I Finished Not Quite Dead Yet And I Was Not Ready To Cry

I finished Not Quite Dead Yet - Target Exclusive Edition - by Holly Jackson at 12:14 AM in bed. Lamp on. I was waiting 40 minutes for my girlfriend to get out of the bathroom and I just kept reading. Look, I'll be straight with you. I bought Not Quite Dead Yet - Target Exclusive Edition - by Holly Jackson because my sister made me. She said "you like thrillers, read this". I'm the guy who read A Good Girl's Guide to Murder thinking it was a teen book. I was wrong. This one is different.

Why this book hits different than AGGGTM

If you expect Pip Fitz-Amobi 2.0, forget it. Not Quite Dead Yet - Target Exclusive Edition - by Holly Jackson is a different animal. Pip was smart and had a podcast. Jet is tired. She is 27 and feels like a failure. She makes bad jokes while dying. You know? That kind of humor when you are scared. I know that feeling.

People keep asking in the comments: Do I need to read her other books first? No. This is stand alone. You can jump in cold. No connection to AGGGTM.

Other question I see a lot: Is the Target edition worth the extra $5? Man, to be honest, yes. Mine came with red sprayed edges, not the normal white ones, and an extra letter from Jet to Billy that you don't get in the normal edition or Kindle. It's only two pages but it's the letter that made me close the book and stare at the ceiling for ten minutes. If you collect Holly Jackson or you like having something special on your shelf, get the Target one. The regular hardcover is fine but this one feels personal.

The biggest doubt I saw online: Is it just a thriller or is it sad? Girl, it's sad. It's marketed as thriller with the blue brain cover but half of the TikToks I saw were "I cried for dayssss". The thriller part is there. The twists are good, especially the one about who was at the party. But the letters at the end. Jet writes letters to people she loves because she knows she will die. That is what wrecks you. Holly even writes "Sorry. I know that was intense." in the acknowledgements. She apologized because she knew what she did to us.

My unpopular take: Billy is better than Jet

People will hate me in the comments for this. But here it goes.

Billy is the best character in this book. Better than Jet. There, I said it.

Jet is annoying in the beginning. Spoiled. 27, living with her parents, complaining about everything, making the same mistake. I was like "man, come on, grow up". But then I got it. She has to be annoying. Because she's dying the way she lived: putting everything off. "I'll do it later", she always says. Her parents have their doubts. That line from the back cover is true.

Billy is the opposite. He is the guy every man wishes he was when his best friend is dying. He doesn't give speeches. He just stays. He drives, he takes notes, he holds it together, he remembers their childhood treehouse. Without Billy this book falls apart. He carries the emotional part. When everyone was saying Jet is annoying, I was like focus on Billy. He is the reason I finished it.

And I need to say this. The middle part is too slow. Page 150 to 250 drags a lot. You have to take notes. If you skim you will get lost because there are many names, many suspects from that Halloween night. Some people loved that slow burn. I wanted more pace. The first 100 pages fly, last 100 pages you cannot put down. Middle? I read it standing in my kitchen trying to stay awake.

Scorecard:

Plot: 8/10 - The idea of solving your own murder in 7 days is brilliant. I guessed half of who did it but not why. The why is what matters.

Characters: 9/10 - Billy is a 10. Jet is a real 27-year-old, not a perfect heroine. Her parents feel like my parents.

Writing: 8.5/10 - Funny and heavy in the same sentence. She jokes about dying. That's such a guy thing, laughing at despair. Easy to read.

Pacing: 6.5/10 - Starts fast, gets slow in the middle, ends with you crying at midnight. I read the ending standing in my kitchen.

Verdict

Not Quite Dead Yet - Target Exclusive Edition - by Holly Jackson is not a perfect thriller. It's a book about a woman who is dying and decides to do something useful for the first time in her life. It's about family, about best friends you left behind, about letters you never wrote.

If you want only twist after twist, you might be annoyed by the slow middle. If you've ever felt like you're letting life pass you by, or if you've ever had to write something hard to someone you love, this book will punch you in the gut. In a good way.

I closed the book and went to talk to my sister. She just said "see? I told you".

So tell me - are you Team Jet or Team Billy? Did you think the Target bonus letter was worth the extra cash?

If this review helped you decide, feel free to drop a like on it, share your thoughts below and follow along for more honest reads.