The Return of Ellie Black

Publication Date: May 2024

Overall Verdict: A solid thriller that will keep you guessing and make your heart wrench for the characters. An adult novel with YA crossover potential. Recommended!

5/5 Stars

Book Summary: Detective Chelsey Calhoun has been trying her entire career to help find missing girls, in hopes of finding closure for her sister who had gone missing when they were teens. When a cold case of Chelsey’s is suddenly active again with the reappearance of Ellie Black who vanished two years ago, she begins to dive deeper into what happened. As she questions Ellie however, it becomes clear that she is not sharing all the information about what has happened to her.

My Analysis: This is an adult novel, but absolutely has the ability to be of interest (and appropriate where applicable) for older YA readers. Content warning there is non-graphic depictions of sexual abuse. You are given both the detectives perspective as well as the teen who had been missing, so YA readers can still make a connection. It is a fast-paced thriller and I like how the author connected the dots through multiple perspectives. There are some interesting twists (one of which I wasn’t totally a fan of, but it worked) that really keep you wanting more. I do wish that the ending had been expanded upon. I get where the author wanted to cut things off, but I wanted to know more about the aftermath of things. Overall if you are a fan of thrillers, particularly missing persons/kidnapping plots, you need to read this one.