As part of their SuccessLink internships at the Boston Public Library, Teen Central's teen interns Abri and Elizabeth wrote reviews of young adult literature, evaluating whether BookTok favorites lived up to the hype or not. See Elizabeth's thoughts on The Reappearance of Rachel Price below, then check out the book for yourself and decide if you agree!
The Reappearance of Rachel Price by Rachel Price
Overall Rating: 3.5/5 stars
Synopsis:
A new true-crime fueled mystery thriller about a girl determined to uncover the shocking truth about her missing mother while filming a documentary on the unsolved case.
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 . . .
What I Liked:
- Plot twists: I loved all the twists and turns this book had in store. The minute you thought you had figured out the ending and it was clear to you, something would come up and have you questioning all over again.
- Writing style: I had surprisingly never read a book by Holly Jackson before and this will definitely not be my last. I loved the pace, even if at some times it felt a little slow; by the end, you could tell everything she wrote was intentional. Every small detail she included was a tiny clue and had meaning. It was so fun to remember the tiniest detail she wrote and see that it eventually helped solve an aspect of the mystery!
Critiques:
- Attention: This book had so many interesting plot twists, but I almost felt like each time a huge plot twist happened, it for some reason read very slowly. There should have been a shock factor (and maybe it was just me) but I didn’t feel it. In other books, you have that moment where your jaw is literally on the floor and you have to look up from the book for a second, with this one it didn’t happen for me!
- Ending: Even though the ending was so unexpected, I didn’t find it satisfying. I felt like there was so much crammed into the last couple of chapters and like the ending was almost forced to work (even though I know it probably took so much planning to execute).
Conclusion:
If you want a book that will have you questioning, “What will happen??” the entire time I would definitely recommend picking this one up!
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