A Thrilling Read: The Return of Ellie Black by Emiko Jean

A Poolside Fiction Review by Shannon MacLeod

The Return of Ellie Black by Emiko Jean is a great thriller that follows along as Detective Chelsey Calhoun works the case after missing teenager Ellie Black is found a couple of years after she disappeared.

Don’t start reading The Return of Ellie Black before bedtime because if you do, you might stay up all night to finish it. That happened to me three or four years ago with The Woman In The Window by AJ Flynn. I started it around 9 p.m. and tried to go to sleep around 10 p.m., then again at 11 p.m., and finally at midnight I gave up and finished it around 2 a.m.

That easily could have happened with The Return of Ellie Black, but lucky for me, I was on vacation, so I read it over two afternoons sitting by the pool. That’s what this book is perfect for – a beach read, a quick and entertaining book.

The book has a lot of clichés we see in thrillers (which isn’t a bad thing – look at James Patterson, all his books follow the same formula yet I continue to read them). But despite the clichés, I enjoyed reading this book.

I loved the protagonist, Detective Calhoun. The daughter of a police officer herself, she became a police detective after the disappearance of her sister 20 years earlier. Seeking out cases of missing girls, which so often go unsolved, it’s been her life’s mission to save these girls, and prevent more from disappearing,

The prose switches between Chelsey’s perspective and Ellie Black’s, once she’s been found. We learn about what happened with Ellie when she was missing and slowly the story unravels around why she isn’t being very forthcoming with police and that she may be protecting someone.

Some of the scenes that unravel through the book might be disturbing, as it deals with abuse, kidnapping and other dark themes. Towards the end of the book, the author still managed to provide a twist that shocked me.

This is the first book by Emiko Jenkin that I’ve read, and I look forward to reading more!

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About the Author

Emiko Jean is the New York Times bestselling author of the young adult novels Tokyo Dreaming and Tokyo Ever After, a Reese Witherspoon/Hello Sunshine pick, and the novel Mika in Real Life, a Good Morning America Book Club pick. She lives in Washington with her husband and two kids.

About the Reviewer

A former newspaper editor, Shannon MacLeod is passionate about Canadian Press Style and typography (she gets twitchy when she is forced to read certain fonts). Shannon enjoys music (singing, playing, and listening), gardening, cooking, baking, reading, and being active in her community. She loves spending time with her husband DJ, and her dogs, Moe (a pug) and Bronson (a border collie). Professionally, Shannon is a Senior Community Engagement Advisor for Horizon Health Network. Originally from Sussex Corner, Shannon has called Miramichi home since 2012.

Book Details

• Publisher ‏ : ‎ Simon & Schuster; Canadian Export edition (May 7 2024)

• Language ‏ : ‎ English

• Paperback ‏ : ‎ 320 pages

• ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1668065355

• ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1668065358