Review // The Reappearance of Rachel Price
Author: Holly Jackson
Published On: April 2, 2024
Publisher: Delacorte Press
Genre: Young Adult Suspense
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Synopsis:
18-year-old Bel has lived her whole life in the shadow of her mom’s mysterious disappearance. Sixteen years ago, Rachel Price vanished and young Bel was the only witness, but she has no 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 has 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 . . .
I picked up A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder on a total whim last year and was absolutely blown away by how much I enjoyed it. I knew after the first book that Holly Jackson would be an auto-buy author for me, and luckily she has not let me down since!
**This review may contain a few spoilers, so read at your own risk!**
- Even if somewhat predictable at times, Holly Jackson writes a solid, thrilling, edge-of-your-seat mystery. Despite having predicted a bit of the ending (who was responsible), there were still factors at play that I totally didn’t expect and that left me truly shocked at the way some things played out. I feel like Jackson drops just enough clues to give you a taste of the mystery’s solution, but not enough that you guess it from the jump.
- To that extent, the idea of Rachel Price returning from the dead was so fascinating to me! When watching or reading a thriller, rarely do you think “hm, what would happen if the supposed victim suddenly turned up?”. Very cool plot premise!
- Very intriguing and complex family dynamics at play here. Mild spoiler, but the thought that Bel might not be happy that her mom returned from the dead and totally upended life as she knew it was one that I hadn’t thought of going into this, and definitely made me reflect on the morality and guilt of it all.
- I found Bel so freaking annoying in the beginning of this book, and at first I thought it would ding a star from my final rating but given where the book goes in the second half, I actually think I might have to put it in the “grudging appreciation” category? She’s definitely an unreliable narrator and some of the things she thinks and does made me want to throttle her, but I respect her grind and by the end I was cool with her.
- The pacing was a little slow at the beginning. I get we have to set the scene and introduce the characters, but the info-dumping in the form of “backstory for the documentary” was tedious and I found myself peaking ahead a few pages here and there to determine when the action would really begin.
- The teeny, tiny romance subplot in this was totally unnecessary to me and I wish she would’ve just taken it out altogether. Wouldn’t have missed out on anything!
I am so happy to have branched out and tried a Holly Jackson book because they are just so fun! I’m very easily spooked and have found that YA mystery is a great balance of intrigue without scaring the crap out of me. I will continue to autobuy her for hopefully many years to come!
Rating
What are your thoughts on this book and Holly Jackson's others? Did you enjoy one more than the others?
One Comment
24hr.YABookBlog
what a lovely review Erin, i can tell this one left you really on edge wondering what would happen, those are the best types of mysteries! I haven’t read this, only the first book of her other series – i’d like to continue it though! I’ve missed reading your posts so much 😭✨