A USA TODAY Bestseller | An NPR Best Book of 2024 | A Goodreads Best Thriller of 2024 In this page-turning suspense novel, shrewd character study, and captivating mystery (Stephen King) Detective Chelsey Calhouns life is turned upside down when she gets the call that Ellie Black, a girl who disappeared years earlier, has resurfaced in the woods of Washington statebut her reappearance leaves Chelsey with more questions than answers.Its been twenty years since Detective Chelsey Calhouns sister vanished when they were teenagers, and ever since shes been searching: for signs, for closure, for other missing girls. But happy endings are rare in Chelseys 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 wont say where shes been, or who shes protecting, and its 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 takenand who, unlike Ellie, might never return. The haunting and evocative 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 gripping psychological thriller (The Seattle Times) that will shock you right up until the final page.