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A review by screamdogreads
The Reappearance of Rachel Price by Holly Jackson
3.5
"Everyone left, eventually. Wasn't just Rachel Price. People were temporary. It was the one thing you could count on: people always left."
Stories of toxic families like this one are addicting, especially when they're centered around highly unlikable, insufferable characters. It makes for a much more interesting and compelling dynamic, when a land mine is thrown amongst the pages. The Reappearance of Rachel Price is a crossover between a true crime-esque mystery novel, and an extremely dysfunctional toxic family drama novel. Throughout its entirety we're treated to pushy and volatile people, with Bel being the main antagonist. However, despite how quick to anger Bel is, she's a fantastic and fun main character.
Before this, I've never read a single Holly Jackson novel, which gives me no room to comment on how this compares to her other work. Typically, I don't even really read much YA anymore, and honestly, this was entirely purchased due to the bomb-ass special edition I found. It truly was gripping, though. It was unputdownable, one of those novels you just can't escape because you must at all times, know what's happening. Highly atmospheric, enrapturing, entertaining, The Reappearance of Rachel Price had me hooked, entirely.
Stories of toxic families like this one are addicting, especially when they're centered around highly unlikable, insufferable characters. It makes for a much more interesting and compelling dynamic, when a land mine is thrown amongst the pages. The Reappearance of Rachel Price is a crossover between a true crime-esque mystery novel, and an extremely dysfunctional toxic family drama novel. Throughout its entirety we're treated to pushy and volatile people, with Bel being the main antagonist. However, despite how quick to anger Bel is, she's a fantastic and fun main character.
Before this, I've never read a single Holly Jackson novel, which gives me no room to comment on how this compares to her other work. Typically, I don't even really read much YA anymore, and honestly, this was entirely purchased due to the bomb-ass special edition I found. It truly was gripping, though. It was unputdownable, one of those novels you just can't escape because you must at all times, know what's happening. Highly atmospheric, enrapturing, entertaining, The Reappearance of Rachel Price had me hooked, entirely.
"Bel couldn't breathe, but Rachel did, raggedy and hard, wincing from the daylight, from the pressure on her feet, holding her body at a strange, twisted angle. It must have hurt, coming back from the dead."
Equal parts gossipy small-town drama, and broken family voyeurism, this little mystery novel is a whole heap of fun. Towards the middle, it did slow down, just a little. There was a small, quiet dip while all the dynamics settled into place. It was great, getting to see Bel navigate the return of her mother, but, at the same time, it lagged just a touch.
The thing is, two things are fighting for center stage here - the mystery surrounding Rachel and figuring out the battlefield that is this family, and at times, one can cloud the other. It's not just any mystery novel though. It's a deep dive into a some twisted and ruined lives, the stress and anxiety of which, bleeds off the pages. This is an exploration of what family loyalty really means, of how far one would go to protect their own, and what it means to have your life sucked into a swirling whirlwind of secrets and lies.
"It was easy to push people away when you knew how. Bel had a clean record; she was very, very good at it. Making people leave her before they chose to go anyway. Same result in the end, because everybody left eventually, but it hurt less. That was what life was, choosing the way that hurt less."