Detective Chelsey Calhoun’s sister went missing 15 years ago. Since then she has grown up, gotten married and followed in the footsteps of her recently deceased father. Chelsey has a bone to pick with justice and wants to do the best possible at her job. Ellie (aka Elizabeth) Black has been missing for two years and suddenly she turns up and Detective Calhoun’s wants nothing more than to solve this crime. She is great at picking up puzzle pieces, wringing her hands and inserting herself into the story of the missing girls.
Alternating between Ellie and a third person POV was genius. Ellie’s perspective (especially reading this as a mother of girls, a sister and a daughter myself) is heart wrenching and brings it to life. I may have shed a tear or two at the very end. It is so hard to really put yourself in any of the characters places, but not with this one. I felt every emotion throughout the book. The twists and turns in this book that keep the pages turning… and then the end. Seriously! I did NOT see any of this coming. Kudos to Emiko Jean for her debut thriller. Thank you to Emiko Jean, Netgalley, and Simon & Schuster for the ARC in exchange for an honest review!

The Return of Ellie Black was a good slow burn thriller with well developed characters, thoughtfully placed twists, and has an ending I was completely thrown by! This has so much left for discussion and questions it would be a really good book club choice.

Read if you like:
•slow burn thriller
•missing person cases
•multiple POVs

Thank you Simon & Schuster audio for the ALC. the audiobook was so well done with a full case. It really brought the different POVs to life. I really liked the detective and her willingness to continue digging to find the truth.

This was an absolute page turner and completely gripped me but was not expecting such a dark execution. I thought the premise of a missing girl showing back up after 2 years was so interesting and though this clearly doesn’t depict a happy scenario I wasn’t a fan. TW: SA would’ve been appreciated.

Thank you NetGalley and Simon & Schuster for an advance readers copy.

This was a decent thriller. It was very readable and I read it quickly, so that is a plus. Also, it's set in Washington state which I enjoyed because I live there. But, there were things I didn't really enjoy about the book either. The writing was a bit overwrought. Which I don't really hold against the author as it's her first thriller. There was also just so much about girls being in danger at every moment in their lives, which kind of annoyed me too. The plot has good twists and was pretty well thought through. Many reviewers said that the ending was out of left field but I was guessing it pretty early on. But I was also suspecting another person and was way off, so! Good red herrings. Was it totally believable, no, but most thrillers aren't!

Addictive with jaw-dropping twists. I was hooked from the prologue until the very last page. I loved how Jean includes the perspectives of others touched by Ellie’s disappearance and return including her parents, boyfriend, therapist, and nurse. It adds so much depth and complexity to the story and offers a unique perspective to a missing person case.

I highly recommend this for fans of crime thrillers and mystery thrillers.
My rating: 5⭐️

What to expect:
🎒 missing persons case
🎒 adopted Asian female detective
🎒 multiple POV & alternating timelines
🎒 Pacific Northwest setting
🎒 addictive, page-turner
🎒 dark, slow-burn crime mystery/thriller

Whew, what a wild ride! This book had me HOOKED! I absolutely loved the characters. I felt for Ellie and wondered the whole time what was going to happen. THE TWISTS! Incredible.

I have read some terrific thrillers lately and this for sure is at the top.
Ellie Black went missing 2 years ago, and now she's back.
Casey was the investigating officer, and while she is glad this case seemingly has a happy ending, she feels something is off.
She needs her questions answered, or Ellie might still be in danger.
I don't want to talk about the plot too much more because I want everyone to get the full experience. It is a "locked room" type abduction/captive story. It is a story of survival, it is a story of what you would do for someone you love. It is about how you move forward after a loss, and how you move forward when that loss is rediscovered.
It's also highlights social class and how some missing persons are given more attention than others. It's about how people in positions to help others use their positions to help themselves.
The story arc of Ellie Black is one I will not soon forget. I DID figure out part of it pretty early on, but it didn't take away from the ending. Some may feel it pulled too much in- I thought it was perfect.
All the stars. You will devour it in one sitting.
Trigger warning for violence/SA
Pub date 6/30/24
Thank you NetGalley and Simon and Shuster for my ebook advance copy.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read and review this debut thriller from Emiko Jean.

This book drew me in right away. It was written very well, and it had me guessing right up to the end with page turning suspense.

There were lots of twists and turns. I loved the different povs. The pace was very fast, and the book was hard to set down.

Ellie has returned after missing for years. Detective Chelsea Calhoun has been haunted by her case as 20 years prior, Calhoun's sister vanished. Chelsea has been helping search for other missing girls since.

Things are weird and perplexing with Ellie. She doesn't want to say where she was or who was involved or talk about the case at all.

Chelsea just keeps digging and finding out information that threads connections you never see coming. She has more questions than answers and really needs to get more information from Ellie.

The way this all came together in the last 30% or so was so good and shocking and superb!

I really hope Jean continues forays into this genre because she is very good!

I loved Detective Chelsey Calhoun and this story had my attention the whole time. Her sister died at a young age after going missing and she makes it her mission to help others, even at the cost of her own relationships. When a local teenager returns after 2 years, Ellie Black, Chelsey is ready to find the person the took her, but Ellie isn't sharing much. I loved the descriptions of the woods and life in Washington, I could picture the denseness of the area. I also appreciated Chelsey's dedication. We read multiple perspectives in the book that work seamlessly. This is a great thriller! Highly recommended.

This is a missing girls story and while there is tough material discussed (talk of bruises, abuse, neglect etc), there thankfully aren't too many written details or descriptions, but people should be aware of trigger warnings.

Ellie Black was missing for 2 years and suddenly was found in the woods by some hikers. The Return of Ellie black went through many different perspectives (mostly current, but we did get Ellie’s perspective when she was kidnapped). I was trying to think what was going to happen, but my thoughts were wrong. I’d definitely recommend this for an easy to read thriller

I've read Tokyo ever after, Tokyo dreaming, and Mika in real life and I really enjoyed all of them so I was excited to see that the author had a new thriller coming out! It kicks off right away with action and mystery. It's definitely dark, sad, tense, and heavy. I felt like it was a Criminal Minds episode in a book form. Overall, I enjoyed the mystery and alternating between what was going on with the lead detective and the victim helped move the story along at a fast pace. The ending did feel like it wrapped up slightly too quickly, but for the most part there weren't really any major lingering questions or loose ends. I'd recommend this book if you like thrillers and mysteries. I suggest taking a look at content warnings before reading it.

I enjoyed this different take on the “missing girl” plot. In this story we follow Detective Chelsey Calhoun and Ellie Black. Black has been missing for two years when she suddenly appears out of the woods in Washington state. Calhoun is tasked with getting to the bottom of Black’s case, and it’s personal for her since her own sister went missing when they were younger.

The examination of shame and blame that women place upon themselves for what should be regular behavior, but then has a tragic result was so well done in this novel. This story was much darker than the authors previous novels but Jean did a great job of delving into a tough topic without making it feel too traumatic.

Thanks to @simonandschuster and @thoughtsfromapage for the ARC and author discussion. In a fun tidbit I learned last night while chatting with the author – this book has a different cover and title in the UK. I always find cover differences fun to see how publishing houses market things different to different countries.

The author had my attention from the start and kept it throughout this suspenseful and enthralling book. Some parts are difficult to read as the story includes the kidnapping and treatment of teenage girls while held captive. The last few chapters held unexpected twists. Great book! I will look for more from this author.

This made for a fun, engaging and interesting literary suspense novel. I enjoyed the chapter breaks of the detective in current time and Ellie in her past time.

Ellie has been one for two years and one day she randomly appears. She's not open to wanting to rehash all that she has been through but the detective slowly begins to piece the mystery of Ellie's disappearance.

I loved the twists this book took me down. It discusses a dark subject matter but does so in a way that didn't feel too burdensome. I will definitely be interested to read a future Emiko Jean mystery book!

Thank you to NetGalley and Simon and Schuster for the advance eARC.

I absolutely love a missing persons story, I never seem to tire of them but I love when the missing person returns even more so this one sounded right up my alley and it was! I was hooked from the start, of course I wanted to know where Ellie had been and who had kept her for two years but I was also very invested in Chelsey as well. She was such a well developed character, really all the characters were well drawn and the way her past shaped her as a detective was so interesting and heartbreaking. This one is pretty dark and disturbing and the psychological aspects on both Ellie and Chelsey were examined in detail making for some chilling reading. There are multiple viewpoints and the audio version had a terrific cast of narrators so if you like to listen to books I can highly recommend that version. Hearing parts of this out loud gave me serious chills and made this one all the more memorable than it already was. If you want a solid and twisty suspense this was excellent.

Atria eARC
I loved Mika in Real Life last year, so I was so excited to see Emiko Jean had a new novel out. This was a grand slam. I wasn't sure how it would go because of how different these two books are, but she just showed with this novel that she has so much range - and I can't wait to read her YA to end up being more impressed. This is a well thought out police procedural with messy, realistic characters. Chelsey was such a strong and flawed detective - which is what I like with these types of books. The crime was well thought out and kept me surprised and guessing and nothing was unbelievable. I thought the voice of the characters was strong and engaging. I am just so impressed with this book and have already told people to preorder because it's that good.

Okay, Emiko Jean. I see you! I could not wait to uncover what happened to Ellie Black. The book opened to a girl found in the woods following a two-year disappearance. Where did she go? Who took her, and what did she endure? Are there other girls in danger as well? Told in alternating timelines, we watch Detective Chelsey Calhoun as she follows the threads to Ellie’s captor, with chapters in between that include Ellie’s accounts of where she went. I really loved how the reader knew what happened to Ellie before Detective Calhoun figured it out. It added a level of suspense that made me sad but also hopeful. While this book contained a twist that was all too convenient, I thought it was thrilling nonetheless. I think I may have enjoyed it more if we had a third timeline re: Ellie’s captor’s life in the “before.” Jean should definitely be awarded for stepping outside of her comfort zone; this author previously dabbled in YA contemporary romance. I hope she writes more thrillers!

“But often, Chelsey wondered if her father, if people in general, should spend less time protecting daughters and more time worrying about sons. The dangerous things boys do. How they might be raised differently.”

This book was good but just not for me at this time. I think it's just the mood I was in at the time. Will try it later in the year. I would still recommend for anyone looking for a good book

The Return of Ellie Black deserves the hype it's gotten for sure. It's twisty, mysterious, and very well executed. I did struggle a little bit with the sister names - I kept forgetting which sister went with with MC, but I have no idea why. I'm weird, I think. But. The twists! The turns! I loved them, and was genuinely surprised by them, which can be tough to do. I'll be looking for more from this author in the future for sure!