Emiko Jean used imagery and descriptive language that blew me out of the water. And the TWISTS - I could NOT put this book down! What a ride. One of the best thrillers I have read this year.

"The Return of Ellie Black" kept me thoroughly entertained from start to finish. The storyline was gripping, and I found myself eagerly turning the pages to uncover what would happen next. However, I couldn't shake the feeling that certain aspects of the story could have been expanded upon more. Despite this, the unexpected twist took me completely by surprise, adding an extra layer of intrigue to the narrative. Overall, a great read with room for further exploration in certain areas. Thank you #NetGalley for this early copy to enjoy!

I really loved Emiko Jean's novels Tokyo Ever After and Tokyo Dreaming, so I was thrilled to get this eARC!! This was a quick but interesting read. You could tell this wasn't going to be the same formulation as most thriller novels, in the fact that it was obvious we weren't receiving all of the information from the beginning. I was initially a little put off by the writing style, I'm not sure why. It felt very...staccato. A lot of empathy surrounding the situation, but it just felt a little disconnected. Overall, it was good and I enjoyed it and was on the edge of my seat near the end. I was just wanting a little more connection. Maybe because the POV of Chelsey, she's a cop so she's a little standoffish, which if that was the point, it was succeeded. 3.75 rounded up to 4, will still recommend to my YA readers!

Ellie Black went missing a few years ago and has now resurfaced. Detective Chelsey Calhoun was assigned to her case when she first went missing and is determined to get answers.

This story is quite the page turner and takes you on one crazy ride. Chelsey suffers from her own past trauma which motivates her to do the best she can at her job. Ellie is brave and selfless and shows the true meaning of self sacrifice and love. There were a couple of jaw dropping twists and the ending wrapped everything up nicely. I didn't know what to expect going into this, but I was definitely blown away. I would highly recommend this fast paced and suspenseful thriller!

Thanks to NetGalley and Simon & Schuster for a digital ARC in exchange for my honest review.

Years after Ellie Black disappeared, she suddenly returns. The detective on the case is desperate to find out what happened but Ellie isn't talking. What is she hiding? Who took her?

This was a fast-paced thriller with lots of intrigue. Detective Chelsey Calhoun is a terrific character and Ellie is peculiarly flawed, not the perfect girl who goes missing.

Highly recommend!

Thanks to Netgalley for the arc to review.

My thanks to Net Galley and Simon and Schuster for allowing me to review this arc.

Missing teen Ellie Black is found after 2 years . Where has she been because Ellie is not sharing anything. Why? Detective Chelsea Calhoun is trying to find the answer while dealing with the demons of her own sister Lydia's disappearance and supposed death.

I did enjoy this book. It was an engaging read that held my interest.

Missing for 2 years, local teenager Ellie Black suddenly walks out of the woods, but refuses to talk. As small town detective Chelsey Calhoun begins her investigation, she is thrown back 20 years to when her own teenage sister disappeared. She vows to find out what happened to Ellie.
I was pulled into the story right from the start. I really enjoyed the alternate points of view between Chelsey, Ellie today and Ellie while missing. This book gets dark. It is a page turner full of twists and turns and is really well written. I look forward to reading more from Emiko Jean.
Thank you to Netgalley and Simon & Schuster for an ARC of this book in exchance for my honest review.

Detective Chelsey Calhoun’s fifteen-year-old sister mysteriously disappeared when they were teenagers. Since then, Chelsey has dedicated her life to investigating the mysterious disappearance of young girls under mysterious circumstances. The chances of finding these girls alive is slim. When Ellie Black, a teen that had mysteriously disappeared two years before was found in the local woods, Chelsea jumped on the case hoping her story would help in finding other girls who disappeared under similar circumstances.
After several futile attempts Ellie would not tell anyone what happened to her. Chelsey’s desperation to find the truth leads her into a world of twists and turns that don’t end until the last page. This is a page-turning suspense novel that will keep you on the edge of your seat until the very end, a very shocking end.

This is the first book I’ve read by Emiko Jean so I had no idea what to expect. I was surprised that this is the author’s first thriller - I hope there’s more to come!

Ellie Black has been missing for two years when she’s found lost and confused in the woods. Detective Chelsey Calhoun has been working Ellie’s case and hopes Ellie can give her the information she needs to find whoever kidnapped her - but Ellie isn’t talking. Chelsey’s sister was murdered when Chelsey was young, so Chelsey has her own reasons for wanting to catch whoever kidnapped Ellie so that they can’t do it to other girls. It’s almost hard to keep up with all the twists in this book, but those twists are what makes it so good. There are some very dark moments in this book that were hard to read, but if you enjoy suspense and mystery, you’ll enjoy this.

I enjoyed this book. Chelsey is a small town detective that’s been through the wringer in her personal life. She is smart and extremely dedicated to solving missing girls cases for a very personal reason.

Ellie Black mysteriously disappeared two years ago from a party and suddenly reappears in the woods. She has been through hell and is having a difficult time connecting to her old life. I enjoyed the dual timeline and story from Ellie’s perspective. I thought the end was twisty and wasn’t what I expected.

Thank you to netgalley for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Last year, I read and enjoyed Mika in Real Life so I jumped at the chance to read Emiko Jean’s new novel, The Return of Ellie Black. At first I was surprised to find the subject matter darker than her earlier work but thoroughly enjoyed this darker tale as well. Jean wrote well developed characters while also building tension and there was a final surprise that I did not see coming.

Thank you to Thoughts from a Page and Simon and Schuster for the arc. I look forward to more novels (any genre!) from Emiko Jean in the future.

I found myself utterly stuck in this book and could not put it down until the final page! Although the story line itself isn't anything new, the author did a great job drawing you in! Using different POVs you slowly come to understand what happened to Ellie Black and the lengths people will go to to protect those they love. I really liked our FMC detective! I would definitely read more books revolving around her character. Overall a real well done thriller for lovers of TV shows like Criminal Minds and Law and Order SVU.

4+ stars

“I didn’t need shackles or chains to keep me bound. All I needed was four walls of pristine forest. And fear. The kind that festers and blisters, makes your limbs twitch. Yes. The best prisons are the ones created in our own minds.”

Author Emiko Jean flexes her fine writing skills, dipping into yet another genre. On the heals of her YA Tokyo Ever After Series, and then an adult novel Mika in Real Life, she takes on thrillers and excels in the crowded space!

This mystery is set in present day Washington State, when young Ellie Black crawls out of the woods - she has been missing for 2 years. Detective Chelsey Calhoun can’t help but jump back into investigating the crime, as her own sister disappeared in the area 20 years ago. This case is personal! With the skillful hand of a seasoned writer, Ms. Jean takes the “show us, don’t tell us” strategy, and subtly keeps the themes of misogyny and unbalanced police procedure in focus. Her research, especially concerning the psychology of caring for these types of victims, is apparent and expanded my view of how vast the effect is on lost souls and those they leave behind. My review contains few plot details with the intention of granting future readers the same experience I had, because oh my, this was a wild ride up to the final page!

Thanks to Simon & Schuster Publishing, Net Galley and the Thoughts From A Page Patreon Group for access to the army copy in exchange for my honest review.

I absolutely loved this book. It was emotional. It was rough. It was shocking. I always forget just how much I love mystery thrillers until I read another one, and this one may take the cake as a best of 2024 reads.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for giving me an ARC for review.

Emiko Jean is the best-selling author of adult and young-adult fiction. Her work has been featured by GMA Book Club (Mika in Real Life) and by Reese Witherspoon (Tokyo Ever After). Now she’s expanding her repertoire to include a mystery and boy does she nail it!

Detective Chelsey Calhoun is awakened one night when she gets a call that Ellie Black, a girl who disappeared 2 years ago, has reappeared. Chelsey is determined to find out what happened during those missing years but what unravels is far beyond what anyone could have imagined.

The story grabbed a hold of me from the first chapter and did not let go. I was glued to each page, soaking in while also trying to process the trauma unfolding. The past and present are effortlessly woven throughout and the ending took my breath away.

I highly recommend prioritizing this when it releases on May 7th.

3.5/5 ⭐️
This was a great suspense thriller novel, I enjoyed Emiko Jean writing so much, the first 2/3 of the book were amazing, I did not love the ending but never the less, I still highly recommend this book. It is coming out on May 7th, 2024, make sure you get a copy!
Thanks to NetGally and Simon and Schuster for letting me have this ARC in exchange for an honest review

The writing of suspense in this book was awesome. I felt like the characters were so well written that they are burned into my mind. I will be seeking out more Emiko Jean!!

3.75/5 ⭐️
I don’t normal give ratings .75. I try to stick to whole or half numbers. But with this one, I didn’t think it was quite a 4, yet it also wasn’t on the same level as the other books I gave 3.5 stars. So I gave it 3.75.
The main plot of this story was interesting and on occasion said some really important and amazing things. However, it fell short for two main reasons. For one, it kind of got lost amongst all the POVs. I think if this story stuck to only Chelsey and Ellie, it would’ve had an easier time keeping to the actual plot while also using that real estate used by other POVs to flesh these two characters and the story. Because, with all the POVs all the characters felt surface level. Which leads me to my next issue: the style of writing. I did not mesh with it. In my opinion, it harmed the story. Between the flashbacks that came abruptly, interrupting the narrative flow of a scene without adding much to the overall story, and the many unnecessary asides, I would be thrown out of the narrative. Often to groan, I don’t care. So often the story would be stopped kind of like someone pausing a movie to tell you everything about that character and their past, even the most un relevant details, and about the setting, and etc. I practically was yelling to shut up and just play the movie.
So yeah, in my personal opinion, I think this story had so much potential, it was great at its core, but its writing style kind of ruined it for me.
Thank you to NetGalley and Simon & Schuster for providing an advance reader copy of this book for my honest review.

Perfectly paced mystery thriller. I could not stop reading. What made this book unique was the nuanced character study of all the women involved and the main character's reasons for dedicating herself to solve the case.

This was a great thriller! If you love Ashley Winstead, Jennifer Hillier, and Karin Slaughter, you’ll love this. Parts were very disturbing, but it was twisty and kept you reading to find out what would happen.