The Reappearance of Rachel Price

Starred review from February 5, 2024
Jackson (Five Survive) delivers a commanding performance in this smart, meticulously crafted thriller. When Annabel “Bel” Price was 22 months old, she was left alone in the back seat of her mother’s car, with the adult nowhere to be found. Sixteen years later, the prickly 18-year-old’s mother is still missing, and Bel’s big questions—Was she abandoned? Was her mother abducted?—have never been answered. The arrival of a film crew, which is working with the Price family to record a documentary about the mystery, exacerbates unhealed wounds and dredges up long-buried memories and old conspiracies. Bel is convinced that her mother ran away; the town believes that Bel’s father killed her, even though he was exonerated; and Bel’s paternal grandfather, who has dementia, doesn’t remember anything. It’s only when Bel’s mother suddenly reappears that the real mystery begins. Via Bel’s acerbic multilayered first-person narration, Jackson keeps the intricate plot—punctuated with twist after shocking twist—firmly in hand, doling out clues that will have readers guessing right along with the characters. The protagonists read as white. Ages 14–up. Agent: Sam Copeland, RCW Literary.