Published: April 2024
Pages: 438
Series: Standalone
Summary
Lights. Camera. Lies.
18-year-old Bel has lived her whole life in the shadow of her mom’s mysterious disappearance. Sixteen years ago, Rachel Price vanished and young Bel was the only witness, but she has no memory of it. Rachel is gone, long presumed dead, and Bel wishes everyone would just move on.
But the case is dragged up from the past when the Price family agree to a true crime documentary. Bel can’t wait for filming to end, for life to go back to normal. And then the impossible happens. Rachel Price reappears, and life will never be normal again.
Rachel has an unbelievable story about what happened to her. Unbelievable, because Bel isn’t sure it’s real. If Rachel is lying, then where has she been all this time? And – could she be dangerous? With the cameras still rolling, Bel must uncover the truth about her mother, and find out why Rachel Price really came back from the dead . . .
My thoughts
I am a sucker for a mystery. I eat them up. I wasn’t the biggest fan of A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder but I loved Five Survive so I had to read Jackson’s new book.
I was so intrigued. Imagine your mum disappearing when you were a child and your entire life has revolved around her disappearance, just for her to reappear as your prepare to shoot a documentary that you don’t want to do but the money is good. My mind was racing with theories and trying to piece the puzzle together!
This is also a large family, plenty of characters to get familiar with and some strange dynamics at play. As the story continues there is a documentary being filmed and a range of tension being pulled from that. You’re not quite sure what is a red herring and what is a real clue.
There was an odd bit of romance which (although I loved it in Five Survive) I was not a fan of in this book. It just didn’t fit, whatever it was going on felt so forced, perhaps to allow for certain plot points to develop. It wasn’t authentic like I’ve seen Jackson write before.
But otherwise I really enjoyed the story line and I loved the mystery. There’s a bit of a locked room, impossible scenario which I can never look away from. It had me triggered a little bit because she was a baby when this happened and when things involve children I’m rather sensitive.. but that wasn’t a huge focus and of course, no harm comes to the baby! The most important bit.
Would I recommend?
If you want a nice and easy ‘beach read’ mystery to get you thinking and crime solving then I would recommend!