only has 7 days to live. With the clock ticking, she sets out to solve her own murder—and I was hooked from that line alone.

The story jumps right in with Jet’s accident and unravels as she and her childhood best friend, Billy, team up to uncover what really happened. It has strong Good Girl’s Guide to Murder vibes, but with even higher stakes. I loved the eerie, autumnal setting, the unexpected twists, and the emotional thread of Jet and Billy’s evolving friendship.

That said, one thing that held me back from rating this higher was the tone of the narration. Jet is 27, but much of her voice and behavior felt more like a teenager. I had to keep reminding myself that she was an adult, and it occasionally took me out of the story.

Still, this is a fresh and fast-paced mystery with a dash of spooky season flair, emotional weight, and just enough suspense to keep the pages turning. A solid read for fans of YA-leaning thrillers with heart and originality.

Not Quite Dead Yet by Holly Jackson was quite the story!
Jackson’s adult thriller debut was so exciting.
I literally couldn’t wait to dive into this one.
The characters and world were so well fleshed out and interesting.
The premise of this book was incredibly interesting and unique.
I enjoyed seeing this author's attempt on a new kind of story.
Which did not disappoint.
Holly Jackson proves once again she’s a master at suspense.

3.5 stars! I liked it but didn’t love it.

Interesting premise! Woman solves her own murder in a week. Discovers living while she’s dying. Discovers hidden family and town secrets along the way. Reconnects with her childhood best friend as they team up to solve her murder. I loved watching their dynamic unfold as they solved the murder together. Fast paced and enough to keep you guessing for a little while. I read it in a day and a half! Fun read overall although I was still sad by the end.

This one starts out intense, grabbing your attention immediately. Interesting concept of how to catch your own killer. It is a slow burn with very clever twists.
**Potential spoiler**
My only complaint is if she was truly that fragile from injury, she wouldn't be able to walk out of the hospital immediately or break up concrete, but yes I understand it is fiction.
I guess one more, what happened with Sophia and her poisoning the dad? I felt like it was just a distraction, and we never circled back to that. Is she going to be punished? Is the dad ok? Maybe I missed something..

A woman trying to solve her own murder? I’m not sure I could get more hooked than that! I’ve loved Holly Jackson’s young adult novels so I was thrilled to get an advanced copy of her debut adult thriller. This is hands down a favorite of the year!

Absolutely Brilliant – Holly Jackson’s Best Yet!
Not Quite Dead Yet was everything I hoped for and more. Holly Jackson delivers her sharpest, most addictive story yet. From the very first chapter, I was hooked. The pacing is perfect, the tension never lets up, and the twists had me gasping out loud.

Her characters are layered and smart, and the plot is so well-crafted—it kept me guessing the entire time. Jackson manages to blend dark themes, wit, and heart like no one else. This isn’t just a great YA thriller—this is a great thriller, period.

If you're a fan of A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder, this one takes it to a whole new level. Easily a 5-star read and a new favorite. Holly Jackson has officially outdone herself.

After Jet is viciously attacked on Halloween, she’s given a harrowing prognosis- she has 7 days to live until she’ll die, painfully, from a brain aneurysm. So what else is a girl to do in her last few days on Earth besides solve her own murder?

What a RIDE!!!! This was twisty, turny, and heartbreaking, and kept me guessing (wrongly) the whole time. I feel this was stronger than A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder, and not JUST because the dog lives this time.

A fabulous adult thriller debut! I have enjoyed Holly Jackson’s young adult novels but adult is where she truly shines! Highly recommend!

Holly Jackson the queen of murder mysteries. When someone attacks jet in her house she is given one week left to live. Jet decides to do one last thing and that is to solve her own murder. This book had the perfect twists you won’t see coming!

4.25

A summer thriller just always hits, and Holly Jackson always delivers! I really enjoy a suspenseful thriller over a horror thriller, and this is a modern day whodunnit that I loved. Also plays into a trope that I like where you already know what will happen in the end but really don’t want it to happen. Fast paced, thrilling, and twist and turns that kept me guessing. I enjoy Holly Jackson’s style of reveal, and was very satisfied with the ending. Loved it!

Thank you to NetGalley and Ballantine for an advanced reader copy in exchange for an honest review

4.5⭐️
ARC read
Pub date: 7/22/25

Oh this was such a page turner! Our main character, Jet, is attacked at the end of the first chapter and it just does not slow down from there. I couldn’t put this down! While I may not fully agree or understand how Jet chose to live what she was told would be the last week of her life, I can totally sympathize with her wanting the closure of finding out who “killed” her.

Holly Jackson’s first adult thriller is fast paced, twisty, engaging, funny, and also devastating. The only thing that really threw me off was that I totally forgot this was an adult novel until Jet mentioned her age, because she felt a bit immature to me. But I did enjoy her sass and snark throughout this story!

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an advanced digital copy to read and review!

Obsessed. Loved. Can Holly Jackson actually do anything wrong. This one hit and it hit hard. Holly Jackson is quickly becoming one of those writers for me that I will read everything she puts out, no matter what!

Oh WOW, what the hell did I just read?! This book is absolutely bonkers and so, so good! As crazy as the premise sounds—I can’t even imagine how the outline must have read!--it just works and that’s down to the author’s intelligence and skill. Ms. Jackson has written a book unlike any I’ve ever read and I absolutely devoured it!

So, what does a thoroughly insane, original plot like this need but a thoroughly amazing and unique heroine and wow, we have that in spades with Jet. She’s in a class by herself, brilliant and funny and so, so tragic. I fell completely in love with her, even knowing how it would end. (It’s in the book description, people.) I have to admit, I was really hoping for some kind of miracle, sue me. Maybe it wasn’t a happily ever after, but it was surely POETIC JUSTICE and I think that’s even better.

And Billy, Poor Sweet Billy. Swoon. What a perfect golden retriever partner-in-crime. He’s the sidekick of my dreams and I dare you to not fall helplessly in love with him. He brought it all home and the denouement was Absolute Perfection.

Mad props to you, Ms. Jackson. You laid it all out for us, step by step, the clues were there. We learned everything as Jet learned it. It was so damn clever and though my record with mystery thrillers is really good, I was totally shocked by the end. (Shocked, I tell you! Ha) Jet was a truly smart, wickedly sharp detective on an impossible deadline and the tension, the absolute URGENCY, was palpable. This novel is the textbook definition of unputdownable.

And special shout out to Jet’s dry-as-Death Valley, blackest black, totally hilarious gallows humor. Pitch perfect and chef’s kiss.

I recommend this book 100%.

Thanks to Random House Publishing Group - Ballantine | Bantam and NetGalley for the opportunity to read an ARC and offer my honest review.

This truly may be the easiest 5 start I've ever given. My first book from Holly Jackson and I'm an immediate fan!

I LOVED this main character. She's sassy, sarcastic, rundown, lost in life, snarky, dark humored, but loves and cares with her whole heart. I'm not sure I've ever connected so completely with a character. Seeing her process past and current traumas in such a level headed way was almost awe inspiring. She grew and developed as a person in such a short amount of time and I adopted every single second of her and Billy together. This book crushed me, and I love it for it.

I hated her Mom for everything she put Jet through and I loved but hated her dad for never taking a stand. I hated her "best" friend for her pure selfishness. I loved and hated and hated and loved her brother, for everything he did for himself and for Jet. And Billy. Poor Billy. I may have loved him most of all. May we all have a Billy in our life.

The twists and turns in this book were fantastic. Holly is a master of pointing you one way, but doing something else just off to the side. But in the end it makes sense. She's left just enough breadcrumbs that in the end you can piece it all together and if you'd just looked a little harder, seen a little more, you would've had the whole picture. This book was fantastic.

4/5 stars

Happy pub week to the latest from Holly Jackson! I think this might be my new favorite of hers. We meet Jet, who almost immediately suffers a brutal attack that lands her in the hospital with a severe head injury. While she survives the attack, she is only given a week to live before an aneurysm kills her. In that week, she decides to solve her own murder. I could not figure out who the culprit was until the very end, Jackson had me stumped. This was a good one, and I definitely recommend, especially if you like Holly Jackson, but even if you don’t!

Not Quite Dead Yet by Holly Jackson is a sharp, fast-paced thriller that blends dark humor with tense mystery, delivering a fresh and captivating entry into the crime genre. Known for her A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder series, Jackson again proves her skill in crafting narratives filled with twists and clever dialogue.

Margaret “Jet” Mason should be dead, but she’s not…yet. Halloween night, while eating a sugar cookie, Jet is attacked from behind. She’s hit three times in the head – two that knocked her down, one that should have finished her off. She survived, but the doctors say a deadly aneurism will soon develop. Now, she has seven days to figure out who murdered her. With no clues, except that the killer must know her, Jet works to solve the mystery. Could it be her brother Luke? Her sister-in-law Sophia? Her ex-boyfriend JJ?

Ultimately, Not Quite Dead Yet is a smart and emotionally engaging thriller that will satisfy both longtime fans of Holly Jackson and newcomers to her work. It's a bold, cinematic story that cements Jackson’s reputation as one of the most exciting voices in contemporary thrillers, and was one book I couldn’t put down.

Thank you #NetGalley for the ARC!

It’s always a little nerve-wracking to read a YA author’s first adult novel, but I’m happy to report that this is Holly Jackson’s best work yet. Following Jet, a young woman who is given a week to live after a serious head injury, this one is full of suspense, heart, and emotion. The premise itself sets the reader up for heartbreak, but Holly Jackson still manages to include twists and turns and humor. The standout character is for sure Jet’s best friend, Billy, who is maybe in love with her. He assists her in solving her own murder, and uncovering secrets about both their families. I saw the big reveal coming, but this is the kind of mystery that packs in several little twists. It’s never too much. The mystery, and emotional journey of an MC who’s about to die are balanced perfectly. I can’t recommend this enough and think it’ll be such a crowd pleaser.