Common Sense Media Review
By Lucinda Dyer
,
based on child development research. How do we rate?
Woman solves her own murder in twisty clue-filled mystery.
Parents Need to Know
Why Age 14+?
Any Positive Content?
Where to Read
What's the Story?
NOT QUITE DEAD YET begins during a Halloween festival in Woodstock, Vermont. It may be a time to celebrate for everyone else, but for Jet Mason it's just a reminder that at 27, she's found herself back home living with her parents. After dropping out of a prestigious law school and then leaving her job at a bank, Jet has no real idea how she's going to move forward in her life. Returning home early from the festival, she's brutally attacked by an unknown intruder and only survives because her friend Billy Finney hears the family dog wildly barking and kicks the front door in. At the hospital, she's told that while she's survived the attack, it's left a tiny bone fragment leaning against a major artery to her brain. There's a surgery that could correct it, but her chances of survival are only 10%. Without the surgery, she'll be dead within seven days. Jet decides to spend the time she has left trying to finally "do something great": solve her own murder. Needing distance from her family (her mother continues to be adamant she have the surgery), Jet moves in with Billy, and together they start looking for clues and answers. Who left a door unlocked at the house that night? Why did her ex-boyfriend send her a text right after the attack that said "Sorry"? What did the location of her stolen iPhone tell them about the killer? And who was wearing a red clown wig at the festival? Jet and Billy uncover a long list of suspects, from ex-boyfriend JJ to her own brother and sister-in-law, but it will be a long-buried secret that finally reveals the killer and a shocking motive.
Is It Any Good?
Author Holly Jackson gives her signature combination of intrepid female detective and twisty mystery a seemingly implausible spin that's both believable and inspiring. Jet's character in Not Quite Dead Yet may be a young woman in her late 20s, but the challenges and decisions she faces will likely resonate with teen readers too. Experiences like setting a goal for yourself, not achieving it, and having to start again. Or being uncertain about the next steps in your life. Perhaps even realizing that someone you'd never had a romantic interest in might actually be "the one." In any case, young adults, especially fans of the author, will find a lot here to like, and the relative lack of graphic violence and sex means it's fine to share this thriller with them.
Talk to Your Kids About ...
Families can talk about the decision Jet made in Not Quite Dead Yet to refuse surgery. What choice would you have made?
How important was technology in solving Jet's murder? Do you think she could have found the killer without it?
What makes for a great mystery: Is it a long list of suspects who could be the killer, or lots of baffling clues?
Book Details
- Author :
- Genre : Mystery
- Character Strengths : Perseverance
- Book type : Fiction
- Publisher : Bantam Books
- Publication date : July 22, 2025
- Publisher's recommended age(s) : 14 - 18
- Number of pages : 400
- Available on : Paperback, Audiobook (unabridged), Hardback, Apple Books, Kindle
- Last updated : August 27, 2025
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