#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • From the author of the multimillion-copy bestselling A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder series and Five Survive comes a gripping mystery thriller following one teen’s search for the truth about her mother’s shocking disappearance—and even more shocking reappearance—during the filming of a true crime documentary. A COSMOPOLITAN BEST YOUNG ADULT BOOK OF THE YEAR 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 . . . From world-renowned author Holly Jackson comes a mind-blowing masterpiece about one girl’s search for the truth, and the terror in finding out who your family really is.

本作の真髄は、失踪した母の帰還という衝撃以上に、真実の「演技性」を暴く冷徹な洞察にあります。ドキュメンタリー撮影という舞台を通じ、家族の絆がいかに虚飾に満ちているか。信じたい物語と残酷な現実の間で揺れる主人公ベルの葛藤は、読者の倫理観を鋭く揺さぶります。 映像化ではカメラ越しの緊張感が際立ちますが、原作はテキストならではの筆致でベルの深淵な内面を掘り下げています。映像が映す虚像と、活字が炙り出す疑念。両者を補完し合うことで、物語は「家族という名の他者」が抱える底知れぬ闇を、より鮮烈に完成させるのです。