The Reappearance of Rachel Price

I couldn’t put this down once I began reading it. The twisty turns and dramatic reveals throughout this story were absolutely brilliant. I really couldn’t figure out who the antagonist character was and who’d been the one who’d taken 16 years of Bel’s life from her with her mother’s disappearance. Bel began the documentary with her father, who had initially been arrested and jailed for the disappearance of her mother but was released 7 months later due to circumstantial evidence being so minutiae and his alibi was convincing. While he and Bel begin the documentary together, there’s nothing in it that will surprise her as she has poured over the evidence and all the police reports leaving her just as stumped as the professional detectives. When the family members gather for a group recording of their individual testimony and reactions to old video footage of her mom and of Bel and her baby cousin Carter right before her mom had gone and some time afterwards. Bel can see how happy her mom is with her, a mom who is cooing and protective and loving to her, she can’t quite accept that her mom left on her volition she had to have met foul play of some kind, no matter what others may believe. Her father claims her mom wasn’t herself in the months leading up to the day she vanished and left her car on adrift in a snow bank with the heat running and 2 yo Bel in backseat. She was found by a neighbor and police were called. She had never seen her mother again and had since been terrified of the back seats. At age 12, her dad had run into Taco Bell for them after celebrating her bday at six flags and she’d wet her pants and become absolutely hysterical. Her dad says he gone for 15-20 mins tops but she swears it felt like hours and hours.
A reappearance of a crucial person has left bel with more questions than answers and resurfaces memories she’d thought she’d lost. She recruits one of the videographers from from the doc team to set out an do some of her investigative digging and she finds some staggering, life altering information that leaves her profoundly changed and her life forever impacted by the events surrounding her moms fateful last day with her 16 yrs before and the disturbing truth of who took her mom, where she was for 16 years and how she’d made her way back to the family especially at such an opportune time- during a highly paid documentary about her missing years from her daughter and husband. Just when I thought I’d figured it out, this cleverly written plot turns itself upside down and comes at you sideways leaving you legitimately shell shocked at the despicable horrific trauma that was inflicted upon her mom and their entire family and the main character behind it is perhaps the biggest betrayal of Bel’s life. She lost a lot during the truth finding mission she’d set out to complete but yet she’d gained two most extraordinarily valuable additions to her life and her story. It is only because of these 2 figures that Bel was able to move on forward with a newfound confidence and graciousness that prior to this project she wouldn’t have ever suspected nor known what life with these attributes are. It may have taken nearly 2 decades, but Bel and her small enclosed circle of her family she’s chosen to keep in her life was far worth the confessions, truth revelations and facing the harsh realities she was forced to endure and face head on.
A captivating and heart wrenching story that has complex characters and entwined connections between the most unexpected of characters and their engagements within this story over 16 years.

This is one of those books once you finish you with you could erase what you read just to get the feeling of reading it for the first time again. i devoured this, read from cover to cover in some hours and it is absolutely amazing. i loved the good girls guide to murder but there were slow points during it and it took me a second to really get locked into it. this book had me locked into it by the end of the first chapter. the characters and plot are so well rounded and interesting, made me sad when i finished this book. 100% recommend reading, it’s worth the complete disconnect from reality.

I bought it on my kindle the first day it came out, April 2, and finished it the same day. It was amazing and „plotty, twisty“ (inside joke for the people who read it already!) So great! One of the best books ever! A Good Girls Guide To Murder is amazing, but it isn’t even close to this book. Bel, Rachel and Carter are so well developed characters and the writing style is also perfect. Drop everything and read it now.