Holly Jackson has done it again! When it was announced that she would be releasing her debut adult novel this year, I was really intrigued to see how she would transpose her writing from a young adult audience to an older one. Not Quite Dead Yet is a fantastic novel - retaining Jackson’s trademark intricate plotting with a lot of humor, but dialing up the tension with the addition of a very deadly ticking clock. After Jet is savagely attacked on Halloween by an unseen assailant, she is told that due to the severity of her brain injuries she will die from a ruptured brain aneurysm within a week. So Jet does what any self-respecting twenty-seven year old would do in the face of such news - sets out to solve her own murder with the help of her childhood friend, Billy. The time limit is such a excellent extra element, as it feels like Jet is much more warranted in doing all the (slightly illegal) things we’ve come to expect from an amateur sleuth in her desperation to find out who killed her. She is scrappy and realistic with a streak of dark humour in light of her awful situation, which is balanced out nicely by Billy being the sweetest human being to ever exist in fiction. While I did figure out the killer’s identity before the on-page reveal I didn’t have their motivation worked out, so putting those puzzle pieces together still gave me enough of a thrill to make up for it. I would heartily recommend Not Quite Dead Yet to fans of domestic small-town murder mysteries, and also to fellow adult fans of Holly Jackson’s YA writing! I received an advance copy of this book from the publisher.

There are few authors in this world able to inspire such anticipatory excitement within me than Holly Jackson, and I consider it no less than a privilege to be able to read her adult debut so early. Not Quite Dead Yet follows Margaret “Jet” Mason during the last week of her life. For twenty-seven years she has lived believing that she’s never accomplished anything notable in her life – a childhood spelling bee win aside – but that’s fine, because she’ll get to it later. In fact, that’s when she’ll do everything. She’ll tidy up the fair later. She’ll put away the laundry later. After all, she has all the time in the world, right? Wrong. After a brutal murder attempt on Halloween leaves Jet in hospital, she receives the news that a fragment of her skull has wiggled into her brain and is pressed against an artery. In one week, maybe even less, the artery will burst, and she will die. And so with the knowledge that she has, in some strange way, been murdered and yet is currently alive to see her killer brought to justice, she decides that this will be her big success. Jet is going to solve her own murder. The mystery that unfolds is as twisty and brilliant as her other five novels. Set in a small American town where everybody knows everybody, her investigation soon grows muddy as it becomes clear that there is more than one mystery at play here, and secrets that people are willing to kill for to keep hidden. There’s an air of intense desperation throughout the book and within Jet’s character. By knowing the worst has already happened to her, she has little left to fear and the law is the least of her problems as she makes increasingly dangerous decisions when tracking down her killer. The result is a pacy, unputdownable narrative that I sped through within twenty-four hours, dying to know the end. Holly has an excellent eye for action and tension, using short, sharp sentences to hammer it across. An element I really enjoyed about Jet’s character in relation to her awareness of her impending death was the reoccurring discussion of what it means to be alive; the idea of waiting for life to begin and the smaller joys you miss by doing so, can a life still be considered lived without any achievements to show for it? (yes.) These themes were the most noticeable difference between Holly’s YA books and this adult debut to me as it plays a large part in Jet’s sense of identity, and her characters have always leapt off the page with their humanity and depth. However, I did feel that Jet often read younger than she was and occasionally came across as immature. If her age was never explicitly stated on page, she could easily be mistaken as younger than she is. I also really enjoyed the romance in the novel. The pair here is Holly’s strongest since Pip and Ravi (they don’t quite compare but, then again, nobody could), made all the better by the guaranteed heartbreak that was to come. Doomed, but lovely. My favourite! Overall, I massively enjoyed the book. Despite being her adult debut, I still think this is perfectly suitable for her YA readers, as the largest differences between the two genres were the characters personal struggles and some excessive swearing. Thank you Penguin for the early copy!

Where to start with this book. Unbelievable. Holly Jackson is quite literally allergic to happy endings. This book has been one of my most anticipated reads and now i am finished, all I want to do is re read even though this book has emotionally destroyed me. I have never cried this much over a book. ****SPOILERS AHEAD**** Honorable mention: Nadia - what a character the whole cat in the town meeting. Felt awful reading how losing Emily, losing her house, losing her mum to a disease and finally being fired from her job by Dianne, my heart broke to find out she committed suicide Sophia: I could tell from the beginning of this book that I was not going to like the character of Sophia and after reading I would love to kill her myself. The way she treats Jet throughout the novel is disgusting but the pills. I could not believe it. I thought at first there's no way she's actually the killer, there is still a massive chunk left but I said that during As Good As Dead (another gut-wrenching read by the wonderful Miss Jackson). The whole placing salt inside the capsules my stomach actually turned, I felt sick. That woman was evil doing that. Emily: All throughout the first half of the book, Jet's older sister Emily seemed to haunt the narrative. Her death seemed to be a mystery even though it was a confirmed accident. My mouth was wide open after Billy confronted his dad at the end of the book (that whole dialogue destroyed me). Luke: I had such a love hate relationship with Luke. The whole tax fraud and accident with Henry made me hate him. When we found out about the affair my mouth was wide open. I hated him when he set Mason's Construction a light KNOWING HIS SISTER WAS INSIDE. But the end where he shoots his dad (Jack) my heart bled for him because after discovering what his biological dad did to Jet, it showed how much he actually cared about Jet even if it wasn't massively clear within the book. Billy: What a man. My heart broke finding out he had discovered Jet. He never got to tell her who the song was about. How when Jet did die of the aneurysm, he held her and let her believe he was the killer because he was the one who had the set that contained the hammer. Jet died thinking it was him. The whole confrontation scene with his dad. I felt so betrayed by Jack because he seemed to care so much about Jet. He decided to put down the gun because he didn't want to be a killer, he wanted to live for her. Jet: Icon. Solving her own murder. Favorite character wrote by Holly Jackson. Such a sarcastic icon.

Holly Jackson has the undeniable talent to turn everything she touches into gold!!! This being her first adult crime novel is no different. I was addicted from the first page with such an interesting premise, I was totally hooked!! Jet is attacked in her own home after returning from their towns fair when someone attacks her from behind. Due to a combination of her underlying health problems with her kidneys and the brain injuries from the attack, she is expected to have an fatal brain aneurythm within the week. She decides that instead of operating, with only a 20% survival risk, she is going to spend her last week alive solving her own murder. Her characters were so complex and well written that I laughed and cried along with Jet. It had a fast pacing to go along with jet's count down making it even more addictive than jackson's writing usually is. I hope this new audience to her adult work will try her other stand alones along with the AGGGTM series because you will definitely love them if you enjoyed this one!!!

Holly Jackson takes us on yet another heart-wrenching journey with twists, turns and suspense galore! I had a fantastic time reading this book and it left me in an absolutely massive book hangover. She just has such a unique style that makes me crave it in any other books I pick up. If you're looking for a suspenseful mystery that unfolds at a rapid pace as the book goes alone or if you're already a fan of Holly Jackson's books - what are you waiting for? I can't wait for whatever she writes next!