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.

March 1, 2024
The mother Annabel Price thought was dead returns with a story about where she's been--but 18-year-old Bel knows she's lying. Ever since Rachel Price's unexplained disappearance 16 years ago, true-crime fans have come up with plentiful theories about what happened. Bel and her family members, who are white, cobbled together lives for themselves after a jury found Bel's father, Charlie, not guilty of murdering his wife. Beset with medical bills for his elderly father, Charlie recently agreed to participate in a documentary about the unsolved mystery. Black British filmmaker Ramsey Lee is well into the process of interviewing the Prices when his project gets an unanticipated boost after an exhausted, disheveled Rachel staggers back into town. Rachel is eager to resume her role in the family, but the inconsistencies in her accounts raise alarms for Bel. With the help of the youngest member of the filmmaking team, Bel sets out to learn what really happened. Along the way, someone else disappears, and Bel uncovers a tangle of lies that make it impossible for her to trust people she thought she knew. When things come to a head the night of her grandfather's 85th birthday party, Bel ends up in a race for her life. The last quarter of the novel tears along at a breakneck pace before arriving at a satisfying and unexpected conclusion. Readers will be captivated by this twisty thriller and its uncompromising protagonist. (Thriller. 14-18)

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April 1, 2024
Grades 9-12 Jackson (A Good Girl's Guide to Murder, 2020) hits the shelves with another captivating thriller doggedly helmed by a brave teen. As a young child, Bel Price witnessed her mother's disappearance. Now 18, Bel still struggles with being unable to remember the event. Even so, she agrees to participate in a true-crime documentary about her mother, who incredibly reappears during the filming, once again causing Bel to process a major life event in the public eye. A well-written exploration of mother-daughter relationships ensues, all while Jackson expertly lays the groundwork for a head-spinning mystery. Bel's quest for truth (trying to understand her mother, why she's been gone, and whether she's lying) forms the story's backbone, proving the teen's courage in the face of truly unforeseen circumstances. Jackson's latest showcases her knack for penning top-notch YA thrillers and mysteries that also hold crossover appeal for adult readers.

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May 1, 2024

Gr 9 Up-Prickly 18-year-old Annabelle "Bel" Price has lived almost her whole life in the shadow of the disappearance of her mother, Rachel, 16 years before. Only one person was with Rachel when she disappeared, and that was Bel, but since she was a toddler, she remembers nothing. Since her disappearance, Rachel's case has spawned numerous true crime podcasts and conspiracy theories, and now Bel's father Charlie-who was initially arrested for having a hand in Rachel's disappearance-has agreed to allow a documentary crew to interview the Price family: Bel's Aunt Sherry and Uncle Jeff and her best friend/cousin Carter, Grandpa Pat who is suffering from dementia, and Rachel's spiteful mother. When Rachel dramatically appears on the Price family's front doorstep in the middle of filming, Bel's world explodes. At first Rachel seems relieved to be home as she tells the cameras her story of abduction and escape, but when the rest of the Price family act strangely and inconsistencies begin to arise in her mother's story, Bel becomes determined to find out what happened. Readers may struggle to get past Bel's antagonistic behavior toward anyone who isn't her father-Bel consistently goes out of her way to hurt people in order to prevent them from forming an attachment with her-but underneath is an engaging story of intrigue, deceit, and the secrets that a family can hold. The Price family motto "family first" hits different every time as the story unfolds. Characters are cued white. VERDICT Jackson continues to beguile and intrigue readers with this absorbing mystery. Recommended.-Tyler Hixson

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