[Review] Not Quite Dead Yet - Holly Jackson

Summary: 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. (Pub Date: Jul 22 2025)

Jet is attacked in her home but from behind. Even though she survives the head injury, she can't tell who attacked her, an attack that will cost her life as it caused an aneurysm, giving her only a week to find out who killed her. 

This isn't a bad book, but I recommend you read this as if it were YA. The main character has the same energy as a teenager, and common sense isn't so present (how does she have brain surgery and then she's free to walk around as she wants? Doesn't a complex surgery like that take its toll on your body? Among other cases). It's a fun story, but the recurrent jokes about death made me too impatient to enjoy it so much. At least it's not the angsty YA type of YA-like novel. The pacing is also good, we don't get stuck in one single problem. This does get in the way because of the number of characters, so for a few reveals I had to go back and find out which character they were talking about. Unfortunately, the answers to the mysteries it raises are predictable to a point it made me anxious that they wouldn't get to it sooner.

This was my first Holly Jackson, and despite the issues above, the moment I realized a lot of it was due to it being basically a YA with an adult for main character, I could enjoy it more. It's a quick and light read, despite the theme and so many sad happenings. I can't say I liked the ending, but it was fitting of how it was going, so it wasn't a surprise. I may read more books by this author in the future, but not the ones for adults.

Honest review based on an ARC provided by Netgalley. Many thanks to the publisher for this opportunity.

Rating: 3 out of 5.