“Not Quite Dead Yet” is Holly Jackson’s (“A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder,” and “Five Survive.”) newest mystery thriller novel and a fresh look for the author. While “Not Quite Dead Yet” keeps the magic that makes her novels so easy to dive into—to the point where one begins to feel stressed with the characters—the new perspective and mature feel definitely make a difference.
The story introduces us to Margaret “Jet” Mason, a 27-year-old law school dropout who is attacked when she returns home after a Halloween party and dies when struck several times to the back of the head. Well … not quite. She survives the attack and is given the choice to undergo surgery with a 10% chance of survival, or live for the week, knowing at some point she will have a brain aneurysm. She decides to not do the surgery and uses her last week to find her killer, assisted by her old friend, Billy Finney.
One important point to note about this novel is how much more mature it is in comparison to Holly Jackson’s other works, as this is her first adult novel. No longer are the protagonists worried about applying to colleges or high school interactions; instead, we witness the beginnings of a quarter-life crisis. Jet grapples with the question of how she has spent her life thus far and is confident and cynical as she navigates the world around her. This is a much different perspective, and it’s a refreshing one. The amount of dark humor used as a coping mechanism throughout the investigation terrifies both the reader and those Jet interacts with, but we see how this conceals a deeper fear of how easily days and hours can go by when life has a deadline.
Just like Jet, we see many other characters with equally complex lives. They are realistic, not just caricatures restricted to the role of supporting our protagonist. Billy Finney is a musician, still gaining confidence with his talent and writing his own songs to perform at the bar he works at, some of them for Jet even if she doesn’t realize it. Mr. Mason suffers from polycystic kidney disease (which gets passed down to Jet and contributes to her brain aneurysm) and has his own set of values which add to the complexity of the murder. Mrs. Mason grapples with the preemptive grief of losing Jet, remembering the pain of losing her eldest daughter Emily 17 years prior to the events of the story. This turns her into a “mama bear” who pushes Jet away. We meet Luke, Jet’s older brother, who strives to grow within his father’s company and inherit it one day. It’s easy to become invested in their fates and their lives, constantly shifting the blame and forming more theories as the story develops.
It’s clear this is a story of twists and turns, and we can never be sure that the conclusions we are forming are actually true. We stay captivated with Jet as we uncover more and more secrets, but nothing connects until the very end. This is both a blessing and a curse. Though we remain invested until the conclusion (the action never ends!) the ending feels packed and a little overwhelming. Though the pacing made sense for the plot, some questions remain unanswered due to the conclusions of various other plotlines at the end. How much mystery is too much mystery?
At the same time, I loved how much the book touched on themes of grief. There’s a sense of fear that comes with knowing one is going to die soon, so Jet’s choice to die on her own terms—not on a surgery table—is a difficult choice to make. With a week’s deadline, Jet is forced to come to terms with the death she narrowly avoided once while trying to make something of the time she has left. We are presented with her point of view as she slowly deteriorates, from struggling for words to losing vision and feeling in her arm. She grieves the life she could have lived while trying to make some use of the time she has left. Jet didn’t see her assailant, so she is just as blind as the reader as to who could have attacked her. The reader learns with her, following each lead and hitting each dead end.
Did Jet find her killer in time? Why was she a target? This is a journey worth following, with plenty of twists and turns to stay invested. While we the readers don’t only have a week to read this book, this is a read that should most definitely be added to the queue.