SEPTEMBER 26, 2025 | ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT | By Lauren Larson (Guest Writer)
What would you do if you only had a week to live? Would you check off a wild bucket list item and live it up right before the end? Would you go home and spend a quiet week with your family, making sure to say goodbye and leave nothing unsaid? Or would you drown your sorrows and give up as the end draws nearer and nearer with no hope of survival? In Holly Jackson’s newest book, “Not Quite Dead Yet,” the protagonist Jet chooses another option: solving her own murder before she dies.
“Not Quite Dead Yet” follows Margaret “Jet” Mason after a brutal assault leaves her with only seven days to live before her head trauma triggers a deadly brain aneurysm. Alongside her childhood friend Billy and against the wishes of both the police and her family, Jet investigates her own murder and finds herself in the center of an intricate web of family secrets that make everyone around her a suspect as death looms nearer.
Jackson, who has written several best-sellers from the “A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder” trilogy to “The Mysterious Reappearance of Rachel Price,” is known for her young adult murder mysteries that are full of riveting characters and shocking plot twists. I have read and loved every book by her, so I was thrilled when I received “Not Quite Dead Yet” as a gift from my equally Holly Jackson-obsessed sister. “Not Quite Dead Yet” stands apart from the rest of Jackson’s books as her first adult novel. While this is a shift from her usual Young Adult genre, I didn’t notice a difference in the quality of writing or complexity of the plot. The only major difference I noticed between this book and Jackson’s previous ones was how the violence was more graphic and the characters swear significantly more.
This book was incredibly gripping and suspenseful. Jackson pulls her reader straight into the complicated family dynamics of the wealthy Mason family, which include her controlling mother, jerk brother who married Jet’s ex-best friend, her father, who owns a lucrative construction business and the memory of a long-dead sister. Jet herself is a compelling protagonist who is full of bitter sarcasm and spite.
While not my favorite Jackson book, that title will forever belong to “A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder,” her debut novel, I couldn’t put “Not Quite Dead Yet” down. It’s fast-paced and thrilling. I often found myself gasping and sitting straight up while reading due to some astonishing revelation or plot twist.
However, what makes this novel fall short of Jackson’s most iconic works is the anticlimactic conclusion after the series of deeply intriguing twists and turns that comprise the rest of the novel. Additionally, there are several character dynamics and revelations that are never fully explored, such as the relationship between Jet and her ex-best friend. There was so much complexity and resentment that was set up to be explored and only to never be fully resolved. Of course, the plot, and Jet for that matter, are on an incredibly tight deadline and it is realistic to have unresolved tensions with a premise that can only end with a dead main character. Still, “Not Quite Dead Yet” introduces us to enticing relationships, characters and plots and then struggles to wrap them up in a way that is satisfying.
Jackson is a master of the thriller murder mystery and she delivers once again with “Not Quite Dead Yet.” Despite this novel’s shortcomings, I would recommend it to any fan of Holly Jackson or murder mysteries who wants to be enthralled by a suspenseful story.