This is a lot. It's intense, thoughtful, dark, and completely gripping. I wasn't in the mood for a thriller so I thought I'd get a feel for it and come back, but it pulled me in immediately. An emotional, human horror story wrapped in the dedication that only women can have for protecting other women and girls. And also the firm belief that men can be saved and good, and are not inherently born bad but instead made. It's oddly hopeful for a story that's going to hurt you so much on the way to resolution.

Det. Chelsey Calhoun is an interesting character - complicated, empathetic, frustrating, but sharp and smart too. Her emotional intelligence is her biggest journey, but her belief in what she's doing is so important. She doesn't let the boys club of her field stop her from doing the right thing, or from finding the men who will help her instead of get in her way.

Ellie is beyond frustrating, but also such an accurate depiction of trauma. As someone who has spent a lot of time learning about it on the academic and biological side, not to mention my own life experiences, there were times when the way Ellie felt was so accurate and relatable that it took my breath away. She's a surprisingly fun character, keeping a wryness both in the past and present experiences of her life that I really liked.

With any thriller like this, there are twists. Some that you see coming as the pieces fall into place, some you as the reader see before the characters do and have to try and make sense of, and connections that you could not have foretold. I don't love the way some books connect all the things, but my eh for that wasn't enough to stop me from giving this the full five stars. It was utterly gripping, painful, and made me feel connected to the web of women's experiences, the fears and truths we share without words.

Absolutely worth picking up.

Thank you Emiko Jean and Simon & Schuster for a free copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

Fans of shows like Criminal Minds, I have your next read.

Ellie Black disappears and over 2 years later she returns. Now the mystery of what happened to her, how she came back, and who she is now, is a question that everyone is trying to figure out. Even Ellie.

I have so many thoughts about this book. The format is unlike any other book I’ve read. The switching between Ellie’s first person POV and the third person account of the people in her life kept me sucked in, wondering if people will be able to see the things you get to know. Emiko Jean does an amazing job of giving you enough information and keeping you in the dark enough for all the twist to be a huge surprise. I usually am pretty critical of authors putting extra and sometimes unnecessary details, but the details just helped me visualize each scene.

This book kept me glued and I could not put it down!

This is my first book by author Emiko Jean and I was impressed! The novel was a gripping page turner about a timely topic of a young teenage girls gone missing and her sudden return. I was engrossed in the story line with the multi viewpoint 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. I enjoyed all the plot twists and jaw dropping moments. It is a must read for mystery suspenseful enthusiasts!

This book kept me on the edge of my seat and I could not put it down. What a wild ending! I did not see it coming at all. What a thrilling read!!!! I highly recommend for fans of thrills & mystery. Look for this book to be available May 7, 2024.
Thank you #NetGalley #Simon&Schuster #EmikoJean for the ARC.

This is for readers looking for a page-turning mystery that focuses on toxic masculinity and the politics involved in missing-person investigations. Caution: twists ahead.

4.5 stars

The only thing that prevented me from reading this book in one sitting was sleep, I was a little bummed I started it too late in the day!

This one had me hooked. I really enjoyed the different perspectives of Chelsey and Ellie. I felt like both characters were done ridiculously well, the sadness, loss and bravery of both characters jumped off the page and made this a heartbreaking and emotional read. The only thing holding me back from a five star was the ending, while I think the book was fantastic, I actually could have gone without that last twist.

If mystery/thrillers are a genre you enjoy, no doubt this one will be a hit!

Many thank to Netgalley and the publisher for an ARC of this book.

Chelsey Calhoun is still traumatized by the death of her sister and brings the feeling of needing to compensate for that to every case she investigates. When a missing girl returns, Chelsey is first in line to determine what happened and find the person responsible for it. Little did she know how warped and twisted this case, and the others it is linked to will become. Multiple points of view and two timelines helped the reader converge on the present in a soooooo very close to unbelievable, but ultimately WHAT????, ending. And a few of the characters seemed a bit too good to be true but still fell just on the side of believable. I'd bring up plot points that I related to from several true crime stories to hook you in, but feel that might give too much away and ruin the story for other readers. Just keep turning the pages and enjoy!

🌲 This book wrapped me up from the first chapter and I was completely enraptured until the moment I finished. It was thrilling, but also very deep and meaningful too— I just really liked it! Thank you to @simonandschuster and @netgalley for the early peek at this. It’s out 5/7!

🌲 This is obviously a page-turning thriller— but I LOVED the opportunities the author seized here to talk about how these crimes happen to women all too often. She made some of the most poignant statements, without beating it into the reader. It was perfect and my favorite part of the book.

🌲 This reminded me of ‘The Quiet Tenant’ meets ‘The Lovely Bones’ with its own twists and turns too. I DID predict the ‘whodunnit’ aspect fairly early which always bums me out but I’ve chatted with some other people and they didn’t, so I think I just got lucky! It absolutely still highly recommend this!

This atmospheric thriller follows two points of views; Ellie Black who resurfaced after disappearing for 3 years, and Chelsea, the detective who is determined to solve her case. Emiko Jean's writing is fast-paced, and I found her debut thriller to be highly engaging. I loved the departure in writing style she took from the YA Tokyo Ever After series. This was an excellent mystery with a plot twist I didn't see coming! Thank you to Simon & Schuster and NetGalley for the e-ARC in exchange for an honest review.

What an incredible, incredible novel! I don't even know where to begin. This was my first read by Emiko Jean, but she is now an autobuy author for me, and I will definitely be checking out her backlist. This one was done so well!

I was sucked in by the very first pages and was on the edge of my seat the entire time. I felt all of the emotions including anger, sadness, anxiety, dread, and hope. While I knew of some inequities when it comes to missing women and the attention their cases receive, there were still a few incredibly heartbreaking things that I learned while reading this. It made me so angry and sick to my stomach to know that the specific girls who were abducted were taken for calculated reasons (e.g. their families were poor and therefore not much money would be allocated to their search and return).

While I had a feeling Chelsey's sergeant was involved in some way, I did not piece together the entire story, and I love thrillers where I can't guess what will happen. There was also a literal jaw dropping twist that I never in a million years would have guessed.

I don't know the words to describe Ellie's chapters other than amazing. But I don't feel that that is the correct word to use due to the content within them. But the writing was literal perfection. I could feel the fear, confusion, desperation, and despair that Ellie felt. It was a constant stomachache the entire time I was reading. I was rooting for her and all of those girls. I literally SOBBED at the end of Ellie's last chapter. It was heart wrenching.

The entire book was the work of brilliance. But one thing that really stood out to me was the contrast between Ellie's dad and the men who took Ellie and the other victims. Ellie's dad always felt inadequate and insecure because he couldn't provide for this family the way that he wanted. He felt less than as a man, but he took his frustrations to the sea, boating whenever he could. While he wasn't perfect, he tried not to take his frustrations out on the women in his life. He loved them. There was a very pivotal moment where he apologized to his wife for his inability to fully provide over the years especially when she was pregnant with their daughters, but his wife responds that it was okay because they were a team. She never saw him as less than. Now, when we look at the motivations of the men who took Ellie and the other victims, we see that they too felt inadequate and insecure. They suffered from abandonment issues and looked at the successes of women (one in particular who I won't mention as it could be a spoiler) as their downfall. Instead of getting therapy or seeking more productive avenues to get out their frustrations, they chose violence toward women. It was interesting to see the two different paths that were taken between these men that stemmed from the same feelings of insecurity.

I feel like this entire review is just me rambling, but I cannot recommend this enough. ALL. THE. STARS!

Thank you to NetGalley and Simon Books for a chance to be an early reader!

Thanks to @thoughtsfromapage, @simonandschuster, and @netgalley for my advanced copy! This one is out 5/7!

The Return of Ellie Black took me completely by surprise. I like to think that as a seasoned thriller reader I'm able to spot twists a mile away. I am happy to report that I definitely didn't see any of the MANY twists that Emiko Jean threw at me. My jaw dropped several times and the last 10% or so it just stayed on the floor. Thankfully I had @readbyraines to text because I just couldn't get over the shock of each reveal. If you're looking for a well written, catch you off guard thriller, check out The Return of Ellie Black.

If you like mysteries/thrillers, add this one to your TBR! Ellie returns after having been kidnapped for 2 years. She wants nothing to do with the investigation into her abductor. It's a bit of a slow burn, but well spaced reveals kept me turning the pages. There was a major twist that I did not see coming!

This was great . Lots of twist and turns definitely kept me guessing. Looking forward to read more from this author
Thanks to NetGalley for advance copy

Thanks to Simon & Schuster for the ARC!

HOW is it possible that Emiko wrote this AND Tokyo Ever After AND Mika In Real Life and they are all so different and incredible?!

THE RETURN OF ELLIE BLACK centers around the past kidnapping and present-day reappearance of Ellie Black. The story is told from Ellie's POV, and man some of the scenes from her time being kidnapped were difficult to read. It's also told from Detective Chelsey Calhoun's POV, who is put on the case to figure out who took Ellie. The dynamic between the POVs makes for a very bingable thriller I couldn't put down. Excellently written!

“Why did no one ever tell [her] that the most dangerous thing in the world isn’t natural disasters or wars or weapons. It is unremarkable men with beautiful smiles and even bigger promises.”

I was hooked from page one of this obsessively readable thriller, which opens with Ellie Black emerging from the woods two years after she was reported as a missing person. Trauma, grief and the will to survive center prominently in this atmospheric and mesmerizing story set in the Pacific Northwest. What happened when Ellie went missing, the intervening two years, and the return to her family, are told from multiple POVs. Jean does a masterful job of weaving together the tapestry of Ellie’s story, while also offering complicated, yet sympathetic, main characters and captivating cliff hangers. There are plenty of twists and turns, and even a few red herrings along the way to keep thriller fans engaged in this story from cover to cover.

Trauma, grief and mental health are handled with sensitivity and compassion by this author. Sensitive readers may want to view trigger warnings on The Storygraph. However, I did feel the author gives the reader just enough information to understand what is happening without getting into a lot graphic and violent details.

The Return of Ellie Black is one of my favorite thrillers of 2024 so far. If you enjoy a missing person’s story, morally grey, but sympathetic characters including a sharp female detective, multiple POVs, and atmospheric page-turners, give this one a try. You won’t be disappointed.

4.5 Stars rounded up to 5 Stars.

Thank you to NetGalley and Simon & Schuster for an ARC of The Return of Ellie Black by Emiko Jean in exchange for my honest review.

A page turning thriller from start to finish. Great characters, a fast paced plot, and some unexpected twists kept me reading late into the night. I would love to see this as the start of a series, the main characters are compelling and the writing is engaging. Highly recommended

Thanks to NetGalley and Simon & Schuster for an advanced reader copy.

One of the BoTM app hints strongly suggests this will be a Book of The Month pick this month and I can definitely see this being a crowd pleaser. Jean’s writing flows well and the mystery was easy to get into. Getting multiple POVs and different timelines definitely kept it interesting. I’ve previously enjoyed Jean’s other novels as well and she writes a wide range of genres and always excels in conveying the psyches of her characters and this one definitely had aspects of that. While I thought the ending and the villain reveal was a bit too easy for me, I enjoyed the journey enough.

Thank you Simon & Schuster for the ARC

The Return of Ellie Black by Emiko Jean is a highly recommended psychological thriller/procedural/crime novel.

Teenager Ellie Black has been found alive in the woods of Washington State after disappearing two years ago from the small town of Coldwell Beach. Detective Chelsey Calhoun is assigned the case and immediately begins to work with Ellie and her family and question everyone involved in the case previously. Ellie, who was a teen who was pushing all the boundaries before she was taken, has returned a seriously traumatized, damaged young woman. Chelsey's sister Lydia was presumed dead fifteen years earlier, so she has empathy with families of missing girls and wants others to find the closure they need.

The narrative unfolds through multiple perspectives. Mainly it is told from Chelsey's point-of-view, but Ellie's point-of-view is presented in separate sections inserted within the chapters. Ellie's therapist also has some separate sections. Chelsey's chapters examine her investigation, her relationship with her husband, Noah, and her background. Ellie's point-of-view details the events during her horrific captivity. Using multiple perspectives results in the two main characters being sympathetic characters who are portrayed in a realistic manner.

The writing is good. There are a few sections where it flags a bit, but once the action picks up and the twists begin, the pages do fly by. I will say that more than once as I was reading I paused and thought, "Wait. Haven't I read that in another novel?" Some similarities to other novels with missing girls would be obvious, but this was more some of the details, the supporting material.

The ending twist is very surprising and shocking. You will not see it coming. However, it was simply too over-the-top much for me and required a heaping amount of setting aside disbelief. On the other hand I will certainly admit that The Return of Ellie Black is a page turner that will keep most readers glued to the pages. Thanks to Simon & Schuster for providing me with an advance reader's copy via NetGalley. My review is voluntary and expresses my honest opinion.

The review will be published on Edelweiss, X, Barnes & Noble and Amazon.

What did I just read? This was so good, so twisty with plenty of plot twists. I was a fan of the author and who would have known - her debut thriller would be amazing. I loved the characters especially the determination and tenacity of Detective Calhoun. I could not put this book down. The characters were so thoughtfully crafted. The mystery and intrigue was done so well - I was HOOKED. Thank you to the publisher for this EARC in exchange for my honest opinion.

3.75 stars …
I was immediately gripped. The premise of this book really pulled me in - I also recieved a physical ARC (the candle that came with it smells soooo good)

As the story progressed I was so irritated with Ellie. I understand why she was the way she was but I just wanted to shake her.

I enjoyed Chelsey and thought you had a lot of gumption and was a strong FMC.


Mild mild spoilers..
My biggest critique of this book is that there wasn’t enough red herrings… there was truly only one outcome and I guessed part of it by just reading the synopsis and the other part within the first few chapters. I knew the who but not the why. The journey to the reveal was entertaining though.