The Reappearance of Rachel Price

[3.5]

The Reappearance of Rachel Price is a new mystery novel from the author of A Good Girl's Guide to Murder with a brand new story, and a brand new heroine.

The writing was just as easy and fast to read as in AGGGTM, the mystery just making you keep going and being unable to stop. The book was a lot of fun from beginning to the end and I had a blast but sadly I do not think it quite reaches the quality of AGGGTM. 

First things first, the heroine is an absolute edgelord. She constantly made me think of a 14 year old going through her emo rebel phrase (not an insult, I also went through an emo rebel phrase at that age), she's 18 though. I think Holly Jackson meant to make Bel unlikable and i both enjoyed it, and found the way it was done cringe. Bel is brash, hurts people to keep them away and is all around unpleasant. I didn't mind it (for the most part) but I know a lot of people will have less patience to a character like this than me so here's your warning. What did bother me though, is that Holly will beat you over the head with reminding you that she keeps hurting people cause of trauma so don't worry, you wont forget it. I get irked when an author doesn't trust me enough to understand what they're trying to portray after saying it once or twice. Instead, lets say it 15 times to make sure I remember. I will say however, I really did find it refreshing to have a character so different from Pip. I like Pip, but it was nice to see such a different voice with a different approach.

There was a lack of paper clippings, recordings etc. which were my favorite part of AGGTM. A bit of a bummer but I think it makes sense in the way the story was told. Bel isn't a journalist like Pip, she doesn't want to solve the murder as much as she just wants to be left alone with the people she cares about. She is more emotional and cynical, and isn't quite as experienced as Pip. She isn't going into it prepared, she just kind of does things the moment she gets an idea in her head.

The mystery was interesting and kept me going, I did guess the captor early on but there was enough twists and turns to keep me second guessing myself and overall i enjoyed that part of the book the most. 

Sadly, my biggest complaint was how disappointing the ending was. The last 30% of the book are super dense, and overly dramatic, and the conclusion just left me wishing for way more. I will refrain from saying more as it's a new release, and I would hate to ruin or accidentally spoil the experience for others.

The audiobook is superb, and i highly recommend it.