The Return of Ellie Black
By Emiko Jean
Simon & Schuster, 9781668023938, May 2024, 320pp.

The Short of It:

Riveting. Impossible to put down.

The Rest of It:

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. ~ from the Publisher

A missing girl found! GREAT news. Except, Ellie is not the same girl she was when she went missing. Something is up with Ellie and the detectives and her own therapist aren’t really sure what happened to her. Why? Because Ellie isn’t talking.

As Ellie tries to re-insert herself into the life she once knew, through alternating chapters we learn what Ellie endured and how it changed her. We are introduced to many characters and the twists keep coming. Was Ellie a victim, or a willing participant?

I really enjoyed The Return of Ellie Black. It was suspenseful without being too dark. The inner workings of Ellie, post kidnapping are very complex and nothing is cut and dry. As she works through the trauma she endured, Detective Calhoun also works through the pain she felt when her own sister went missing years before.

Psychologically there is a lot to pick apart here. The development of the characters over time is excellent and with every page there are twists and turns and it’s the perfect book to lose yourself in. I read it in just a few sittings. Loved it. It will be on my list of faves at the end of the year.

Source: Sent to me by the publisher.
Disclosure: This post contains Indiebound affiliate links.