Book Review: Following a vicious attack, a woman solves her own murder in Holly Jackson novel
This is the first adult suspense novel by Jackson, the author of popular young-adult fiction including 'A Good Girl's Guide to Murder,' and it is emotionally wrenching from start to finish.
The unforgettable protagonist is Jet Mason, a 27-year-old woman still living with her parents in Woodstock, Vermont. She's can't seem to get her life started — has never finished anything including law school. 'I'll do it later,' she always says. 'I have plenty of time.'
But she doesn't.
Returning home after a Halloween party, she is attacked, her skull smashed with a hammer. When she wakes up in the hospital, she receives shocking news. Her surgeon was unable to remove a tiny bone fragment resting against a major blood vessel in her brain. If it remains there, it will cause a fatal brain aneurysm within seven days. If they try to remove it, they must act now, but she has only a remote chance of survival.
Her doctor tells her that she must choose.
Jet decides against surgery. With just seven days left, she is determined to finally finish something. Before she dies, she will solve her own murder.
Leaving home to escape her mother's constant pleas to have the surgery, Jet teams up with Billy, a sweet young man who has loved her since they were children, and together they set out to unmask the killer.
Jet never imagined that she had enemies, but before long the police have arrested JJ, a former boyfriend who had never gotten over her. All but sure the police got it wrong, Jet persists, uncovering a series of family and small-town secrets that reveal an abundance of motives and suspects.
The result is a fast-paced, intensely suspenseful race against time populated by an impressive collection of well-drawn characters. And in the end, the young woman who never finished anything emerges as a model of intelligence, courage, resilience and decency.
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It's definitely one of those things you have to take into consideration. Slim pickings these days. In moments of "slim pickings," it's nice to focus on other kinds of relationships, like friendships. On screen of course, Enid and Wednesday are the true blue besties. What is Jenna Ortega like as a friend in real life? I love her so much. We have such a fun time together. And she's producing this next season so she had a lot more creative input and was always telling me, "If there's something you don't like or something you're not comfortable with, let me know and I'll be your person." She definitely was looking out for the cast in that sense, but she's also just such a great friend. You can confide in her. Our friendship was a natural progression but I instantly felt really close to her because she's so cool, so open, and such a lovely person. It mirrors your characters, in a way. How would you say Enid and Wednesday's friendship has evolved from season 1 to season 2? They both have a deep understanding of one another. I think their respect for each others' needs is really lovely. Even though all Enid wants to do is be touchy and hug, she still respects Wednesday's need for space and alone time. And Wednesday respects what Enid likes and what Enid needs. Their friendship is really beautiful. Even though Enid's got boys chasing after her, she could care less. She's got her priorities straight. She knows who her best friend is. Exactly. Sisters before misters. Along with more Enid and Wednesday moments, I'm hoping we see more of Wednesday's mischievous prankster side in season 2, too, given it's what got her sent to Nevermore in the first place. Are you a prankster? Have you ever been pranked? I definitely was a pranker, but more in an evil sense. An evil sense? I was a pathological liar as a kid. For no reason I would just make up the most random scenarios and tell people that they actually happened to me. And I would get in a lot of trouble for it all the time. I just couldn't help myself for some reason. Now to make up for it, I'm overly truthful. I think I just really wanted to be an actor, so I would just lie all the time about everything. What kind of lies? Like little ones? No, no, no. Like I would go around telling random people huge family secrets that were not real, and they'd believe me. And then I'd have to go and apologize and be like, "Yeah, I lied about that. I'm sorry." Insane stuff. But I definitely have been pranked before. I'm mostly the one doing the pranking though, because I find it amusing. A flair for the dramatic arts, even at a young age! Yeah, just for practice. So you've left your prankster era behind. What would you call this period of your own life? Honestly, it's just my work era. Maybe I will also give myself the fun and freedom title too, because it's true. I'm having fun and I'm free. What is your relationship like to work? It's always flopping back and forth. Some days, I question why I decided to do this. But then on the really good days, I know why I decided to do it. I genuinely love acting. I love meeting new people, I love the people I work with, and I love telling stories and getting to play different characters. So at the end of the day, even if I have hard days and want to quit, it never lasts for that long. It's refreshing to hear you say that, honestly. No matter how much you love what you do, there are going to be challenging moments, that's so normal. It's always a mixed bag, and it can be hard. People are going to have opinions on what your life looks like and will assume things that may not be accurate. Everybody's going to have something to say about what you're wearing3, what you look like, and what you're doing, and you just have to let it go. At the end of the day, these people really don't know you. You have to let go and ignore it. 3. What are Emma's fashion favourites? A good pair of jorts, baggy jeans, sweatshirts and her five pairs of Pokemon pajamas featuring Snorlax and Charizard. What is the oddest rumor you've ever heard about yourself? Any time I post one of my friends, people will say we're fake friends and I'm doing it for PR. It's so strange to see me actually genuinely loving somebody and posting them on Instagram and everybody saying I'm "posting pictures for PR reasons." Very strange. But I've also seen a rumor that my older sister is estranged from our family because she's not in any pictures with us, and that's because she's been in law school and doesn't live with us because she's off being smart, being a lawyer. I don't have any recent pictures with her because of that but everybody seems to think that she's estranged and doesn't speak to us, which is not true. I love my older sister. That's a wild assumption to make about anyone, especially someone you do not know. I know. People want to have opinions about every single relationship you have. It's just how it goes, I guess. You learn to ignore it. Like, guys, I love my sister! And I will only post people on my Instagram if I actually do like them! I also feel like having a fake friendship would actually be more work than just being friends with someone. Yeah, and I'm definitely not posting my friends on my Instagram if I don't like them. I don't even think I would bother to keep up the facade of having a fake friendship, to be honest. How do you decide what to share on social media 4? I used to post way more, but I got uncomfortable with the lines that people were crossing in my comments and in my DMs. Now, it's more spur of the moment. 4. One thing you won't see on Emma's Instagram often? Selfies. "I could never really figure out how to do it as a kid, and I think I was just like, "Oh it's not for me," Emma says, There is one exception from her teen years, though: "Most of my pictures of me at 14 are with that stupid dog filter. I literally cannot find a photo of me at 14 without the dog Snapchat filter on. It's awful. What are some fan interactions that have stayed with you over time in a more positive sense? One time, I met a girl at a convention and she had somehow gotten together a bunch of fans for my birthday and made me this huge picture book. Every single fan had written out a handwritten note and they made a playlist of songs they thought I would like, a collage of all of my interests, movies I should watch, all sorts of stuff. I have it in my room because it's so heartwarming. I was like, "Why would you sit there and make this for me?? That's crazy." And they were like, "Oh, we just really wanted to do it because we love you." I still have that book. Including recommendations based on your taste is such a wow. Did you actually take the recs? I went through and listened to every song, yes. Clearly your fans are proud of you. Of all the scenes you've filmed in your career thus far, which makes you the proudest of yourself? I'm really proud of A Good Girl's Guide to Murder because I didn't have long to train for it. I did a British accent, and it's not halfway bad! I wasn't going to take the job initially because I was so scared about doing the accent and not having time to perfect it. But I was like, 'You know what? There's no better way to learn than just throwing yourself right into it.' So I did it and I'm pretty proud. It was great. I remember looking up whether you were British or not after watching. No way! You made me question it, I had to fact check. That's perfect. The fandoms of your projects are delightfully active. Would you say you're part of any fandoms yourself right now? What do you give attention to when you're having your quiet time? I wouldn't say I'm part of any fandoms right now, but I do love The Last of Us. Do you know d4vd? He's got a great album that just came out. And honestly, I've just been playing a lot of Minecraft. It's great Minecraft cast an actor who genuinely plays the game. Did you anticipate the wild reception that movie would get when you signed on5 ? I was a bit scared because Minecraft's so beloved. I was like, "Oh, this could go either really good or really, really bad," and it went really, really good! It went well because the movie and the marketing doesn't take itself too seriously. We're all here to have fun. It's a goofy movie. The point of it is to go see it and laugh and have fun. 5. Another thing Emma didn't anticipate? Her reaction to stepping onto set the first time. "The first set I saw was our forest set and it was so cool because I played so much as a kid. Getting to see that in front of me, it really made me feel like I was actually in the game." What is the last thing that made you laugh? How would you describe your sense of humor? Nostalgia gets to me. My sisters and I have been saving lots of memes of where we grew up in Florida and they're so accurate that I can't help but cackle at them. That sort of stuff gets me, but also just dumb humor. My younger sister has got the stupidest sense of humor but it's so funny. I laugh a lot. It doesn't take much to get me to laugh. It's nice to be a person who laughs a lot. What's the biggest lesson you've learned about relationships in your life so far that helps keep you laughing loud and often? Try and understand other people. Although you might come from different backgrounds, might have different opinions, different beliefs, different views, or different careers, nobody else's life has less value than yours. If you're able to be quiet and see things from another perspective, it gives you understanding. That's definitely something that I've learned. Wednesday season 2 starts on Netflix on Wednesday 6th August
