If there were two core tenets of my personality, they would be: 1) In bed by 10:30 p.m. and 2) classic literature. However, I do have a weak spot for murder mysteries. Agatha Christie? I'm there. Reese Witherspoon and Harlan Coben dropping a dizzying thriller? Goodbye, outside weekend plans. So when I got my hands on Holly Jackson's new adult mystery novel, Not Quite Dead Yet, I wasn't surprised that I cracked the book open midday and then turned the last page at 2 a.m.
I Stayed Up Until 2 A.M. to Binge This Twisty Thriller
From the author of "A Good Girl's Guide to Murder"
•
Published Feb 19, 2026
PureWow editors select every item that appears on this page, and some items may be gifted to us. Additionally, PureWow may earn compensation through affiliate links within the story. All prices are accurate upon date of publish. You can learn more about the affiliate process here.
Bantam
Jackson is best known for her YA series, A Good Girl's Guide to Murder, which hit Netflix in 2024. Following the publication of The Reappearance of Rachel Price under Random House Children's Books that same year, Not Quite Dead Yet is the author's foray into adult fiction, and the premise instantly intriguing.
Jet Mason is 27 years old. Her biggest accomplishment in life is the habit of never finishing anything. She's the younger daughter of her small town's wealthiest family, and she's recently quit law school to move back in with her parents while contemplating a new business idea that will probably go nowhere.
On Halloween night, her parents host their construction company's annual carnival, disguised as a community fundraiser but in actuality a cold PR stunt to mask the fact that they're literally bulldozing the town to make way for McMansions. Tensions between Jet and her mom are high, the death of Jet's older sister years prior still hanging between them. Her brother is as condescending as ever. Meanwhile, Jet has a run-in with her ex-boyfriend, whose proposal she had rejected months earlier. When she finally makes it home, away from the chaos and the conflict, she is violently bludgeoned. Waking up in the hospital, Jet learns that she's not quite dead...yet. Doctors predict that within a week, the injury will induce a fatal aneurysm. So with seven days left, Jet decides she must finish something—and that something is solving her own murder.
The first thing that struck me is that Jet is not a sympathetic character. She's brash, rude, entitled, a little whiny...and as someone with great executive function, I could barely stand the fact that she was a serial quitter. And yet, Jackson still managed to give her some redeeming qualities while exploring the complicated and manipulative relationship with Jet's mom, the weird and controlling vibes emanating off her brother and sister-in-law and the way Jet's childhood friend, Billy, comes stumbling back into her life. Against this backdrop, Jet is fighting to wrest control of her final days, despite others having an opinion on what she should be doing. And in that, Jackson asks an important question: Can one still redeem a life cut short? Can living well in a week compensate for a squandered lifetime?
If the crazy ticking time bomb doesn't reel you in, then perhaps the family drama and sinister red herrings will. Jackson kept me guessing until the end—and even up to the last chapter, I was still wrong. Completely worth a week of messed-up sleep, if you ask me.
