The Return of Ellie Black

Emiko Jean

Crime Thriller

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.

“I stayed up late into the night turning the pages until I learned the truth of what happened to Ellie—and gasped when Jean delivered a truly jaw-dropping twist.” —Jessica Knoll, New York Times bestselling author of Luckiest Girl Alive and Bright Young Women

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.

The debut thriller from New York Times bestselling author Emiko Jean, The Return of Ellie Black is both a feminist tour de force about the embers of hope that burn in the aftermath of tragedy and a twisty page-turner that will shock and surprise you right up until the final page.

-Excerpt taken from Goodreads.

Check Goodreads to see the book’s ratings.

My Opinion

(5 / 5) The first time I read Emiko Jean was for a book tour for, Mika in Real Life. It is a book about life and love and finding yourself. I really, really loved her writing so I requested this book but got a completely different genre than I was expecting.

“I wish this wasn’t what it means to be female—it is not a matter of if something bad will happen, but when.”

Detective Casey Calhoun gets the call that Ellie Black has been found, alive, in the woods two years after she went missing. Casey’s own sister disappeared 20 years prior and is the reason she became a detective. “If you’re going to be an officer, you’ll have to be better than a woman.”

Casey now finds more questions than answers and cannot make the ends meet. The investigation is getting nowhere and the victim, Ellie, is refusing to talk. It is a carefully choreographed dance of revealing and concealing the truth. Casey is determined to do what she can without the girl needing to relive the trauma and finds clues along the way that make her question even more.

“People in general, should spend less time protecting daughters and more time worrying about sons.”

The writing, once again her writing! She has an often poetic way with words combined with the ability to bring in emotion very eloquently. I could feel the difficulty Casey was having when Ellie wouldn’t talk. I could feel the urgency, the despair and more. I could feel her mind turning things over and re-analyzing again and again.  I could also feel Ellie’s absolute horror and love and resolve when I didn’t yet understand the “why.” I love an author that can unexpectedly build feelings with very few words..

Ultimately, this story stayed with me and rolled around in my head for days. It twisted and surprised me in the end with an unexpected reveal. I will continue to seek out Emiko Jean for her astounding ability to wrap me up in the words of her novels.

General content summary: F words= 19

C***= 1, language 

Racial prejudice 

Missing girl and investigation (grief)

Family member cancer death (few details of care)

Intimacy (closed door scene, 2x)

Alcohol (adults and teens)

Family member death (previous, memories of body, murder/suicide, few details, grief)

Drugs (teen possession, previous)

Cigarettes (teen)

Missing woman found (descriptions of abused body, trauma and more)

Contemplation of suicide (brief, previous)

F/F marriage with child 

Some details of another missing woman taken and found dead 

Rape (before and after details, evidence of assault in physical exam, birth control, referenced multiple times)

Hunting (and eating animals)

Story of a pregnancy where mom and baby did not survive 

Panic attack and trauma 

Physical violence (slap, sounds of aggression, screaming, physical evidence of violence, punching, choking, breaking bones)

Captivity (little food and water, deplorable conditions)

Killing (no details)

Teen pregnancy (previous)

Disassociation (multiple)

Bomb (attempted explosion to kill)

Gunshots (death, blood)

Animal attack

Thank you to Simon & Schuster and NetGalley for the copy!

The book releases May 7, 2024.

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