Mystery | Book Chatter

The Search Party
By Hannah Richell
Atria Books,9781668036068, January 2024, 352pp.

The Short of It:

So many secrets!!

The Rest of It:

A spellbinding locked-room mystery about a glamping trip gone horribly wrong when a powerful storm leaves the participants stranded and forced to confront long-held secrets and a shocking disappearance. ~ from the publisher

Right from the start, you are in for a wild ride! Max and Annie develop a glamping resort in the wilds of Cornwall. To test everything out, they invite a few of their college friends and their families to experience glamping (glamour camping) with great food, luxury tents and the like. But it’s been awhile since everyone has been together and some are now married with kids!

All of the couples are very different, as are the kids. Some young adults, teens and a few elementary aged kids. Kip, Max and Annie’s adopted son, is at the center of the tension as he’s very sensitive to things and will shut down when stressed or involved in a confrontation of any kind. Some of the parents don’t understand why Kip is given such a wide berth by his parents. Much of what he does, and his reaction to things set him apart from the other kids and make him an easy target.

Then, something goes horribly wrong. A storm moves in, a child goes missing and as the couples are held captive by the weather and the stress of a missing child, all the secrets pour out. Tempers flare. Hard feelings come out. Much more than a thin tent, luxury or not, can contain.

This was a super fun read with lots of twists and turns. The couples take turns being deplorable so loyalties jump around quite a bit. You really don’t know what’s next!

Highly recommend.

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

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.

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