The Return of Ellie Black

This bookstagram favourite started off strong - dark and twisty with a side of creepy. The story had me more than a little intrigued about why a teenage girl who has been missing for two years is suddenly found but refuses to speak of her ordeal or help the police. 

Jean throws in some good twists and a very sinister vibe with the descriptions of Ellie's ordeal (which is not for the faint of heart). But this was much more of a character-driven story than a plot-based thriller. And that's an issue because while I liked that Ellie was an unreliable main character, the two main perspectives (Ellie and especially Detective Chelsey) were weak with Chelsey having a one-dimensional YA feel instead of a take charge, competent female main character. 

As the book progresses, I felt the writing became weaker and too farfetched with the last twist feeling like a Thriller Hail Mary that didn't land well. It felt more like the author mislead readers than gave us a true twist.

I read this book in a couple of sittings, and it was ... fine. But with choppy writing and weak character development, the story needed more than sinister vibes and ultimately wasn't as strong of a read as I had expected from all the hype.

My Rating: 3 stars

Author: Emiko Jean

Genre: Suspense

Type and Source: Hardcover from public library

Publisher: Simon and Schuster Canada

First Published: May 7, 2024

Read: Aug 17-19, 2024

Book Description from GoodReads: Detective Chelsey Calhoun’s life is turned upside down when she gets the call Ellie Black, a girl who disappeared years earlier, has resurfaced in the woods of Washington state—but Ellie’s reappearance leaves Chelsey with more questions than answers.

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.

But something is not right with Ellie. She won’t say where she’s been, or who she’s protecting, and it’s up to Chelsey to find the answers. She needs to get to the bottom of what happened to Ellie: for herself, and for the memory of her sister, but mostly for the next girl who could be taken—and who, unlike Ellie, might never return.

The debut thriller from New York Times bestselling author Emiko Jean, The Return of Ellie Black is both a feminist tour de force about the embers of hope that burn in the aftermath of tragedy and a twisty page-turner that will shock and surprise you right up until the final page.