Young adult
The Reappearance of Rachel Price
by Holly Jackson
Quick take
The cameras may be rolling but don’t go trusting everything you hear...some stories really are too good to be true.
Good to know
400+ pages
Family drama
Teens
Whodunit
Synopsis
Lights. Camera. Lies.
Eighteen-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 dredged up from the past when the Price family agrees 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 . . .
Free sample
Get an early look from the first pages of The Reappearance of Rachel Price.
Why I love it
Rachael Burlette
BOTM Editorial Team
I’ve always been fascinated by unsolved mysteries—cases that have gone arctic cold. So when I picked up Holly Jackon’s latest book, The Reappearance of Rachel Price, a story about a missing mother who suddenly reemerges, I was instantly hooked.
Bel Price has only known one reality her whole life. A reality where her mother, Rachel, mysteriously vanished never to be seen again, leaving two-year-old Bel alone in the car. After sixteen years, on the cusp of adulthood, Bel has moved on. So when her family agrees to be part of a true crime documentary, she is prepared to handle the questions and attention that have always been associated with her mother’s disappearance. What she isn’t prepared for is her mother reappearing…with a story that seems too good to be true. While everyone else welcomes Rachel back with open arms, Bel notices holes in her mother’s story. Her suspicions will lead her on a search for the truth about what truly happened to Rachel Price all those years ago…
The Reappearance of Rachel Price is compulsively readable. Every time I would set the book down, I would find myself immediately wanting to return to Bel’s world to discover the secrets within its pages. If you’re looking for a story that will leave you guessing until the very end, The Reappearance of Rachel Price is the book for you.