Everyone leaves. That’s Belle fallback for life. After all, her mother left her when she was only 2 years old. It was cold out, but toddler Belle was found in the backseat of her mother’s car on the side of the road, with no sign of her mother. Now Belle pushes people away before they leave of their own accord.

Belle is 18 now and living with her dad who is her world. She is close with her 16 year old cousin Carter who knows Belle’s ways inside and out. Their grandpa has dementia now, but her uncle and aunt are close by too and life is okay.

Belle feels a little uncomfortable with the film crew who want to make a new documentary. It will be called The Disappearance of Rachel Price and Belle knows her father was paid well for the privilege. After all, he needs the money for his father’s constant care. They are asked how they feel about their wife and mother never leaving a trace. The Rachel Price case has become famous through podcasts and social media and amateur sleuths trying to figure out what happened when she disappeared twice in one day. What really happened?

Belle answers as well as she can as she watches a guy her age stumbling his way across the set. He’s supposed to be the camera assistant, but she’s not sure he knows what he’s doing. Her main answer is, “I don’t know,” which is no answer at all really, but all she has about that day. She’s been asked her entire life what she remembers, has been stalked, kidnapped for a few hours by a crazed fan of the case, but still has no idea of the truth.

And then Rachel Price comes back…

She reappears on a road, thin, her clothes in rags, and her ankle bloody from some sort of chain. Belle is in shock and her father just can’t get his head around it. Where was she for the last 16 years?

Belle can’t settle around this person who is supposed to be her mother. Did she just up and leave? Did something else happen? Her mother has answers, but none Belle believes. Now she is chasing what the film crew and tv stations camped outside their house again want – the truth.

Wow! I’m a big fan of Holly Jackson and this would definitely be up there with the first book in the Good Girl’s Guide to Murder series. The Reappearance of Rachel Price has lots of my favourite things in a novel – mystery, flawed characters to unpick, revenge, surprises and twists to keep me guessing.

I was constantly trying to work out who was lying and felt for Belle as she was pulled this way and that, trying to figure things out, all while trying to protect herself from more hurt, disappointment and rage at the world. I did want to give her a shake a few times when she was so demanding of those around her, but ultimately this was the way she had grown up with the spotlight on her after her mother’s disappearance.

I LOVED the ending, even though it could have completely blown up in their faces. Would love another book to follow showing it do that, but I think poor Belle and her mum have had enough.

Author – Holly Jackson

Age – 14+

(2024, Action, Betrayal, Harper Collins, Mystery, Disappearance, Reappearance, Escape, Freedom, Questions, Answers, Documentary, Family, Family, Revenge, Podcasts, Crime, Abduction, Kidnapped, Infamous, Lies, Lying, Truth, Thriller, Booktok, Tiktok, Cousin, Without a Trace, Missing, Secrets)