The Return of Ellie Black by Emiko Jean

The Return of Ellie Black My Rating: 4.6

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.

This was a well-paced and engaging thriller that kept me hooked from start to finish. The storytelling was strong, with enough twists and tension to keep the pages turning. Like many thrillers, it does require you to suspend reality a bit and just go along for the ride—but if you do, it’s a good one.