The Reappearance of Rachel Price
by Holly Jackson
My rating: 4 / 5
Genre: YA thriller, mystery
Bel Price’s mom disappeared when she was 2 years old. Now, 16 years later, a British film crew is digging up the past in the hopes of making a documentary about the mystery. When Rachel suddenly reappears, it changes everything—not just for the documentary but for Bel and her family as well. Where has Rachel been for 16 years and who was behind her disappearance in the first place?
The overall plot of this book was engaging and intriguing for me. I was caught up in the question of what was going on and what the truth behind it must be. So though I did have some issues with the book, I want to say up front that I did enjoy my time spent reading. That being said, once the answers were revealed, I could see some chinks in the plot, things that I assume were included only to throw the reader off the right trail but weakened the story. It didn’t ruin the book for me, but I feel it could have been written better.
There were a couple of characters that I particularly liked, mostly members of the film crew. I didn’t care for Bel herself. Even if I can understand and somewhat sympathize with her reasons for being the way she is, she’s still fairly obnoxious. Rachel seems a bit all over the place in the book, which is part of what I mentioned above—specifically Jackson’s attempts to keep the reader guessing.
Though I really liked the first two A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder books and liked this book as well, the ending to this book, along with the 3rd book in the A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder series, has led me to the decision that I probably won’t read any more Holly Jackson. She has a tendency to write characters with questionable morality, characters that we’re meant to see as the hero, which isn’t my preference. With that personal preference in mind, I do think that many who like YA thrillers will enjoy this book.
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If you’ve read this book, or read it in the future, feel free to let me know what you think!
