Review: Not Quite Dead Yet by Holly Jackson

In seven days Jet Mason will be dead.

Jet is the daughter of one of the wealthiest families in Woodstock, Vermont. Twenty-seven years old, she’s still waiting for her life to begin. I’ll do it later, she always says. She has time.

Until Halloween night, when Jet is violently attacked by an unseen intruder.

She suffers a catastrophic head injury. The doctor is certain that within a week, the injury will trigger a deadly aneurysm.

Jet has never thought of herself as having enemies. But now she looks at everyone in a new light: her family, her former best friend turned sister-in-law, her ex-boyfriend.

She has at most seven days, and as her condition deteriorates she has only her childhood friend Billy for help. But nevertheless, she’s absolutely determined to finally finish something:

Jet is going to solve her own murder.

• Title: Not Quite Dead Yet
• Author:  Holly Jackson
• Publisher: Bantam
• Publication Date: July 22, 2025
• Genre: Mystery, thriller 
• Source: Digital ARC via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review
• Targeted Age Range: Adult
• Content Warnings: death, murder, poisoning, blood, blackmail, gun violence, physical violence, fire, arson
• Rating: ★★★★★

Holly Jackson is without a doubt my favorite mystery/thriller writer in the YA space, so i was beyond excited for her first adult thriller, and she did not disappoint! I would’ve read Not Quite Dead Yet no matter what, but I love the concept behind this book. A woman has 7 days to solve her own murder? Absolutely brilliant, sign me up. Personally, I love mystery/thrillers that have a time deadline; it automatically makes the stakes higher, so right from the beginning everything is heightened. 

The pacing was impeccable. I read another mystery/thriller right before this that had really slow pacing, and the difference between the two was astonishing. Once I started reading I could not put it down, I just kept turning the page. Something I love about Jackson’s writing is that she gets to the point. Listen, I love long books and character studies and books that are just kind of slice-of-life moments, but I don’t want that in a mystery/thriller. In a mystery/thriller I just want the details that are relevant to the story and I think Jackson does a great job of writing her characters in a way that is easy to connect to, and gives you insight into who they are without bogging down the story with unnecessary details. 

I was so invested in this mystery. There were moments where I had to cover my screen with my hand so that I wouldn’t read ahead and spoil myself 🤣I just had to know what was going to happen! Towards the end of the book as the pieces were starting to come together, I could feel my pulse quickening because I was so anxious. Jackson is one of the few mystery/thriller authors that I react to this way, and I love it every single time. In my opinion, Jackson does plot twists better than anyone. She does a great job of leading the reader without hitting you in the face with the plot twist, she wants you to figure it out, but you’ve gotta put in the work! There were a few plot twists that I figured out, but I’m gonna be so honest with you, with a Holly Jackson book, I just guess the most wild and out there thing that I can think of and I’ll most likely be somewhere close to the truth because her brain is wild (affectionate). I loved the plot twists in this one, and there was one that I was just on the periphery of, but man oh man was the reveal worth it!

I thought that Holly Jackson’s adult debut was an absolute success! I loved these characters and this story. Not Quite Dead Yet made me laugh and cry, and was just such an enjoyable mystery/thriller. Whether you’ve read Jackson’s previous novels or not, if you’re a fan of the mystery/thriller genre, you need to pick this one up!

Links for Not Quite Dead Yet: Goodreads | TheStoryGraph | Bookshop