Author: Holly Jackson
Date Read: 3rd July 2026
β Rating
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π Synopsis / Plot
Source: The Reappearance of Rachel Price
Lights. Camera. Lies.
18-year-old Bel has lived her whole life in the shadow of her momβs 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 canβt 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 isnβt sure itβs real. If Rachel is lying, then where has she been all this time? And β 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 β¦
From world-renowned author Holly Jackson comes a mind-blowing masterpiece about one girlβs search for the truth, and the terror in finding out who your family really is.
βοΈ Review
Spoilers!
You have been warned.
The twist of the book - the dad being the culprit all along - is not new; itβs predictable, so the only way to save it is the execution of the twist.
Ultimately, it falls short. It is revealed in the climax of the plot that he plotted her murder simply because he couldnβt put a leash on her (Rachel). And thatβs all the explanation that we get. Thereβs no why as to why heβs like this or why this desire of absolute control led him to wanting to murder Rachel. It is also revealed that he saw his dad murder his wife, so he threatened him (dad) to be his subordinate; but thereβs no correlation to his desire of having everyone as his puppets. It felt as though Holly put these plot points to simply act as shock values.
One other jarring issue is how nonchalant and casual Rachel is; regardless of whether she was kept in a basement, no individual in the world would remain sane upon release without extensive therapy. Detective fictions tend to dumb down side characters to let the main character shine, but poor execution of the dumbing down, such as this, makes everyone look incompetent. Did the trained psychologist really not notice how calm Rachel was? Also, she gave birth and lost a baby while all while being in a container devoid of natural sunlight.
How does any of this make any sense?
The documentary subplot is also essentially abandoned the moment Rachel showed up. It could have been woven into the detective work, but the filmmakers are mostly reduced to hanging around and recording Belβs crimes; Ramsay and Ash could have been the one uncovering anomalies and details.
The romance feels extremely forced too. There is no indication or buildup to Belβs and Ashβs romance. It just happens because YA thriller conventions dictate it. Even Ashβs quirky personality feels forced and wasted too. Again, it could have been woven into the story.
At the very end, after all the murders, Bel simply deletes the raw footage from Ashβs disks and laptops to protect her family. Ramsay casually mention that he backs up footage into the cloud, but he just chooses not to release it? This basically voids Bel and her family from any form of consequences; happy ending or not, murdering two people overnight should have lasting consequences. Rachel knows that the bodies wonβt be hidden forever and Ramsay, if he has more than 2 brain cells, should know that too; he should know that heβs basically a subordinate now, risking his entire film crew.
Final Verdict: Itβs alright