Title: The Return of Ellie Black
Author: Emiko Jean
Publication: May 7, 2024
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Genre: Psychological Thriller
Pages: 316
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SYNOPSIS: (From Goodreads)
Detective Chelsey Calhoun’s life is turned upside down when she gets the call Ellie Black, a girl who disappeared years earlier, has resurfaced in the woods of Washington state—but Ellie’s reappearance leaves Chelsey with more questions than answers.
It’s been twenty years since Detective Chelsey Calhoun’s sister vanished when they were teenagers, and ever since she’s been searching: for signs, for closure, for other missing girls. But happy endings are rare in Chelsey’s line of work.
Then a glimmer: local teenager Ellie Black, who disappeared without a trace two years earlier, has been found alive in the woods of Washington State.
But something is not right with Ellie. She won’t say where she’s been, or who she’s protecting, and it’s up to Chelsey to find the answers. She needs to get to the bottom of what happened to Ellie: for herself, and for the memory of her sister, but mostly for the next girl who could be taken—and who, unlike Ellie, might never return.
REVIEW:
**A copy of this book was provided by the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.**
This story reminded me of another story I recently read that had a similar theme, where someone returns, and you weren’t sure what to take from their behavior. I liked that storyline, so I was excited to see what Emiko Jean would do. She did not disappoint with the twists and turns she threw into this story!
The story follows the return of Ellie Black as who has been missing and they are trying to find out where she has been. Her behavior is instantly off, but obviously it’s almost to be expected after what she went through. I don’t know if it’s my prior experience reading books of similar plots, but I was suspicious instantly. I did not know what to expect from Ellie, but it was nothing good. I think the people around her did everything right, and Jean did a great job of building the questions and making you need to know what was actually going on.
While I enjoyed this story, I felt it was a bit slow. It took me a long time to read. I never thought I wouldn’t finish it, because I really needed to know what was happening and how it was going to end, but I put it down and picked it back up a lot. I wish it had read a little quicker, and this really would have made this book.
With that being said, the story itself was good. I liked the characters, and you really learned to either love or hate them as you worked through the story. Had the story moved a little faster in the first 2/3 of the story, then I would have been much happier. Either way, Jean’s writing is smooth and she uses words to craft a beautifully suspenseful story that left me shook at the end. I had not seen that ending coming.
Pick up a copy of The Return of Ellie Black and let me know what you think!
