Bel Price was in the backseat when her mother went missing, but because she was two years old, she doesn’t remember the answers everyone wants, and she’s finally made peace with it. But when Rachel reappears sixteen years later, it upends everything Bel knew.
I haven’t read Holly Jackson’s wildly popular A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder series yet, but I requested up this book on NetGalley for the rave reviews those received as much as for the intriguing premise of this story.
Certainly the mystery aspect of this story is well done – there are plenty of twists and turns to keep you off balance, so that every time I thought I’d figured something out it would be revealed as yet another red herring. I also thought the author did a good job of conveying Bel’s experience as the daughter of a missing woman – the fear, resentment, and anger was well-balanced and felt realistic.
However, I did feel that the characters were a bit flat. I didn’t really come to care for anyone, even Bel, and the romance with Ash especially felt almost thrown in at random. I also don’t know how I feel about the ending of the story. I appreciate the answers we get, but what’s presented as a happy ending just felt bizarre to me. I went away thinking that Bel will one day have to unpack an awful lot in therapy.
Disclaimer: I received a copy of this book from NetGalley. This is my honest and voluntary review.
