Not Quite Dead Yet

Holly Jackson

57 pages 1-hour read

Holly Jackson

Not Quite Dead Yet

Fiction | Novel | YA | Published in 2025

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Parts 7-8Chapter Summaries & Analyses

Content Warning: This section of the guide includes discussion of child death, death by suicide, alcohol use, graphic violence, sexual content, cursing, illness, and death.

Part 7: “Friday November 7” - Part 8: “Saturday November 15: Eight Days Later”

Part 7, Chapter 28 Summary

The next morning, Jet and Billy go over to Billy’s dad Jack’s house. They decide to talk to Jack and look through his mom’s stuff; she left when Billy was 18 years old.


As they walk through the house, Jet asks Billy about the day Emily died. Billy was only 11 years old, and he remembers Luke coming over to play with him, something that rarely happened. They played in the yard with Billy’s dad, and Emily was still at her house. At one point, Billy remembers Luke going into a bush to retrieve a ball and coming out with scratches on his arms. Billy’s dad bandaged them, but Billy thinks he remembers Luke already having the scratches before he went in. He tells Jet he can’t be sure.


Later, when Luke went home, Billy’s parents and Billy went with him. Luke couldn’t find his keys, so they helped him get in through the back door. Billy’s mom found Emily at the bottom of the pool, her hair stuck in the drain.


When they talked to the police, everyone told the same story. Luke insisted that he never went into the pool that day, but Billy thinks he remembers smelling chlorine on him. Like with the scratches, he can’t remember for sure.


Billy and Jet go through his mother’s old calendars. They find the one from the year that Emily died. When they go to the date, Billy sees a note written in the corner that says, “He was already wet. Before” (295). Jet assumes it refers to Luke, confirming that Billy smelled chlorine on him.


Jet contemplates what it means if Luke was lying to the police, had scratches on his arms, and smelled like chlorine. Even though he was with Henry when she was attacked, she wonders for the first time if Luke could have hurt her.

Part 7, Chapter 29 Summary

As Jet and Billy go to leave, Sophia pulls up in the driveway. She gets out of her car and starts yelling at Jet about telling Luke about her father’s pills. Jet defends her choice and reveals that they know about Luke committing fraud. Sophia insists that he was just trying to keep the company alive.


As Jet begs her not to, Sophia tells Billy about why his mother left. The day it happened, Jet went to her and convinced her to change Jet’s grade in her math class. She used something her mom always said to make Billy’s mom feel guilty: If Billy’s parents had checked on Emily sooner the day she died, she might still be alive. Sophia argues that Billy’s mom was so full of guilt over Emily’s death and changing Jet’s grade that she had to leave.


Billy reacts angrily toward Jet. He refuses to listen to her, instead storming away and down the street.


Jet runs after Billy, ignoring her pain and her headache. However, she is cut off by a police car. Ecker and Jack get out. They tell Jet that she is going to be arrested for arson at the Mason Contracting building. Jet tries to outrun them, but Jack chases and stops her.

Part 7, Chapter 30 Summary

Jet is handcuffed and taken to the interview room. Chief Jankowski shows her a picture of her truck at Mason Construction on the night of the fire. She repeatedly asks who took the photo, but they will only tell her that it was someone who had a reason to be at the building. She assumes that it was Luke. She tells them that he got there too quickly, meaning that he must have already been there. She guesses that he set the fire, knowing she was inside.


When Jankowski asks Jet what she was doing there, she tells him that she was having sex with Billy in her truck. They left when the sirens started.


Jankowski refuses to let Jet go. Instead, he tells her that she will be held for up to 48 hours, until the charges are filed against her.


Jack puts Jet in the holding cell. She asks to make a phone call. He advises her to call her father, insisting that she will need a lawyer to get out before she dies. Instead, she calls Billy. He doesn’t answer, so she leaves him a voicemail. She apologizes to him, saying that she spent her entire life waiting for things to begin for her. Now, she realizes that the little stuff is what made her life worth it all along. She thanks him for making her feel happy the entire week.


Sitting in the holding cell, Jet asks Jack to bring her a pen and paper. He hesitates, then agrees. She begins writing a letter to her mother to say goodbye, struggling to write with her left hand.

Part 7, Chapter 31 Summary

A while later, Jack returns to Jet’s cell and tells her that she is being released.


Outside, Billy is waiting for her. He told the police the same story that she did, that they were having sex in his truck. Jet hugs him, while Billy thanks her for giving him the “best” week he has ever had.


Inside the truck, Jet finds Billy’s guitar. He admits that he was planning to sell it, along with her truck, to get bail money if he needed it. She notes that he has put a tracking device on it and laughs about how much he loves it.


Jet calls Luke, who is at the site of the fire. Billy drives them there. As Jet gets out of the car, she grabs Henry’s gun.


Jet confronts Luke about killing Emily. He denies it repeatedly, but then Jet pulls the gun out and points it at him. He challenges her, but she shoots the pavement. Luke breaks down, admitting that he killed Emily. He got angry because she told him that Scott isn’t his real father and couldn’t stop himself.


Jet asks Luke if what Emily said is true. Luke admits that Scott told Luke himself a few days ago, the day that Jet told him about the sale of the company. Scott wanted Luke to know that they would be looking at the company, so he needed to hide anything nefarious. When Luke came to Mason Construction and found Jet there, he decided he had to burn down the building before she discovered anything. He is adamant that he didn’t mean to hurt her.


Jet then asks who Luke’s real father is. He admits that he knows, but refuses to tell Jet, even when she threatens him again. When she asks how Luke managed to get Emily’s body to the bottom of the pool as a child, he admits that he had help from his real father.


Before Jet and Billy leave, Jet tells Luke that she knows he didn’t attack her. As he cries, she slips the tracker from Billy’s guitar into his coat. She and Billy leave.

Part 7, Chapter 32 Summary

Back at Billy’s apartment, Jet and Billy talk about the possibilities of who killed her. Jet is certain that it was Luke’s real father, so they watch the tracking device, waiting for Luke to leave Mason Construction.


Jet decides to prepare for a confrontation. She looks for duct tape in Billy’s closet and finds a toolbox. She realizes that all the tools inside are the same brand as the murder weapon. She desperately searches through them, looking for the hammer, but doesn’t find it.


Billy comes to the doorway, asking Jet what she is doing. She accuses him of attacking her. Despite Billy’s insistence that he doesn’t ever use the tools or realize the hammer was gone, Jet refuses to listen to him. As she desperately tries to get him to admit the truth, she hears a loud sound in her head and begins to lose her vision. She realizes that the aneurysm has burst.


As Jet falls to the ground, Billy holds her. He repeatedly tells her that she is right, and he is her murderer. However, Jet knows he is lying just to give her closure. She knows that Billy would never hurt her. Jet tells Billy to read her letter. He promises to find her murderer, and she dies looking into Billy’s eyes.


Earlier, Jet writes letters to her parents, Luke, and Billy. She tells her mother that she needs to stop blaming other people for her problems and her father that he should worry less about being “fair” to everyone, sacrificing his own happiness. She tells Luke that he needs to stop trying to prove that he is good enough to his parents and realize that there are more important things than the company. In Billy’s letter, she explains that she has realized that Billy has always been in love with her. Although she has never loved him as more than a friend, in this last week, she realized that she could love him that way if she had more time. He has allowed her to truly enjoy life. She instructs him not to be afraid to love again.


Jet also writes a will. She leaves all her money and belongings to Henry so that he can pay for his surgery. To Billy, she leaves her truck.

Part 8, Chapter 33 Summary

The day of Jet’s funeral, Billy goes over to his father’s house and accuses him of killing Jet. He tells Jack what he knows, thanks to Jet’s work: Jack was having an affair with Dianne for years, and Luke is their child. On the day of Emily’s death, he went to check on Luke and found him in the pool with Emily’s body. He helped Luke make it look like Emily’s hair got stuck in the drain. However, after that, Dianne never forgave Jack, insisting that he was somehow responsible for Emily’s death.


Billy checked his mother’s diary, where she repeatedly made notes about how much time Jack was spending at work or how often he was at Jet’s house. However, she believed that Jack was having an affair with Emily. When Emily died, she wrote the note about Jack being “already wet”—not Luke.


Over the years, Jack continued to be there for Luke. He helped him with the company and gave him advice to help it recover financially, including the fraud. The night of Jet’s murder, Jack gave Andrew a ride home, and Andrew told him that Scott was selling Mason Construction. Angry and bitter at Dianne for abandoning him and afraid that Luke would lose the company, Jack tried to kill Jet.


When Jack refuses to confess, Billy pulls out Henry’s gun and threatens to shoot him. He forces Jack to tell the truth. Jack admits that everything Billy said was true. He is adamant that he only tried to help Luke, and Billy points out that he is Jack’s son, too.


Luke enters the room, revealing that he has been listening. Although Jack is certain that his confession won’t stand up in court because of the gun, Billy claims that their statements together—plus the toolbox that Billy planted in Jack’s closet—will be enough. When Billy turns to Luke for confirmation, he realizes that Luke is angry at Jack. Luke tells Jack that his sister’s life was more important than the company, echoing the words in Jet’s final letter. Before Billy can stop him, Luke grabs the gun and shoots at Jack.


Jack flees out the back door. Luke and Billy follow him, with Billy trying to stop Luke. When Jack gets to Jet’s house, he goes to the back door and calls for Dianne. Luke shoots him and then does so again as Jack falls to the ground. Dianne, Scott, and Sophia appear in the doorway as Jack dies.

Parts 7-8 Analysis

As Jet continues to discover the past through her investigation, she has a heartfelt conversation with Billy about Emily’s death. Surprisingly, this is the first time that Jet has talked to Billy about it, even though he was with his family when they discovered her body. This moment evokes the theme of Reconciling with the Past, something that has only begun for Jet now that she faces her final moments. Whether she has avoided talking about Emily’s death due to the feelings it evokes or because she feels disconnected from the event because she was so young, what’s important is that she has begun to talk about it now. Her murder investigation forces her to take an unflinching look at the past, and she is not the only one—Luke, Sophia, and Jake are all forced to reconcile with what they have done as a result of her investigation.


When Jet is in jail, the phone call that she has with Billy solidifies her change throughout the text into someone who values personal relationships for the first time. When she asks for her phone call, Jack pressures her to call her father, insisting that she could get out of jail if Scott got her a lawyer. However, Jet ignores his advice, highlighting a key component of her change: she now values her relationship with Billy more than completing the investigation. As she leaves Billy a voicemail, she thanks him for the past week, repeatedly telling him that she has “finally been living” during the time she has spent with him (318). Ultimately, this phone call reaffirms the theme of The Value of Living in the Present. Jet actively chooses to forgo the investigation, instead using what are possibly her final moments to convey to Billy how much she has learned to value him.


When Jet dies, her final moment completes her journey toward closure, but it also completes her character arc, as she focuses on Billy instead of her own death. Her last days revolved around solving her murder, and when she finds Billy’s tool set, with the missing hammer, she could choose to believe that her murder is solved. Billy tries to help her find that closure, reaffirming his love for Jet by admitting to the murder, insisting that he killed her so that she could have closure before she dies. Despite this, Jet chooses her relationship with Billy, refusing to believe his confession and insisting that she knows he would never hurt her. This Jet stands in stark contrast to the Jet at the beginning of the novel, as she now believes what she feels in her heart instead of pursuing her investigation to the detriment of everyone around her.


The revelation that Jack is the murderer in the text’s climax reimagines a typical murder mystery trope. In novels like Not Quite Dead Yet, it is common for the murderer to be someone who was present throughout the narrative but drew little suspicion. This “devil in plain sight” trope typically creates several suspects who seem obvious—like Andrew or JJ—only to surprise the reader with the revelation that it was actually a character who was never suspected. Here, Jackson uses the trope to add a layer of sentimentality and heartbreak to the story. Instead of the violence toward Jet stemming from her family’s corruption or a random act of violence, it is instead tied to Jack’s years of unrequited love and his attachment to his unrecognized son. In this way, Jackson again underscores the theme of reconciling with the past. Instead of being a truly evil person, Jack acts to protect his son and preserve his relationship with him.


Similarly, Jet’s death finalizes something inevitable yet still equally tragic. In many ways an antihero, Jet spends the novel breaking the law, intimidating others, and disregarding justice for anyone other than herself. Despite this, Jackson uses her love with Billy and her change in the novel to highlight the tragedy of her death. Instead of using a typical deus ex machina to save Jet in the final moments, Jackson underscores the theme of The Connection Between Privilege and Corruption through Jet’s death. Billy, one of the only truly good characters in the text, carries on her investigation and achieves justice for her attack by Jack, who used the privilege of his position at every turn to stall the investigation. Each of the characters who are marred by moral ambiguity and corruption—while benefiting from privilege—has their life destroyed or dies by the novel’s end.

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