4 stars-“I wish this was not a cautionary tale about what happens to girls who wander off in the dark. Who are made to learn there are bad people everywhere. That the truth is these people aren’t not strangers. They are the men who you sleep with, the men you work with, the men you raise. I wish this wasn’t what it means to be female-it is not a matter of if something bad will happen, but when.”

Ellie hosts a party at a motel, charging admission to earn money for a new phone. She leaves the room in search of a place to pee, when the bathroom is occupied and she can no longer hold it. She is abducted from the field across from the gas station. This story is told from her viewpoint, what happens to her during her kidnapping, and also from the viewpoint of Chelsey, the detective on the hunt for her.

This one definitely held my interest, especially with the multiple POV’s. The quote I started my review with sets a tone of sadness that permeates throughout the book. The characters are all broken in their own ways, and that pain drives their motivations. Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the arc in exchange for an honest review. I will be looking for more books by this author!

Thank you to NetGalley, Emiko Jean, and Simon and Schuster for a free ARC of The Return of Ellie Black. This book will be released 5/7/2024.

This is a well written thriller with plenty of surprises along the way. I couldn’t put it down, and I was constantly reading through other characters chapters to get to Ellie’s chapters.

Trigger warnings include kidnapping, rape, captivity, adoption, sibling loss, and abuse.

The book transitions between the viewpoint of Ellie and the lead detective on her case, Chelsea. Chelsea herself lost a teenage sibling which fuels her fire even more to find Ellie. Then one day, Elizabeth Black turns up after being missing for 2 years. She is obviously traumatized, but some things just don’t add up. What is she hiding? Why won’t she help the investigation?

As what happens to her becomes more and more clear, the story also gets darker and more twisted. You feel every single emotion as you walk with both Ellie and Chelsea and their complicated pasts, present, and futures.

This book is hard to put down and will keep you in suspense through the twists and turns.

Captivating! I was all in this story. It was written so well and compar s to other missed my persons story genres it flowed perfectly - the characters were unique and the pace was excellent. I can't wait to see what Jean writes next. Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC.

I devoured the The Return of Ellie Black in one sitting. It’s a tough story to read and equally as tough to put down. I was previously only familiar with Jean’s YA books (Tokyo Ever After and Tokyo Dreaming), but the same skill that propelled her books to the top of the New York Times list is evident in every page of this book. Jean slams her readers with one urgent message after another, unwavering in her mission to shine a light on what it means to be a woman.

The character development in this book was top notch - you understand exactly what drives Chelsey in the same way you emphasize with Ellie and the impossible choices she’s faced with. While those characterizations humanize the main characters, Jean makes it clear exactly where the evil lies and how men, while faced with similar circumstances can choose different paths. The differences between Jim and Abbot, Danny and David, Ellie and Lydia could not be made more clear. Situations may break and guide us, but it’s our choices that define us.

The end shocked me and yet it was the perfect missing piece that tied it all together. This was brilliantly written, plotted, and executed. I highly recommend picking it up!

Thank you to Netgalley and Simon & Schuster for the e-arc in exchange for an honest review.

Thank you NetGalley and Simon and Schuster for the copy of The Return of Ellie Black by Emiko Jean. This is my first book by Jean, but it won’t be my last because I loved this book! I was gripped from the first page by the promise of the story and I wasn’t disappointed because I was engaged with it until the end. I loved how the book went in a direction I wasn’t expecting, which made it stand out from other ‘kidnapped girls’ stories. The chapters from Ellie’s POV were tough to read but were much more interesting because I never really warmed up to Chelsey or her story. If you’re looking for a book you won’t want to put down, this is it!

Chelsey Calhoun is a buy detective. She is shocked when a missing girl named Ellie Black returns. Chelsey still holds a bit of hope for what happened to own sister over 20 years ago. Chelsey throws herself head on into the reinvestigation of Ellie's disappearance and tries to unwind the complex web of the past.

Through multiple POVs we are treated to some of the inside story. It isn't pretty and it may not be for everyone. Jean does a great job of recreating the horror as well as many twists that will keep you engaged.

This isn't a happy book and it certainly isn't a feel-good book but I did enjoy it and you may too!

I loved this book and had a hard time putting it down. Lots of twists and turns and a surprising ending. I highly recommend it to lovers of mystery’s.

Wow! There are plenty of books with creative and sometimes unexpected twists, but it is rare that I read a book with a twist so surprising that I would never have fathomed the possibility. “The Return of Ellie Black” is one of those rare books.

Detective Chelsey Calhoun lost her sister as a teenager; Lydia went missing and was found dead two days later, a victim of an apparent murder suicide by her boyfriend. Because of her history, missing persons cases are particularly significant for her. She feels a sense of partial triumph when Elizabeth (Ellie) Black suddenly reappears after being missing for two years. Ellie's disappearance was Chelsey's first case after her promotion to detective, making it more noteworthy and difficult. Not surprisingly, Ellie is reluctant to talk about what happened during her disappearance, and has been traumatized and changed by the experience, struggling to reintegrate to "normal" life. However, as the evaluation of the limited new evidence progresses, it becomes apparent that Ellie's disappearance may be linked to the disappearances of other teenage girls in the area. Ellie is withholding information, but how much does she actually know about any of these girls/young women and is it possible to find and rescue any of them. Interspersed with the investigation prompted by Ellie's mysterious return are chapters that detail what happened to Ellie in the two years. The situation is much stranger than the stereotypical abduction of a child or teenager to be abused or trafficked.

I absolutely loved this book! I do not usually go for books with a main character in law enforcement, but I am so glad I took a chance on this one. The storyline was great and the twists and turns were perfect!