Not Quite Dead Yet

'Not Quite Dead Yet' called to me partly because it's Holly Jackson's first explicitly non-YA book, partly because of the jaunty title and partly because of the premise: a woman who, left with seven days to live before an aneurysm incurred when she was attacked, kills her, decides to spend those days hunting her murderer. In a gruesome sort of way, it sounded fun.

I hadn't expected it to be such a powerfully emotional book. I'd thought that it would be plot/puzzle focused with a gimmick of 'See how clever I was to solve my own murder?' At first, that's what it seemed to be, but that was mostly a story the Jet was telling herself to keep her imminent death from feeling real.

There was a clever puzzle in the plot, with lots of secrets to show more uncover and suspects to investigate, but, for me, the most remarkable part of the book was watching Jet come to understand all that she was going to lose when she died. Murder victims often get marginalised in crime fiction. The focus moves, unsurprisingly perhaps, to the living: the investigators, the murderer and the survivors. Little time is spent on the loss the murdered person suffered. This book focuses on the murder victim.

At first, that focus is on the murder victim, Jet, as an amateur sleuth. In the few intense days she spends investigating her murder, she finally starts to embrace her life. She gets to see her family, her friends, her home town and, eventually, herself differently. She comes to understand how long she has been deferring living, waiting for her real life to begin.

What prevented this from being saccharine was that Jet wasn't a particularly nice person. She was clever, was often funny and was loved by some of the people around her. She was also unconscious of her own privilege, careless of the emotions of others and driven so much by a concept of what she thought her life ought to be that she paid little attention to what it actually was. Some of that is explained by the trauma of her older sister's unexpected death when Jet was a child. Some of it is just Jet being Jet.

Despite it jaunty title, 'Not Quite Dead Yet' is a deeply sad book, filled with tragedy, waste, guilt, selfishness and anger. It's not a story you can hold at arm's length.

Three things hits me the hardest: watching Jet understand too late the potential of the a relationship she's always kept in the friend zone, watching her lose trust in everyone around her as her pool of suspect s expands, and watching her frustration as her physical and mental state start to decline and her imminent death becomes real to her.

I recommend listening to the audiobook, narrated by Alex McKenna. She gives an extraordinary performance that matches the depth of emotions in the book. Click on the YouTube link below to hear a sample.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N2P0UPuaF60 show less

Holy crap Holly Jackson! That was a twisty mystery and I absolutely love the premise of solving your own murder while you are still alive. I was not expecting to cry that much in a thriller, but here we are.
Jet is badass, I love how she uses this week to live her life, try to solve her murder, and freak out as many people as possible by using dark, death humour. Billy is loyal, caring, helpful, and clearly madly in love with Jet and we are all wondering how she didn't see it before this week.

I was able to guess the bad guy before the reveal, but that did not keep me from enjoying this wild ride. There were so many intersecting stories that lead to the reveal and it was just fantastic.

I will definitely be reading more of Holly Jackson's show more work in the future. show less

Margaret "Jet" Mason is twenty-seven years old, living back home with her wealthy parents in Woodstock, Vermont, and thoroughly stuck. She dropped out of law school, quit her banking job, and her life motto has always been "I'll do it later." She has time. Until Halloween night when an unknown intruder attacks her and leaves her for dead. Her childhood friend Billy Finney hears the family dog going berserk and kicks down the door just in time. At the hospital the news is devastating: a piece of her skull has lodged itself in her brain, and a fatal aneurysm is now inevitable. She has roughly seven days. A risky operation might extend her life but could kill her immediately — she refuses it, opting for the certainty of at least a few show more more days. Jet, who never thought of herself as having enemies, suddenly looks at everyone differently — her family, her former best friend who is now her sister-in-law, her ex-boyfriend, her neighbours. With Billy — the only person willing to help her and the one who saved her life — she sets out to solve her own murder before she runs out of time. Holly Jackson's first adult novel, from the author of A Good Girl's Guide to Murder which is now a Netflix series.

[May contain spoilers]
Jet's family wealth is the root of everything — the corruption, the secrets, the motive. The Mason family money has been built on financial crimes and the pain of others, and multiple people in Jet's orbit had reasons to want her dead connected to that. Sophia — someone close to Jet's family — has been deliberately poisoning Scott (who has kidney disease) by targeting his diet, a deeply insidious long-game scheme. Jet dies before solving the full mystery, actually blaming Billy in a panic in her final moments — which is both heartbreaking and a genuinely gutting narrative choice. But Jet leaves letters, and after her death Billy confronts the real killer on her behalf. The final perspective switch to Billy after Jet's death is where readers report completely falling apart — she dies in his arms, finally surrounded by someone who genuinely loves her, which contrasts with her isolated attack at the start. A Hollywood ticking-clock mystery with real emotional devastation underneath. GMA Book Club pick.

What I think: This is propulsive, clever, genuinely funny in places, and emotionally devastating in others — Jackson's trademark voice works just as well for adults as for YA. The ticking clock structure is irresistible. Jet dying before solving it herself, and Billy having to finish it for her, is a bold choice that pays off beautifully. You'll probably cry.

The only reason I gave this a 3 star and not higher, is because it felt very YA to me. The main character felt very young and it drove me insane. However, the plot and storyline of this is so good and enjoyable, so I just went with middle of the road. If the main character had actually sounded 27, then this probably would've been a 4.5 from me. show less

Jet was attacked in her home leaving her with a cracked skull and a shard of bone pushed against an artery that will develop an aneurysm and be the cause of her death. The doctor gives her about a week to live. And live she does in that week. She decides to solve her own murder. With the help of Billy, her childhood best friend and a boy who has been in love with her for her whole life, she embarks on the investigation with the attitude that she won't face any consequences. In the process she discovers loads of family secrets and comes to a better understanding of herself. Some of the supporting characters are one dimensional, Jet's mom was particularly annoying.

I'll be honest, I didn't like Jet at first (maybe that was the author's intention?), but she really grew on me in the later chapters. She's flawed, fierce and just very human. The basis of her collecting evidence about her own murder was so unique, and watching her sort through it, trying to fit the pieces together, it was clever, dark and emotionally intense.

One thing that I really liked is how the story slowly reveals how everyone in Jet's life has secrets, like skeletons in the closet, they want to keep forever locked away. And well, Jet? She's digging them out and threading the story in a way that will keep you guessing while being on the edge of your seat the whole time.

The relationship between Jet and Billy was another one of my show more favourite aspects. This rekindled friendship felt incredibly real and brought warmth and growth to both Jet and Billy.

And the ending? It wrecked me. I so hoped it wouldn't turn out the way it did, and I still can't stop thinking about it. Jet's strength, her determination and how much love surrounded her in the end really stuck with me.

This is the first book I've read from Holly Jackson, but I have been eyeing her other books for a while, so I may need to start reading them soon!

Not Quite Dead Yet is a perfect read for those who enjoy emotional thrillers, with strong female leads, buried secrets and a story that slowly unravels with both tension and heart.

Thank you to NetGallery and the publisher for providing me with a digital copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own. I originally read and reviewed this book in German on NetGallery.de, but I wanted to share my thoughts here in English too. show less

This was such a fun thriller from Holly Jackson- not that I am surprised. All of her work has been so wonderful and fun! The premise of this book is especially unique. The main character, Jet, has been the unfortunate victim of a fatal beating, the only catch is that the crime did not kill her instantly, leaving her with time to solve her own murder. The characters are truly heart wrenching in the best way. They make decisions that actually make sense in the situations they are placed in and the twist was OUT OF THIS WORLD. She tied everything together so well, I really enjoyed the book!

I’m not quite sure how to react to this one, but I blasted through this at breakneck speed.

The concept is compelling:

A 27YO woman survives a near-fatal assaut only to learn that her reprieve from death will be short-lived. She’s given a week to live before a massive aneurism will kill her and she chooses to spend it solving her own murder.

It’s a wild premise—and/but it’s fiction and you have to be willing to suspend belief to enjoy the tension and stakes, of which there is plenty. There are no shortage of suspects, including her own family and none of the characters - including the main ones - are particularly likable. Some aren’t likable at all, a few are reprehensible.

There are plot twists aplenty and some very dark show more humor if you like that sort of thing. There are a few moments of love, beauty, friendship, and forgiveness, but this is not a feel-good story. It’s dark all the way through. There is resolution, but it’s not exactly a happy, Hallmark moment also, to say the least.

This is apparently Holly Johnson’s first foray into adult thrillers (vs YA) and it’s a twisty, dark ride. You might try this if you like Gillian Flynn or Chelsea Cain. Very different stories, but similarly a dark, twisted vibe. Cozy, this is not. show less