This is Emiko Jean’s first foray into thriller territory and she certainly nailed it. Ellie Black went missing two years ago. She suddenly shows up, on a hiking path, and is found by two hikers. Detective Chelsey Calhoun worked Ellie’s missing person case. She’s elated that Ellie has been found and is eager to speak with her so she can find who took her. Ellie is evasive, though. She isn’t cooperative and this leaves Chelsey to wonder if it’s PTSD or something else.

I absolutely loved this one. I was hooked from the beginning and loved the multiple POV. Chelsey also has secrets and the twists were great. It’s definitely a page turner and I couldn’t put it down. I read it in two days.

If you're looking for a new page-turner to add to your TBR, THE RETURN OF ELLIE BLACK deserves to make your short list at the very least. I read this novel in one long sitting because I just couldn't put it down. There were definitely some references to types of content I don't love to read about, but nothing happened on the page that was too graphic. Please heed the CWs.

Seventeen year old Ellie Black leaves a party in search of a bathroom and disappears without a trace. Two years later Ellie is found wandering the woods in Washington state.

Detective Chelsey Calhoun has followed her dad’s footsteps into the police force, she is driven after the disappearance and murder of her sister when she was a teenager. She was assigned Ellie’s case when she originally disappeared and she is determined to get the man who kidnapped Ellie.

Something seems off with Ellie, and when she stops cooperating with the investigation, it makes detective Calhoun that much more determined to get to the bottom of this mystery.

There really isn’t much I can tell you about this book, there are so many twists and turns. The book is primarily told through the POV’s of Chelsey and Ellie with others sprinkled throughout. Just when I was confident I knew where the author was going, she would throw a twist that sent me in a completely different direction. This book was impossible to put down.

Some of the descriptions of Ellie when she was kidnapped were difficult to read so please check TW before reading.

If you like fast paced thrillers I think you will love this one.

Detective Chelsey Calhoun is awakened by a call late one night: Ellie Black has been found after missing for two years. This news launches Chelsey in a fast paced mystery thriller of trying to figure out who took Ellie and where she’s been all this time. To make things more complicated, Chelsey is still haunted by the loss of her sister whose murder twenty years ago broke her family apart.

Let me just say that overall I enjoyed this book. It was a page turner, and I was desperate to know how it ended. However, as I read, there are several things that pulled me out of the thrill of the story, and I found the ending pretty disappointing.

Let’s start with the positives.

Positives:
1. I thought the characters were fun. Even though they were very stereotypical (loner small town copy, bland supportive spouse, every man is violent and dismissive, every woman is angry and unsatisfied) this actually made it easy to follow the story because you didn’t have to think too much about their motivations. I know that doesn’t sound like a good thing, but I think the plot was twisty enough without having to also question what the characters were up to. It makes for a good mystery thriller to read for someone who’s never read one before.
2. I loved Danny and Ellie’s relationship. I thought they were sweet and their problems and interactions before and after her abduction felt so realistic. Ellie’s parents were also written really well. The way they handled their daughter's disappearance felt very true.
4. The switching POVs were a little jarring at first, but it was easy to understand who was telling the story, and I thought it made for an interesting story format.
5. The description of Ellie’s abduction and her time with her captor was absolutely chilling, and some of the things that happened to her will definitely haunt me for a while.
6. I really loved seeing Chelsey’s internal monologues and doubts as she went through the case and how much she cared about the people involved.

Cons:
1. I really thought we were going to get a bit more about Chelsey’s Japanese heritage, or her trying to learn about her heritage.
2. I love police procedural shows, and I understand you just have to ignore some of the science because it won’t make sense. But the part with the DNA? I’m pretty sure that’s not how DNA works, though I might be wrong.
3. I didn’t mind the repeated comments about the violence towards women, because it is true especially for the mystery thriller genre, but why not go louder with it? Why not have Chelsey make an impassioned speech to her husband or boss about why she has to do certain things? Why not have her talk about this to Ellie?
4. All the reveals were so unsatisfying. One of the reveals was easy to guess, and the other one was such a blah moment because there was no emotional buildup for the surprise. The reveal at the very end was silly and so out of the blue. To make it effective, there should have been some hints scattered throughout the book so that the reader could revel in that moment of connecting all the dots. Or we should have met more of the characters involved so we’d feel a connection to what’s happening on the page.


I hope I didn’t spoil anything for those who still want to pick up the book. And it is definitely a fun book to pick up, especially if the things that bothered me don’t bother you. I’d recommend it for an easy summer read.


Thank you Netgalley and Simon & Schuster for this arc in return for an honest review.

Crazy thriller that kept me interested in the story and how it was going to be resolved. Did not expect the ending and all the connections to the twist.

Let’s start with the fact that I finished 70% of the book in one day alone - once it gets going, it was hard to put down! I loved the way that the chapters were put into two different perspectives as well, I think it helped me keep the pages turning. With mysteries and thrillers, especially those with a “whodunnit” type of vibe, I always try to guess the ending and who is involved. When I tell you that I SO did not see that twist coming!!! I absolutely love that in a book, I was totally stunned. And I’m glad the author leaned into the details and background after the reveal at the end, but I think I wanted more from that development.

For more than twenty years, Chelsey Calhoun has been plagued by the disappearance of her younger sister. In an attempt to aid others in escaping peril, she follows in her father's footsteps and joins the local police department. A girl is discovered by two hikers while they are exploring the Washington State forests. The girl? Ellie Black vanished two years ago. Ellie stays silent and declines to cooperate with the investigation, despite Chelsey's tireless efforts to bring Ellie to justice. Chelsey finds that Ellie is still silent when she looks more closely at the evidence. Ellie must act quickly to save the other girls because time is of the essence for Chelsey. This compelling narrative cleverly switches from Ellie's point of view and the third person. You can truly feel and sense how frail Ellie is and how driven she is to complete the tasks at hand when you see the world through her eyes. The more that is learned about Ellie's experiences, the darker this story becomes. Nevertheless, despite everything Ellie has been through, there are moments of gentler, quieter tone scattered between the high drama, high intensity chapters that give us a glimpse of optimism that her life may return to normal.

This book's twists and turns are astounding, but they also provide readers—as well as Chelsey and Ellie—closure. I'm eager to read more writing by Emiko Jean because this was written so well..

Thank you netgalley and Simon & Schuster for the advance readers copy. This is my first book by this author and i look forward to more to come.

When Ellie Black disappears, the hunt for her seems all too familiar. Young women have been disappearing from the local area for many years and never found. But after two years missing, Ellie is found wandering and returned to her family. After two years, this is not the same Ellie that disappeared and it's up to the police to investigate her disappearance and where she has been while missing.

The story has elements of previous thrillers, but Emiko Jean has given the story over to the women involved, a twist on most police procedurals, a welcome twist. Multiple POVs try to fill in the blanks while showing the courage it would take for Ellie to survive her captivity and the dedication of the young deputy who will not stop until the mystery is solved and the criminals punished. THE RETURN OF ELLIE BLACK may be fiction but is all too sadly based on the sensation headlines we see too often for comfort.

Pretty cool mystery... Didn't think of it as great but it wasn't bad. Overall, A solid book. Had couple aha moments that were really nice

I absolutely loved this book and gave it a 5⭐️ it’s so well written and I was so impressed with the story and the twists. I liked how real and raw these characters are . I couldn’t stop reading it and I enjoyed the shocking twist, didn’t see that coming. Such a great book.

Ya girl loves a cult-ish turn! (I mean, it wasn't a cult, but it had those kinds of vibes...)

The Return of Ellie Black really surprised me! It was sometimes a bit too convenient in what was happening, but it did keep me engaged and I read it very quickly. I would definitely recommend this book.

For vibes, if you like to read seasonally, this definitely gave me more fall vibes than anything. Plan your TBR accordingly.

Detective Chesley Calhoun is awakened by a phone call from her precinct that hikers have found an emaciated young woman wandering in the forest, saying her name is Elizabeth Black, a local teen who went missing two years ago. Ellie’s unexplained reappearance generates more questions than answers: Who took Ellie? Where has she been? What has she been through? But Ellie refuses to explain.

The story unfolds from multiple perspectives. The reader gets to unravel the threads of Ellie’s case along with Chelsey, while Ellie’s POV takes the reader through all of the horrors she endured while she was missing. This book is the Goldilocks of propulsion: neither fast-paced nor slow burn, but the perfect amount of haunting, simmering suspense. It held me in its grip the entire time, unable to turn away from the dark themes of violence against women and manipulation.

The audiobook is a full cast narration, which really brings the plot to life and gives each character a distinct voice. It’s also the best way to absorb Emiko Jean’s lyrical prose, in my opinion. I both read and listened to this one, and both formats are excellent, but if you have the chance, definitely go for the audiobook!

Many thanks to Simon & Schuster, Simon Audio, and Simon Books Buddy for the advance copies!

I don't even know how to review this book. It was excellent. The style in which it was written, and the storyline, all too familiar now, along with great characters. Must read for sure!

An addictively dark thriller, that I absolutely loved!

Seventeen year-old Ellie Black leaves a party in search of a restroom and without a trace, she never returns. Two years later she’s discovered wandering in the woods. A shell of her former self.

Her parents and boyfriend are thankful she’s alive and try and help her in any way they can. But when it comes time for Ellie to tell the police where she has been, she stays silent and refuses to help with the investigation. Chelsey Calhoun, the lead detective assigned to Ellies case needs to find out what really happened to Ellie, because Ellie may not be the only victim.

I enjoyed the multi POV’s of the victim and the detective assigned to her case. I thought the author did a great job of writing about a sensitive subject with respect and understanding. It was twisty, shocking and heartbreaking, this story captured me from the start and kept me riveted right to the end with some surprises I didn't see coming. I had the honor of reading this ARC thanks to NetGalley, Simon and Schuster, and the author, Emiko Jean.

I received an ARC of this book from Netgalley and Simon & Schuster in exchange for an honest review.

Detective Chelsey Calhoun's sister went missing when they were teenagers and she was the last one to see her alive. In the years since becoming a cop, she is drawn to cases of missing girls, yearning to save them when she couldn't save her sister.

One of those girls is Ellie Black who is found alive in the woods over two years since she disappeared. Chelsey is hopeful that Ellie's case is one in which justice will prevail, but Ellie is evasive and doesn't want to help the investigation.

The story is told in alternating views as Chelsey tries to figure out what is going on with Ellie and where she's been and Ellie tells her story from the night of her disappearance to the present. This story is layered excellently with just enough given at a time to keep the suspense going. The twist was unexpected and had me flipping back to see if I missed any hints.

I tend to prefer my thrillers to be fast paced and action packed, but The Return of Ellie Black is not like that. To me, this story actually starts off very slow and is told from multiple POVs with multiple flashbacks. I wasn’t completely sold with the twists at the end and I was left with some questions, but overall I enjoyed this read and would read another thriller by this author.

Thank you to the author and Netgalley for an eARC of this book.

Many thanks to NetGalley and Simon & Schuster for gifting me a digital ARC of this wonderful police procedural/thriller by Emiko Jean. All opinions expressed in this review are my own - 4.5 stars rounded up!

Chelsey became a detective, following in her dad's footsteps, and is still haunted by the murder of her sister when they were teenagers. Chelsey becomes obsessed when she receives a call that Ellie Black, a girl who disappeared years ago, has been found alive. After interviewing her, Chelsey is convinced that Ellie knows more than she is letting on and she fears there may be more victims.

Wow - this was a wonderful book and I gasped out loud at the twist! Chelsey was such a good character - a good detective, but still reeling from her past and not able to move on. Written from Chelsey's POV as well as from Ellie's, we learn of Ellie's experiences in captivity and they will chill you to the bone; the fear is palpable. We see the emotional toll that an investigation like this takes on Chelsey's personal life and relationships. I also appreciated Ellie's therapy session info to help us understand her. The ending was perfection. This is a new to me author, but I highly recommend this book and can't wait to read more from her.

An immersive psychological thriller-mystery, that’s gripping, dark, and heartbreaking.



Detective Chelsey Calhoun receives a phone call informing her that Ellie Black, a missing teen from one of her previous cases, has been found. Chelsey jumps into action but can't help but think about her sister who went missing years ago under similar circumstances. Ellie isn't giving up any information and Chelsey leaves no stone unturned in search of answers. 



This was a deliberate and at times unsettling tale of captivity, manipulation, and trauma; taking us deep into the depraved world of the real life monsters that prey on women.
Please review TW’s before reading - certain topics may be disturbing for some readers, but nothing is too gruesome in description.

Jean did an incredible job setting up the plot by weaving back and forth from the past and present. The dual timelines made for a perfectly executed, fast-paced page turner.

What a dark and disturbing tale! From the get-go The Return of Ellie Black offered up something you don’t often find in a thriller. Underneath the deftly crafted characters and twisty, twisty plot was a critique on misogyny and how women seem to often get blamed for the actions of men. Thought-provoking and profound, it certainly had me reexamining relationships from my past. That, however, wasn’t the only successful aspect to this truly shocking thriller.

Told from an omniscient perspective, the two central characters were well-drawn and fully fleshed out. Both clearly dealing with trauma, more bound them together then separated the two women. Intelligent, strong, and yet authentically flawed, watching their journey unfold was quite the win. Especially as the complex storyline unfolded before me. After all, despite the gripping events, I found the plot to be mostly character driven.

Speaking of the storyline, I do have to preface my gushing with the fact that much of the book was a long, slow burn. Not exactly an action-packed premise (until the end), the psychological musings nevertheless strengthened this story until the explosive climax and believable conclusion. On top of that, the entire book was utterly breathtaking in its suspenseful rendition of kidnapping and the ensuing captivity. Filled with nerve-shredding dread, it kept me utterly riveted.

Done and dusted, while this book wasn’t exactly what I was expecting after initially reading the synopsis, I still found myself captivated right from the start. Especially given that attention-grapping prologue. A new-to-me author, Jean had certainly proven herself through her ability to create realistic, evil monsters that will suck you right in. So if you love a good jaw-dropping twist or carefully layered plot, you should definitely give this book a try. Rating of 4.5 stars.

The Return of Ellie Black by Emiko Jean, 320 pages. Simon & Schuster, 2024. $27. Lgbtqia, centering me
Language: R (57 swears, 19 “f”); Mature Content: PG13; Violence: PG13
BUYING ADVISORY: HS - OPTIONAL
AUDIENCE APPEAL: AVERAGE
Then-seventeen-year-old Ellie disappeared over two years ago, and Detective Chelsey Calhoun has never been able to let Ellie’s case go. And then Ellie turns up again. Despite Ellie shutting down every conversation with her, Chelsey presses forward, determined to close the case this time, and finds more than she thought possible.
Jean tells the story in alternating points of view, mostly giving readers just enough of the past and present to stay a step behind Ellie so that readers are in the same desperate state as Chelsey. The twists and turns that make the book thrilling were fun, even if I’m having a hard time buying into the final, climactic reveal. Despite that hang up, the conclusion is still a satisfactory ending.
Chelsey is Japanese, Daniel is Chinook (Native American), and Sam and Valerie are lesbian. The mature content rating is for alcohol use (including underage drinking); scary elements; illegal activity; mentions of drugs and overdose, nudity, and rape; and sex. The violence rating is for blood; gun use; mentions of domestic violence and suicide; assault; bomb use; and murder.
Reviewer: Carolina Herdegen