Lights. Camera. Lies.
Eighteen-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 dredged up from the past when the Price family agrees 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 . . .
Important message : this review contains big spoilers. Be aware.
I have so much to say.
I was addicted, totally addicted to the story. I liked Bel who was not a perfect girl or the cliché of "not like the other girl", she was just herself. How can you not like a teenager that calls her grandmother a Horsefucker? I loved her. Ash, a bit less, he was sometimes weird, so he gave me a suspicious vibe. But hey not everyone can be perfect, eh? Going back to Bel, the fact she suspects Rachel when she comes back was weird at first, but at the same time, Rachel was shady as fuck. I had a bad feeling from her since the beginning, even when she had disappeared. Things didn’t add up to her story. So, I completely understood Bel to investigate her own mother.
Here's how it went in my mind. You need to be attentive a bit here. I knew about Carter being Rachel’s daughter since the moment they met. It was obvious. But my theory was that Jeff (Carter’s dad and brother to Charlie (husband of Rachel)) was the one who kidnapped Rachel when he knew she was pregnant because his wife wanted a baby so bad. I even thought Jeff kidnapped her and had a kid with her so he could give it to his wife, but that was stretching and awfully cruel. So, option one was my principal guess. I was half wrong (and half right!)
Honestly, the reveal at the end is the reason I gave it 4 stars instead of 5. I’m still not sure about what the truth is and what is not. And this is also the reason why it's under spoilers because you cannot talk about that book without saying anything.
We know Rachel organized her disappearance AND her reappearance. What could she do after that, I say? And learning that Charlie was the principal culprit, wanting his wife dead because he wanted control…? I was like… pardon me? We see some hints of control of him, but not to the point of being a psychopath that wants his wife dead? In fact, we never know WHY he wanted to kill her except for what Rachel says that he lost control of her. But it was so flat for an answer? The whole story where Charlie's dad sequestrated Rachel to « save her from his own son » until he had a stroke and lost his memory. Convenient, isn’t it? Even when the proof added up to Rachel’s story, conveniently with what Bel had found… I don’t know, I’m still not 100% sure that everything was the truth, especially when Charlie and Jeff meet their end (real end ☠️).
I also didn’t understand Bel and Carter believed what they believed. Bel knew her dad her whole life. Yes, he lied to her. Yes, he said things… but at the point of shifting 180° to be by her mom who lied to her every occasion she got? That she knew for three weeks and had suspicions of her for the entire three weeks? Like how? I’m sorry but I would have listened to my dad a bit more and to other persons and try to find more proof that everything my mom says is true, because Rachel was damn good at making her story believable with things SHE controlled or did. And even Carter? Okay, you find out your parents aren’t your real parents, but they didn’t know she was Rachel’s kid. Not the entire time. They just wanted a baby and to love her and bam, she turns her back on the people who raised her for 15 years? Gurl what?
So, in the end… I’m still confused. I loved the book, the True crime vibe, the mystery. Like I said, I was addicted completely. But at the end, I was SURE we would have a twist, learning Rachel lied and Charlie wasn’t the culprit, making Bel in an awful position of « holy fuck what did I do? ». But we didn’t. But I’m still pretty sure there was a lot of bullshit in Rachel’s story. Guess we’ll never know. I still don’t trust her and my instinct are pretty good to follow, so hum, I guess it's that.
But I recommend, absolutely. 100% for the moment. Even if I spoiled everything, the book can still be enjoyed because now you can try to see every piece of clues in the book. I personally love to do that and may do it when I buy a paper version of it.
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