Ellie Black is back! But why? Detective Chelsey Callhoun has spent her life with a chip on her shoulder.
She has always wondered where Ellie went and why. Not ontly does the return of Ellie stir up a ton of external questions, but Chelsey has a lot going on internally as well.
As the story develops, we see she has some great intuition about the cases, but also a great struggle with her personal demons.

The story wraps up in a less than jaw-dropping way, but still a decent book over all.

Ellie Black disappeared two years ago during a high school party. She's discovered in the woods and reunited with her family.

Chelsey Calhoun is the detective assigned to the case, determined to figure out what happened to Ellie and bring the perpetrator to justice. Detective Calhoun has skin in the game - her sister was the victim of a violent crime when she was a teenager - and won't abide the widespread abuse inflicted upon women.

Something's not right with Ellie's story, and Detective Calhoun's spidey senses are on high alert. She summons all of her expertise to crack the case.

This book is a page turner. You think it's going one way and veers wildly in another direction, then another. Emiko Jean leaves you spinning. The resolution is anything but predictable. Two thumbs up!

My thanks to NetGalley and Simon & Schuster for the ARC. The Return of Ellie Black was published in early May.

“I have a hard time not blaming myself for what happened next. I wish I didn't. 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 are 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 femaleit is not a matter of if something bad will happen, but when.”

“Because what is grief but the other side of love?”

The Return of Ellie Black knocked me for six. I am stunned. I can’t feel my fingers from shock. I feel like I drone on about this, but I don’t get hours of uninterrupted reading time, because I have a 4 year old and a 2 year old. If it isn’t an audiobook, or my kindle, regardless of how much I love it, it will take me days to read.

But.

I inhaled the last 50% of this book during my children’s short 2 hour nap time window. I forgot I had a phone. I forgot I had laundry to fold. I forgot that I should have eaten lunch. I ignored my cat pawing at the basement door to be let upstairs.

The writing was (and I’m running out of euphemisms here) unlike anything I’ve ever read before. It was smoky, sultry, melancholic, nostalgic. It was truly stunning. The story was even better. After we find everything out, the little person in my mind who does all my thinking was scrambling around, trying to pick up all the clues laid, puzzling them together to see the bigger picture. And wow. What a puzzle. This book was so cleverly plotted with little left out. I am still shocked.

Need I say more? Read this. Yesterday.

The Return of Ellie Black is a dark, twisty and captivating psychological thriller and I was immediately hooked. In the opening chapter Ellie is discovered by two hikers after she has been missing for over two years. Where did she go? Who took her, and how did she escape? Detective Chelsey Calhoun is determined to find out what happened and where Ellie has been but no one is prepared for what is uncovered.

Told in alternating timelines between third person and Ellie’s POV, this was a well written, well paced story that I couldn’t put down as I had to know what had happened after Ellie was kidnapped. What I appreciated most is that this was not your typical popcorn thriller but a smart mystery that does an excellent job of examining the psychological impact of captivity, and the manipulation and resilience it takes to survive. As we find out more about the last two years of Ellie’s life, the story becomes darker with more twists - and honestly made for some chilling reading. The ending was one I was not expecting and the full cast of characters made this audiobook, paired with the physical copy, such a great immersive experience. If you want a solid and twisty suspense this was excellent. 4.5 ⭐️

Emiko Jean has written a stunning novel here. Girls and young women disappear everywhere all over the world. They are the most vulnerable of missing persons. Detective Chelsey Calhoun knows all too well the ongoing devastating impact on their families. Her sister disappeared several ago and her disappearance framed her decision to become an officer. One day, a young woman claiming to be another missing woman named Ellie Black is found wandering in a forest, traumatized, broken and unwilling to assist in the investigation out of fear. We feel the same fear and frustration as Chelsey is determined to discover what happened. There are so many quick twists and turns with a mind blowing ending that no one will expect. One of my favorite reads this year!.

Just wow’ my first Emiko Jean book but definitely not my last! Packed with huge characters that made me feel like a part of the story. Dark and gritty subject for sure. The perfect storm. Secrets, lies, tension and turmoil all expertly woven and delivered with a sucker punch. Highly recommend.
Thank you NetGalley, Emiko Jean and Simon and Schuster for the opportunity to read and review this book

Elizabeth Black, 17, is abducted while being out at a party. Two years later, without any leads and not much hope left to find her, Ellie appears on a trail not very far from home. When the detective in charge, Chelsey Calhoun, starts asking questions, Ellie shuts down and declines to participate in the investigation. Chelsey has her own personal reasons to close the case and make justice.

This book is written in multiple POVs, mostly Ellie's and Chelsey's. The pacing is great, not too fast nor slow. The plot picks up from the very beginning, which made it unputdownable. I finished it in not more than two days. There are some plot twists I would have liked more explanation on, but I feel overall the story was well executed and interesting from start to finish.

When a missing girl is found 2 years after her abduction Detective Chelsey Calhoun is determined to find who took Ellie Black. Chelsey is battling with her own demons, and this is what pushes her. When it seems that Ellie is withholding pertinent information from Chelsey, she begins to wonder what she is missing. As Chelsey continues to dig more of their small town’s secrets come to light.

Please be aware of triggers - child abuse, rape, murder and talk of suicide. The book made me feel all the things, and it was hard to read sometimes. I liked how Ellie’s story was told in her POV while the investigation was going on. Overall it was a solid thriller and kept me intrigued. I was not a huge fan of the ending, definitely had some eye roll moments. But everything did come together.

In this page-turning mystery/thriller, detective Chelsey still hasn’t recovered from her sister being murdered when they were teenagers 20 years before, but channels that passion into her job. Two years ago, she couldn’t solve the case of missing girl Ellie Black, so she is shocked when Ellie is found in a forest and wants to find out what happened to her, even though the traumatized Ellie is not very forthcoming. Chelsey’s investigating is also interspersed with Ellie’s narrative slowly revealing what happened to her in the past, and occasional chapters from the POV of other people in Ellie’s life.

I seriously couldn’t put this one down! A great mystery with creepy atmosphere, good characters, and some good surprises towards the end too! I also can’t believe how different it is from the other books I’ve read by Emiko Jean - two super light and fun YA books and a relatively light adult contemporary fiction - so all the more impressive to me that she can write so well in such a different genre. Can’t wait to see what she’ll write next!

There were some unexpected twists, that I appreciated. However, Chelsey was one dimensional, which made it hard to connect with her. Difficult topics are addressed, but things are not gory. The author weaves things between the past and present. The ending did feel rushed.
Be warned that this is a dark, shocking story.

Possible Trigger Warning: child abuse, abduction, rape, and murder

This is excellent. Fully rounded cast, masterful storytelling. It's not a fast pace thriller, but it will still draw you in. You have to keep turning the pages until you find out what happened.

I kept hearing about this book before it came out and I can see why it’s gotten attention. It has a lot of elements to a good thriller that I look for. The victim is unsettling and you know there’s a lot to piece together. And there’s a bunch of twists, some of which I saw coming, others I did not.

But something kept this from being a 5-star read for me. There was something that I personally couldn’t connect to. I can’t put my finger on it. I couldn’t connect to Chelsey, I think. I wasn’t super emotionally invested in the story.

“Why did no one ever tell Lydia 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.”

If you are craving a thrilling story that delves into the darker corners of human experience, look no further than "The Return of Ellie Black". With its themes of kidnapping, disappearance, and traumatic experiences, this story will take you on an wild ride to find out who is responsible for such intense experiences. With its blend of suspense, mystery, and character-driven storytelling, this thriller from Emiko Jean promises to keep you on the edge of your seat until the very end.

I am beyond impressed with Jean's storytelling. Not only did I love her YA novels, her new adult story was top notch, too. After finishing "The Return of Ellie Black" I found myself thinking, "what can't this writer do?".

Ellie Black has been missing for two years after being abducted. She doesn't really talk much about what happened to her or where she was. Detective Chelsey Calhoun is at a loss. She is determined to get to the truth. We, on the other hand, know where she has been because alternating chapters talk about her time gone and now. Oh but that isn't all.....

Chelsey has held on to the past for so long that it can get in the way. Her sister disappeared when she was a teen for a few days, only to be found killed by her boyfriend, who killed himself. She has blamed herself since. What will make her let go?

There are some really good twist bombs that come out, especially towards the end. Plenty of OH moments.

Just really a fabulous read and one you will not want to put down.

Thanks to Netgalley and Simon and Schuster for a copy for review.

Emiko Jean is a highly skilled author. The Return of Ellie Black takes us through the days and weeks after a missing girl is returned. Told from several different viewpoints, we get a glimpse into the psyche of all the people affected by her disappearance and return. Chelsey, the main character, is the detective in charge of the investigation. We also see the perspectives of Ellie herself, along with her parents, sister, and boyfriend. While visiting the mindset of each of these characters, the reader is not bogged down in being told exactly what the impact is - the story moves quickly, and we get the waves on the surface of what is happening and you fully understand what the author has flitted over.

This is a well written book, a very well told story, and I really felt the grief, tension, fear, relief, and confusion of having a missing daughter returned. As the story unfolded with the investigation, a multitude of questions was laid out for me, and the answers were parsed out throughout the book, keeping me invested throughout.

I believe this is Jean's first thriller and I really hope to see more from her in the genre. this was a well constructed, unputdownable mystery following detective Chelsey after teenage Ellie Black is found after being missing for 2 years. I really enjoyed Chelsey as a character and although I found part of the reveal pretty obvious, there are some other twists I definitely did not see coming! this is a very easy thriller to widely recommend and I can see this being a popular one this year.

This was my first book by Emiko Jean and I was impressed with how she tied her story together. This kind of had it all within the abduction storyline of Ellie Black. It kept me guessing how it was all going to end and my first initial guess was totally wrong.

The plot was intriguing though a little unoriginal. I liked transracial adoptee representation. Personally, the story freaked me out a little too much to truly enjoy it!

What a f**king book woahhhh! Such a good book couldn’t put it down I needed all the answers as soon as possible and that ending AMAZING

Such a brilliant book! I listened to this one, and I'm so glad I did. The full cast made for an outstanding, immersive listening experience. This was such a gripping psychological thriller.

This was an example of a thriller that had the mystery and suspense executed extremely well. The author did a great job of allowing us into Ellie's mind during and after her captivity. This was a dark subject matter, and the author did a great job weaving the past with the present to give us the full picture and all the details. I was so invested in these characters, the story, and what was going to happen at the end. Emiko Jean wrote a story that made me feel all the feelings and kept me captivated from beginning to end.

Thank you to NetGalley and Simon & Schuster for the ARC. All opinions are my own.