August GMA Book Club Selects Holly Jackson’s ‘Not Quite Dead Yet’

Holly Jackson is stepping into new terrain with her latest novel.

Known for her young adult thrillers, including the popular BookTok hit A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder, the author is already a beloved name within the genre. Her latest book, Not Quite Dead Yet, is the Good Morning America book club’s August selection, and stays true to Jackson’s crime fiction roots.

The novel follows Jet, the daughter of a wealthy Vermont family who is brutally attacked one Halloween by an unknown assailant. Jet is given one week before she’ll suffer a fatal aneurysm, and with the clock ticking down until her death, she’s forced to solve the mystery of who wanted her killed.

Not Quite Dead Yet is also Jackson’s first novel for adults, the author shares in a video shared exclusively with PEOPLE.

The PEOPLE App is now available in the Apple App Store! Download it now for the most binge-worthy celeb content, exclusive video clips, astrology updates and more!

“You’d think the process might be a little bit different for this book, as it’s a new market, but actually, it was exactly the same,” Jackson says of writing the novel.

“I approach every book kind of like a screenwriter. I’m very strict about my act structure and making sure I hit all those beats, so the process — from plotting, planning, writing — it was exactly the same.”

Jackson says that writing her previous novels, which also include the AGGTM follow-ups Good Girl, Bad Blood and As Good As Dead, along with the standalone novel The Reappearance of Rachel Price, proved to be more challenging (though she jokes that the biggest difference between genres is that she’s “allowed to use a few more swear words” in adult fiction.)

The PEOPLE Puzzler crossword is here! How quickly can you solve it? Play now!

“I think writing for young adults is more difficult because those readers are so incredibly engaged and paying attention and trying to work out the plot twists,” Jackson says. “Consequently, I’ve sort of had to level up each time to keep ahead of my readers.”

Never miss a story — sign up for PEOPLE’s free daily newsletter to stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer​​, from celebrity news to compelling human interest stories.

“If anything, I think writing my young adult books has been sort of a training ground to where I am now,” she adds. “I’m very excited for readers to tackle my new book, and my YA readers are more than welcome in this new adult book.”

Not Quite Dead Yet is available now, wherever books are sold.