By Holly Jackson

“Lights. Camera. Lies. 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 . . . From world-renowned author Holly Jackson comes a mind-blowing masterpiece about one girl’s search for the truth, and the terror in finding out who your family really is (Goodreads).”

Welcome to week two of attempting to write a review every week! Special thanks to the local library in my college town – I just got a card there and they have a much more diverse selection than the Libby app. Plus, with my Kindle constantly glitching out, physical copies are sounding reeeaal nice. So without further ado, let me tell you what I thought about The Reappearance of Rachel Price!

True crime/mystery books lately have been feeling repetitive: somebody close to the emo teen narrator dies/goes missing, they have to solve the case all by themselves for one reason or another, and in the end it turns out the bad guy was someone close to the MC all along. This book flipped that on its head by having the missing person return in Act I, which completely changed the whole dynamic. Instead of the outside suspects, the victim herself is being investigated. I thought that was a super creative way to switch it up and make the situation all the more interesting.

Jackson did an amazing job with the timing and pacing as well. I never felt like it was too slow or like the initial clue-finding stage dragged on. The suspense stayed high the whole time. The stakes also felt dramatic throughout, even if you had no idea what those stakes were. It was as if Rachel’s unnamed and mysterious kidnapper could come back and attack at any moment… or even Rachel herself. Once the drama started kicking up, I couldn’t stop reading.

The family dynamic piece was also so fascinating. On one hand, the characters are all dealing with adjusting to life with a family member whose been missing for 16 years suddenly back and living in their home. On the other, that family member’s story is suspicious, and all the other family members are acting strange too. Bel’s situation instantly becomes so complex, and it was represented very well.

On that note, I admired her and Rachel’s characterizations. Jackson portrayed Bel’s emotions and defense mechanisms so well, and I loved how they were expertly “shown” instead of “told.” Her character is developed through her reactions to events that occur, instead of heavy internal monologuing, which I definitely prefer.

I did feel as though the bad guy did not have a super well-fleshed-out motive, or that it could be seen even after the final revelation, but other than that every piece of the mystery was well handled. The way they wrapped everything up and moved on did seem a bit unrealistic and quick. And the way the main characters treated people who weren’t super involved in the disappearance was kind of harsh, but I guess it made sense with everyone’s characterization. This paragraph kind of doesn’t make sense until you’ve read the book but I’m really trying not to spoil anything…

Finally, my biggest problem with the book was that the documentary premise lost relevance quickly. Pretty much as soon as Rachel arrived, all filming stopped and it seemed as if the director, Ramsay, gave up on trying to capture the story. It came back in for certain parts, but sometimes I would literally forget that the story was supposed to be themed around it.

I’ve never read a Holly Jackson novel before, so I was pleasantly surprised! The writing kept me engaged and the pacing only sped up as the story went on. Solving the mystery from Bel’s point of view worked very well – she didn’t seem like some kind of prodigy detective kid, but it also didn’t seem like the clues were just stumbling into her. Jackson seems to really know her characters well.

Bel was actually a really interesting character. Her past trauma has led her to put up walls and push people away over and over again, and I thought that this characterization was very well represented in the way she reacts to her mom reappearing and her changing relationships with the people around her. At some points, her constant need to be rude and hurt others got annoying, but somehow you could just tell that it was more of a persona she was trying to maintain than an actual character trait. She did seem to say the “F” word a ton in the beginning and then slowly started saying it less, like Jackson just really wanted to show how edgy Bel was and then forgot about it (I’ve never thought words like that were necessary, but whatever).

I did feel that some side characters were not explored as much as they could have been. Ash, for example, seemed very interesting. However, even with his blossoming relationship with Bel, we learn almost nothing about his backstory, motivations, or personality other than that he’s “quirky.” I would have loved to see him play a bigger role, but he honestly just felt unnecessary. He was a way to add some token barely-there romance and for Bel to get access to fancy camera equipment.

Carter was also pushed to the side a bit. A possible conflict with Bel was hinted at a lot, with the way she was always asking Bel to talk or hang out, while Bel kept shutting her down and saying she was busy. I thought it would result in a confrontation where Carter admits she feels neglected and Bel would realize her obsession with the case, but that side plot went absolutely nowhere. At the end they’re best friends again and Bel’s actions are completely forgiven. There was also a side plot where Carter’s mom, Sherry, seemed to be trying to control Carter’s diet and push sugar-free foods on her and such, but then they never brought it up again and Carter never confronted Sherry about it. I feel like that should’ve been addressed, at least for the readers to see that it’s not okay to sneakily suggest to a teenage girl that she needs to lose weight.

I have more to say about Charlie and some other characters, but I don’t know how I can without spoiling a lot. I guess in general, Bel and Rachel were very well developed, while many of the others seemed a little less fleshed out.

I’m still kind of figuring out how the rating system works for me, but I’m going to give The Reappearance of Rachel Price 4.5 stars. I had a lot of fun reading this and trying to catch all of the subtle clues, so definitely a very strong mystery/thriller if you liked books like One of Us is Lying or April Henry’s novels (sorry if I’m behind on what YA thrillers are “hype” right now, still working on getting back into the scene). The added family dynamics side plot and the “reappearance” premise help to set this book apart from others in the genre. In conclusion, I would recommend it!