Not Quite Dead Yet by Holly Jackson: REVIEW

Synopsis

Jet Mason has 7 days to live, and she intends to spend every minute she has left tracking down the person who has murdered her.

My Review

After loving Five Survive and the Good Girl’s Guide to Murder installments I’ve read so far, Holly Jackson has become an auto-buy author for me. There’s something in her writing style that makes me feel like I’m in capable hands when I get lost in the twists and thrills of her books. She can find unique turns of phrase to express things that most writers would use a common phrase for, and that makes me excited to see how her writing progresses in the coming years.

Another reason I jumped on this one so quickly is that I kind of love the solve-your-own-murder trope. I’m not sure that Jet’s condition throughout this book makes total sense, but whatever, I’m willing to overlook it. Whenever I’ve seen this trope before, the murder weapon has been slow poison, so I appreciate the head-injury spin on it.

Speaking of which, can we take a moment to appreciate the above cover? The brain scan that, on closer inspection, is actually a house among trees? So clever!

What I loved

When I first started reading it, I thought this book was going to be predictable. I was prepared to forgive it for that, because I was enjoying Jackson’s writing. But the solving-her-own-murder setup allowed for some truly surprising moments. Jet isn’t interested in sending her murderer to prison – she wants them to go down while she’s still alive to see it. That leads her to take the kind of actions you’d think are stupid in any other mystery. In this mystery, they remind us that Jet has nothing left to lose. I really enjoyed the tension of never knowing what to expect from Jet.

I also really enjoyed the ending, which I can’t get into much for fear of spoilers. Let’s just say there was something I was afraid might happen at the end, but Jackson subverted and exceeded my expectations.

And, as I’ve come to expect from Jackson’s thrillers, there were plenty of twists and turns in the plot. Some I saw coming, some I didn’t. But I love that Jackson never settles for just one or two twists.

What I didn’t love

All this said, I didn’t quite have a 5-star experience with this one. There’s a main character whose characterization felt weak to me, and I wasn’t sure if it was intentional to throw us off a twist or just the YA-author habit of writing to a stereotype. I’m afraid it leaned towards the latter, though it improved as the story went along.

I also felt like there was an unnecessary amount of swearing. I read plenty of books with lots of swearing, but sometimes the way it’s used just feels gratuitous and immature. This was one of those times. But that might just be me.

Conclusion

All in all, this is a fun thriller with plenty of twists to keep those pages turning. Not among my favourites of Holly Jackson’s, but a good time nonetheless.

You can buy Not Quite Dead Yet here on Bookshop.org* or look for it wherever you buy books.
*As an affiliate, I’ll receive a small commission from any purchase made through this link.