Pub Date 07 May 2024
Simon & Schuster
General Fiction (Adult) | Mystery & Thrillers | Women's Fiction
My review
4.5
I didn't plan to read this in one sitting but I couldn't stop. Here are the reasons why. NO SPOILERS
Starts with the victim of a kidnap, Ellie Black, who has suffered horrible things returning from the forest on her own. We follow her process of healing, reconnecting with her family and friends, and talking to her doctor and the police.
The book will make you feel a lot of things, especially rage for injustice. The author mentions and points out how being a woman is hard in a men's world, how the lack of resources for institutions can cost a life, how women's suffering can be dismissed by society, and how men can torture and abuse women to feel powerful.
I like that we have multiple POVs and that Ellie reveals to us (readers) more than she reveals to other characters. Unlike other books, this makes us feel one step ahead. At the same time, the policewoman in charge of her case is not dumb at all and I wish many were as invested as her. There are a few major twists closer to the end. One is what made me like Ellie more.
The book was intense and made me feel the same as when I watched the show True Detective.
It is recommended for adults but after the approval of their parents, I think that mature female teens would understand the YA aspect of it: the message of danger, fear, courage, and friendship between sisters.
Thank you, publisher and Netgalley for the e-arc.
From the Publisher
“The Return of Ellie Black is a page-turning suspense novel, a shrewd character study, and a captivating mystery, all at the same time. The last fifty pages are magnetic. I couldn’t put it down until I’d experienced every last twist and turn.” —STEPHEN KING
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.