Book Review - The Reappearance of Rachel Price

Title: The Reappearance of Rachel Price
Author: Holly Jackson
Genre: Mystery/ Thriller/ Young Adult
Published: 2023
 
Description: 18-year-olfd Bel has lived her whole life in the shadow of her moms’s mysterious disappearance. Sixteen years ago, Rachel Price vanished and young Bel was the only witness, but she has not memory of it. Rachel is gone, long presumed dead, and bel wishes everyone would just move on.
 
But the case is dragged up from the past when the Price family agree to a true crime documentary. Bel can’t wait for filming to end, for life to go back to normal. And then the impossible happens. Rachel Price reappears, and life will never be normal again.
 
Rachel as an unbelievable story about what happened to her. Unbelievable, because Bel isn’t sure it’s real. If Rachel is lying, then where has she been all this time? And – could she be dangerous? With the cameras still rolling, Bel must uncover the truth about her mother, and find out why Rachel Price really came back from the dead.
 
Review: I’m a big fan of Holly Jackson’s “A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder” series. Her 2023 novel, “Five Survive” was a huge disappointment, but I was still excited to read her 2024 release “The Disappearance of Rachel Price. And even though it took me a while to get into it, I’m glad I read it, because it’s a lot better than “Five Survive’.
 
The story is told entirely from the perspective of Bel, in third person. She was only 2-years-old when her mom Rachel Price went missing. So it’s obvious she has no recollection of what happened that day. The book is more about the plot and the characters and their development is secondary. However, it is immediately apparent that Bel suffers more from the sudden disappearance of her mother than she wants to admit. Bel feels like she and her father are a team, and their life has always been overshadowed by the disappearance of Rachel. And when she returns, it makes life even more difficult. And listening to Rachel’s story about the happenings, Bel evades questions about her mother’s disappearance.
 
It's a pretty big book and it took me a while to get into it. It takes some time for the mystery to become interesting. But when it does, it really does it well. Jackson manages to create a twisty, unpredictable mystery. This family has a lot of secrets. Towards the end, it becomes nail-biting exciting. But this is also the point where some plot twists/ plot points are less credible.
 
“The Reappearance of Rachel Price” is an interesting mystery for the most part. You have to push trough at first, but once you do, you’re in for a treat. I’m glad Jackson delivered again.
 
Rating: 3,5/ 5