The Reappearance of Rachel Price
#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • From the author of the multimillion-copy bestselling A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder series and Five Survive comes a gripping mystery thriller following one girl's search for the truth about her mother’s shocking disappearance—and even more shocking reappearance—during the filming of a true crime documentary.
A COSMOPOLITAN BEST YOUNG ADULT BOOK OF THE YEAR
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 . . .
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.
A COSMOPOLITAN BEST YOUNG ADULT BOOK OF THE YEAR
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 . . .
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.
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Readers say Holly Jackson delivers a captivating, twist-filled mystery with compelling characters and smart storytelling. Many praise the suspense and...
I would give this one a 3.5 rating. I found the book to flow at a snails pace and rather underwhelming.
"The people who loved you, the ones who really cared, they would always come back. Sometimes they even came back from the dead"
Holy guacamole, Holly Jackson does it again!!! If you want a book that will keep you on the edge of your seat and questioning everything until the very last page, she’s the writer and this is the book!
Holly Jackson’s writing style is suspenseful, compelling and captivating even from the first page. It is hard (potentially impossible) to read a book by her and not feel hooked. But this one may have played with my emotions more than any of her others.
Quick summary: 16 years ago, Rachel Price disappeared, her two year old daughter Bel found in their car on the side of a road. Now, back in the present day, The Price family has agreed to a true crime documentary and Bel is not happy about it. She just wants to live her life and not talk about something that she really has no memory of. During one film day, reenacting the day of the disappearance, Bel runs away from filming, feeling too overwhelmed and angry about the whole situation. Then she sees someone ahead of her, first thinking that it was the actress they hired to play her mom. But it wasn’t. It was Rachel Price. Rachel claims that she was kept in a basement for 16 years and didn’t know what her kidnapper looked like. As the family tries to readjust to their new normal, Bel begins to find little mistakes in Rachel’s story. What really happened? As Bel begins to uncover more and more pieces of the puzzle, she realizes that someone isn’t telling the truth. Is it Rachel? Or is it someone else in the Price family?
Our main character, Bel, was just a firecracker. She let the world know how she felt and wasn’t afraid to speak her mind. She wasn’t afraid to take risks in order to find out the truth. She is witty and smart and has such awesome snarky retorts; I loved it! Bel has so many different layers and since the story is told through her eyes, readers feel her anger, frustration, and fear as well.
Mystery/thrillers written for any age group should be like this one. The plot was webbed so well and so many twists and turns are thrown at you. I am sure many readers will try to guess what happened or who did it, but I almost guarantee, you won’t be able to figure it out! With the use of interviews and the documentary, the information readers need come in pieces from so many different places and it is crazy!
Overall, this book is probably my favorite of the year so far and probably now one of my Holly Jackson books as well. Get ready for a wild ride that you will not want to get off of until the last page!
SERIOUSLY! I sort of understand why Charlie wanted her gone; he was way too controlling. I understand why Rachel wanted to run away and I understand why Charlie would try to stop her. But the grandfather?? REALLY?? I was pacing my house with my mouth wide open reading that. I could understand that he wanted to hide Rachel so that Charlie wouldn’t kill her but why in that red truck? He could have found somewhere better. I think even a basement would have been better. He shouldn’t have done it in the first place but he could have been kinder to her. But I guess like father like son.
And for some reason, I had a feeling about Carter. At first I thought Sherry was more controlling Carter’s eating because of her weight and dancing but then it totally made sense. She could have told her she was adopted and that her parents weren’t alive or some other lie versus never letting anyone too close to her. I am glad Rachel got to know her right away when she came back.
I didn’t necessarily want Jeff and Charlie to die but I am glad that the three will be safe and have the happy life they should have gotten from the beginning!
Quotes:
“You say you think your mum was trying to leave. Do you mean that she was running away? But there is compelling evidence that opposes the ran away theory. Rachel didn’t withdraw any money from her bank account in the days and weeks leading up to her disappearance. If she was planning to run away and start a new life, she would have needed money to do that. Not only that, but she didn’t take her wallet containing her ID with her and she’d left her bank cards at home. Nor did she take her phone. She didn’t pack any clothes or belongings. None at all. She didn’t even take her coat with her on that freezing day, it was left in the car too, with her phone and wallet” pg. 5
“You don’t appear on any of the camera after that, none of the ones by the exits. Nowhere. Which means you couldn’t have left. And yet you did. You both disappeared inside that mall, and there is no explanation” pg. 8
“She continued down the corridor, past the English classrooms. Every day she had to walk right by The Rachel Shrine, as she though of it: a collection of photos and certificates on the wall, old letters and poems written to and about the best English teacher ever. The trick was not to look at it, pretend it wasn’t there” pg. 51
“Bel knew who she was. Knew bone-deep, innate somehow, something that couldn’t be learned, only known, only felt. Her heart dancing itself off a cliff edge, into a roiling acid of her gut. The gray-blue eyes that matched her own. Delicate, pointed chin. Ashen skin that was paler than she’d known it, more lined, sixteen more years of wear. The small tan birthmark on the top of her forehead. The woman stared back at her, like she knew something too. She was Rachel Price. Reappeared.” pg. 68
“That bracelet. The one Sam Blake gave to Bel for her fourteenth birthday. The one Bel threw in the river just a week later, when Sam said what she did about Dad. It wasn’t like Rachel could have seen the bracelet lying around the house since she’d return. Something Rachel knew that she couldn’t possibly know if her story was true. Which meant it wasn’t. Not some of it, maybe not any of it.” Pg. 127
“Dad hadn’t gone to work yesterday, hadn’t been working late all week like he said, missing dinner every night. Telling Bel he was at work and telling work he was at home. So where had he really been, and was he there now?” Pg. 210
“When I gave it to you, you said I was a lifesaver. I knew something wasn’t right. You hadn’t been yourself for weeks, months even. Jumpy, paranoid. Losing weight, your clothes getting baggy. You needed the money and you were scared. Who were you scared of, Rachel?” Pg. 235
“Your dad said, I don’t care if you’re sorry. We agree two o’clock. You didn’t keep to the time and now look what happened.” pg. 299
“It had been Dad all along. Lying to them, making them doubt their own memories so they’d need him all the more. And Bel had needed him, maybe too much, the second voice in her head, not truly herself without him” pg. 323
“She picked the pen up again, placing the tip against the page, below the last row, and she began sorting through the letters, splitting and grouping them until they made words, writing the full message below. Help. My name is Rachel Price. I am being kept by Patrick Price in a red truck on Price logging yard. Call police.” pg. 334
“That’s true. He didn’t know I was here the whole time, in this truck. He didn’t know. Because he thought I was dead. He thought I was dead, because that’s what he told Pat to do. That was the plan. You had the rest of it right, Bel. But your grandfather wasn’t suppose to just take me at two o’clock that day. He was supposed to kill me” pg. 353
“You were pregnant when you disappeared. You had a baby in here. Carter’s your baby… It was another reason we had to get away from him, start a new life, before he killed me. I didn’t want that baby to be born into this family. We had to get to our new home. Our family of three. But then I was in here” pg. 376
“The people who loved you, the ones who really cared, they would always come back. Sometimes they even came back from the dead” pg. 429
Holy guacamole, Holly Jackson does it again!!! If you want a book that will keep you on the edge of your seat and questioning everything until the very last page, she’s the writer and this is the book!
Holly Jackson’s writing style is suspenseful, compelling and captivating even from the first page. It is hard (potentially impossible) to read a book by her and not feel hooked. But this one may have played with my emotions more than any of her others.
Quick summary: 16 years ago, Rachel Price disappeared, her two year old daughter Bel found in their car on the side of a road. Now, back in the present day, The Price family has agreed to a true crime documentary and Bel is not happy about it. She just wants to live her life and not talk about something that she really has no memory of. During one film day, reenacting the day of the disappearance, Bel runs away from filming, feeling too overwhelmed and angry about the whole situation. Then she sees someone ahead of her, first thinking that it was the actress they hired to play her mom. But it wasn’t. It was Rachel Price. Rachel claims that she was kept in a basement for 16 years and didn’t know what her kidnapper looked like. As the family tries to readjust to their new normal, Bel begins to find little mistakes in Rachel’s story. What really happened? As Bel begins to uncover more and more pieces of the puzzle, she realizes that someone isn’t telling the truth. Is it Rachel? Or is it someone else in the Price family?
Our main character, Bel, was just a firecracker. She let the world know how she felt and wasn’t afraid to speak her mind. She wasn’t afraid to take risks in order to find out the truth. She is witty and smart and has such awesome snarky retorts; I loved it! Bel has so many different layers and since the story is told through her eyes, readers feel her anger, frustration, and fear as well.
Mystery/thrillers written for any age group should be like this one. The plot was webbed so well and so many twists and turns are thrown at you. I am sure many readers will try to guess what happened or who did it, but I almost guarantee, you won’t be able to figure it out! With the use of interviews and the documentary, the information readers need come in pieces from so many different places and it is crazy!
Overall, this book is probably my favorite of the year so far and probably now one of my Holly Jackson books as well. Get ready for a wild ride that you will not want to get off of until the last page!
SERIOUSLY! I sort of understand why Charlie wanted her gone; he was way too controlling. I understand why Rachel wanted to run away and I understand why Charlie would try to stop her. But the grandfather?? REALLY?? I was pacing my house with my mouth wide open reading that. I could understand that he wanted to hide Rachel so that Charlie wouldn’t kill her but why in that red truck? He could have found somewhere better. I think even a basement would have been better. He shouldn’t have done it in the first place but he could have been kinder to her. But I guess like father like son.
And for some reason, I had a feeling about Carter. At first I thought Sherry was more controlling Carter’s eating because of her weight and dancing but then it totally made sense. She could have told her she was adopted and that her parents weren’t alive or some other lie versus never letting anyone too close to her. I am glad Rachel got to know her right away when she came back.
I didn’t necessarily want Jeff and Charlie to die but I am glad that the three will be safe and have the happy life they should have gotten from the beginning!
Quotes:
“You say you think your mum was trying to leave. Do you mean that she was running away? But there is compelling evidence that opposes the ran away theory. Rachel didn’t withdraw any money from her bank account in the days and weeks leading up to her disappearance. If she was planning to run away and start a new life, she would have needed money to do that. Not only that, but she didn’t take her wallet containing her ID with her and she’d left her bank cards at home. Nor did she take her phone. She didn’t pack any clothes or belongings. None at all. She didn’t even take her coat with her on that freezing day, it was left in the car too, with her phone and wallet” pg. 5
“You don’t appear on any of the camera after that, none of the ones by the exits. Nowhere. Which means you couldn’t have left. And yet you did. You both disappeared inside that mall, and there is no explanation” pg. 8
“She continued down the corridor, past the English classrooms. Every day she had to walk right by The Rachel Shrine, as she though of it: a collection of photos and certificates on the wall, old letters and poems written to and about the best English teacher ever. The trick was not to look at it, pretend it wasn’t there” pg. 51
“Bel knew who she was. Knew bone-deep, innate somehow, something that couldn’t be learned, only known, only felt. Her heart dancing itself off a cliff edge, into a roiling acid of her gut. The gray-blue eyes that matched her own. Delicate, pointed chin. Ashen skin that was paler than she’d known it, more lined, sixteen more years of wear. The small tan birthmark on the top of her forehead. The woman stared back at her, like she knew something too. She was Rachel Price. Reappeared.” pg. 68
“That bracelet. The one Sam Blake gave to Bel for her fourteenth birthday. The one Bel threw in the river just a week later, when Sam said what she did about Dad. It wasn’t like Rachel could have seen the bracelet lying around the house since she’d return. Something Rachel knew that she couldn’t possibly know if her story was true. Which meant it wasn’t. Not some of it, maybe not any of it.” Pg. 127
“Dad hadn’t gone to work yesterday, hadn’t been working late all week like he said, missing dinner every night. Telling Bel he was at work and telling work he was at home. So where had he really been, and was he there now?” Pg. 210
“When I gave it to you, you said I was a lifesaver. I knew something wasn’t right. You hadn’t been yourself for weeks, months even. Jumpy, paranoid. Losing weight, your clothes getting baggy. You needed the money and you were scared. Who were you scared of, Rachel?” Pg. 235
“Your dad said, I don’t care if you’re sorry. We agree two o’clock. You didn’t keep to the time and now look what happened.” pg. 299
“It had been Dad all along. Lying to them, making them doubt their own memories so they’d need him all the more. And Bel had needed him, maybe too much, the second voice in her head, not truly herself without him” pg. 323
“She picked the pen up again, placing the tip against the page, below the last row, and she began sorting through the letters, splitting and grouping them until they made words, writing the full message below. Help. My name is Rachel Price. I am being kept by Patrick Price in a red truck on Price logging yard. Call police.” pg. 334
“That’s true. He didn’t know I was here the whole time, in this truck. He didn’t know. Because he thought I was dead. He thought I was dead, because that’s what he told Pat to do. That was the plan. You had the rest of it right, Bel. But your grandfather wasn’t suppose to just take me at two o’clock that day. He was supposed to kill me” pg. 353
“You were pregnant when you disappeared. You had a baby in here. Carter’s your baby… It was another reason we had to get away from him, start a new life, before he killed me. I didn’t want that baby to be born into this family. We had to get to our new home. Our family of three. But then I was in here” pg. 376
“The people who loved you, the ones who really cared, they would always come back. Sometimes they even came back from the dead” pg. 429
Overall great story, holly jackson did it again! The only reason I took off a star was because Bel was annoying asf. No redeeming qualities throughout the entire book
Holly Jackson is one of my all-time favourite authors, and I think this book was written beautifully. I found myself comparing Belle and Pip to each other. Overall a great read, however, the ending wasn’t exactly what I expected because it felt a little bit unbelievable, but overall I did really like the book! 3.75 ⭐️
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