The following review contains spoilers. They are hidden under tags, so beware!
The Reappearance of Rachel Price by Holly Jackson
Publisher: Delacorte Press
Published: April, 2024
Pages: 448
Genres: YA, mystery, suspense, thriller, crime
The Reappearance of Rachel Price opens with the filming of a documentary that tells the story those affected by Rachel Price’s disappearance: the daughter she left behind and the husband who was accused of being involved⎯and later absolved.
I started reading this book as soon as it arrived in the mail, the day it was published. However, the opening sequence dragged on, causing me to put the book down and pick it back up several times. While the documentary was an interesting opening, it went on for far longer than seemed necessary.
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Bell, the main character, has anger issues, which are understandable considering her mother’s disappearance and, later, the revelation of her father’s abuse, but none of it felt well-established. At the beginning, there’s a scene where her father falsely accuses her of forgetting something she hadn’t, and later in the book, it turns out to be a lie, an attempt to control and gaslight her. But to see so few actual examples of abuse and then be told his character is abusive felt misleading. In real life, you might suddenly realize the “nice guy” next door is actually a serial killer, but when that happens in fiction, the reader feels blindsided and cheated. Which is why I wanted to see more of a covertly toxic relationship where he played the victim all while manipulating Bell⎯something subtle that would make it more believable when he’s revealed as the villain.
This was a recurring issue with other relationships in the book. In the beginning, Bell is fighting her attraction to Ash, the cameraman for the documentary crew, but we never got enough context for it, so it didn’t feel genuine to me. The tension just seemed made up and one-sided. Their relationship also seemed like an after-thought, not very developed at all, or perhaps even unnecessary.
As for Carter, all we got were a few of short scenes between them⎯barely enough to establish their close connection. So, when we’re told that Bell used to call Carter her “baby” and that Bell basically raised her, it falls flat because we never see it happen. As with many other aspects of the story, we are simply told it is so. The book never really convinces us of their relationship, so we have no way of actually experiencing it.
And, finally, Rachel. Bell’s reaction to Rachel’s return after years of absence was far from normal. It’s fine for a character to behave in unexpected ways, but her reaction was too extreme to be believable. Also, Bell immediately picks up on her mother’s lie, which felt jarring. For such a long book, having a bit more ambiguity at the beginning, with some understandable suspicion from Bell, would have helped establish why she doesn’t trust her mum, providing a more concrete and, again, believable conflict.
I was excited for the big reveal, since Jackson’s twists are usually clever and surprising, but this one dragged on. The entire thing was delivered in an exhaustingly long monologue, with Rachel recounting the over-the-top story of what happened to her, uninterrupted, for several pages.
Overall, TROFP is an improbable story told with too many excesses. None of the relationships or plot twists felt earned because nothing was-established. Whereas in A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder Jackson managed to create such a well-constructed breadcrumb trail with at least two well-developed characters, in TRORP, it felt like she went in the opposite direction, trying something new that didn’t quite work.
For this review, I chose train tracks. It was the one moment that stayed with me⎯Rachel, reappearing on the train tracks.
I took this photo a few days ago on a trip to Japan. I was on my way back from Ine, about to face three hours on a train. Funnily enough, I also reconnected with someone I hadn’t seen in years just a couple of days later⎯a dear childhood friend I had last met in 2018.
I’m extremely grateful for the short but precious time I got to spend with him and for the privilege of being able to go on a trip and see so much beauty when the world is in such a devastating state.
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