Not Quite Dead Yet by Holly Jackson ~ Book Review

Hello Everyone 👋🏻

This is a short book review. The book I’ve read this week is Not Quite Dead Yet by author Holly Jackson. It was published by Penguin Michael Joseph as a hardback in the UK on the 17th of July, 2025. This is the sixth book for Holly Jackson. Her previous books, including one mentioned on the cover, A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder, were focused on the young adult sector. This one is definitely for adults.

Book Info

Name	Not Quite Dead Yet
Writer	Holly Jackson
Genre	Mystery, Thriller
Release Date	2025

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Book Story

The central character is called Jet, real name Margaret. Jet Mason, 27, is currently living at home in Woodstock, Vermont with her parents, Scott and Diane. They are one of the wealthier families in Woodstock, Vermont. Her father, Scott, has had a company called Mason Construction for many years. They’ve gone from originally just a construction company to working on property development. They’ve taken old houses and built them into mega posh houses, so they’ve made a lot of money.

Jet’s brother, Luke, doesn’t live with them anymore. He’s married to Jet’s childhood friend from school, Sophia. Luke is basically looking forward to his father’s retirement so he can take over Mason Construction. That’s the setting where the story starts.

The story kicks off with Jet going to a Halloween event. The whole town of Woodstock is attending. Everybody’s dressed up, and kids are doing trick or treat. Jet sees a few people she knows. She’s got a bit of a wicked sense of humour. She’s not always well, as she has a condition called PKD, polycystic kidney disease, which you have a 50/50 chance of getting from your parents. Her dad, Scott, has it. Jet has it. Brother Luke was lucky; he hasn’t got it. But it makes her unwell.

Jet has had a bit of a checkered career so far. She’s tried going to further education but had to quit because it was too much, and she wasn’t well. She’s tried working in Boston in a legal firm. That didn’t work out well either because of stress and PKD. So, it’s always, “I’ll do some tomorrow. I’ll do it later.” She’s returned home and is perhaps a little bit sorry for herself when she attends the Halloween event. She’s got a wicked sense of humour and is a bit sarcastic, so she’s a lively personality.

At the event, she sees a former ex, doesn’t want to talk to him, and decides it’s time to go home. She gets met by their dog, Reggie, whom she adores. The next thing she knows, she’s getting battered on the back of the head. Jet is brutally attacked in her own home after returning from the Halloween event.

She wakes up in hospital, clearly not well. She’s got massive bandages around her skull. She’s been attacked, hammered on the back of the skull. She sees her family sitting around her bedside and gradually comes to. She’s thinking, “Hang on, this lot looks a bit gloomy, but it looks like I’m all right, even though my head feels as though someone’s put something rather heavy towards it.”

She sees the doctor, Dr. Lee, who is looking not that happy. Jet’s thinking, “What’s going on here?” Dr. Lee explains that her skull has been fractured where someone attacked her. They’ve managed to remove a massive blood clot by draining the blood and patch her up with mesh and metal so she could survive the attack. But Jet can feel there’s a “but” coming here.

Dr. Lee says there’s a small piece of bone, called the clever bone, that’s fractured and working its way loose. The problem is that because she’s got PKD, her artery walls are thin. Dr. Lee says, “I’m afraid there’s some bad news. We can operate to try and remove this piece of floating bone, but frankly, there’s only about a 10% chance of that working. Or we can just let it go, and it will eventually become an aneurysm, and you will die. Basically, you’ve got 7 days to live.”

Jet is thinking, “Well, the chances aren’t good. So, basically, I’ve got a 90% chance of dying in surgery, or I’ve got seven days to live.” Her mother, Diane, had a younger daughter, Emily, who died in a tragic swimming pool accident. So, her mother is saying, “Oh, you must have the surgery. You must have the surgery.” Her dad, Scott, is saying, “Well, it’s up to you, Jet.” Jet’s thinking, “They’re all around me. They want me to have the surgery, but it’s up to me. For once, I’m going to find out who murdered me.”

As the strapline on the front of the book says, the hardest murder to solve is your own. Jet decides she’s not going to have the surgery and will use the seven days she’s got left to live to find the murderer.

Jet enlists the help of her childhood friend, Billy. Billy’s working at a bar. He’s a budding musician, but he and Jet were best friends when they were very young. They used to go cycling together until they got to a slightly older school where Jet met Sophia, and they became besties. But Billy is still clearly smitten by Jet and offers to help.

This is the tale of Jet, who’s only got seven days to live, going through the clues while the police are saying, “Oh, well, obviously we’ll investigate this.” She’s trying to find out what’s going on. It’s a small town, and, as is common for many thrillers, there are people who aren’t what they seem. There are lots of people with secrets. There are lots of things going on that Jet finds out along the way, not always via legal means. She says to Billy at one point, “I’m really sorry about this.” And he’s going, “This is the most fun I’ve had for ages.”

It’s a really fast-moving book because Jet is on a timeline. She’s got seven days to find out who murdered her. It’s full of action and humour. There’s lots of humour from Jet’s somewhat sarcastic, sly humour at times, but you get engaged with her character, and you’re rooting for her.

Does she succeed in finding the murderer? Well, you’ll have to read the book to find that out. I saw a review on Amazon of this book that said Holly Jackson dials it up to 11, and I couldn’t agree more because there’s no fluff in this book. It’s full-on Jet trying to find out who murdered her against the deadline, and it’s full of action.

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Final Verdict

In the acknowledgements at the end of the book, the author starts off by saying, “…and breathe,” because it’s that sort of a thriller, well and truly dialed up to 11. I really enjoyed it. It’s a fairly unique premise of someone having to solve their own murder. There are lots of twists and turns, and it’s well done. You empathize with the characters. The characters are well-drawn.

It’s a really, really good read. The story itself is 425 pages. I thoroughly recommend this book. Go out and get it from your local bookshop.

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