The Return of Ellie Black

The Return of Ellie Black is a 2024 thriller by Emiko Jean. Jean writes thriller and coming-of-age novels for young adults and adults. The novel follows Detective Chelsey Calhoun as she investigates the reappearance of 19-year-old Ellie Black, who vanished two years prior. The novel, which alternates between third-person limited and first-person narration, explores themes of The Psychological Impact of Trauma, Identity and Transformation, and The Complexities of Home.

This study guide refers to the Simon and Schuster 2024 print edition. When discussing characters with more than one name, this guide follows the novel’s conventions in the Chapter Summaries but defaults to the characters’ given names in all other sections.

Content Warning: This source material contains depictions of abuse, neglect, suicide, sexual violence, substance use disorders, and murder. Additionally, this source material discusses racism and sexism.

Plot Summary

Sergeant Abbott of Coldwell Beach, Washington, calls one of his employees, Detective Chelsey Calhoun, and tells her that hikers found a 19-year-old woman named Ellie Black wandering in the woods. Ellie had previously been missing for two years. Chelsey goes to the hospital and verifies that it is Ellie. Afterward, Chelsey goes to her parents’ house, where no one has lived in since her father died. Chelsey thinks about her sister, Lydia, who was murdered when she was 15. Although the police never discovered her body, they believe that a boy named Oscar murdered Lydia and died by suicide afterward.

In interspersed first-person narration, Ellie remembers how a man attacked her in a parking lot when she was 17. When Ellie woke up, she was in a buried school bus. A man gave her food and water every few days. After several weeks, the man said that his name was Michael, and he took her to a compound in the woods and put her in a bunker. Another man was there and told her that his name was David. Ellie saw that there were other girls her age, two of whom were introduced as Hope and Charity (later revealed to be Gabrielle and Hannah, respectively). They told her not to trust an older captive, who was named Serendipity.

In the present, Ellie struggles to reacclimate to her old life. Chelsey discovers that some of the clothes that Ellie was wearing when the hikers found her belonged to a girl named Gabrielle Barlowe, whose body was discovered a year earlier. Chelsey asks Ellie about Gabrielle, but Ellie refuses to help her with the investigation. The DNA on the clothes shows a partial match for a man named Lewis Salt. Lewis tells the police that his daughter, Willa, went missing the year before. Chelsey realizes that the blood on the clothes belongs to Willa.

Ellie remembers how Hope gave her Queen Anne’s lace to prevent her from getting pregnant, as David routinely raped his captives. However, David found the seeds and made the girls burn them. Under coercion, Ellie told David that Hope had given her the seeds. David locked Ellie in her room, and she heard him attack Hope. A few weeks later, Michael brought a younger girl named Grace (actually Willa) to the compound, and Ellie decided to protect her from David.

In the present, Chelsey tells Ellie that she believes that Ellie was held somewhere with Gabrielle, a missing girl named Hannah, and Willa. Chelsey tells Ellie about Lydia and how she wishes that she could have saved her. Ellie promises Chelsey that she will tell her everything at her house the next day.

Ellie remembers that one day Charity saw that David had left the armory unlocked. Charity grabbed a gun, but David appeared and told Ellie to take the gun from Charity; otherwise, he would kill Grace. Ellie tackled Charity, and David beat her. David then told Ellie that he had a project for her to do. Over the next few weeks, David showed Ellie how to make a pipe bomb. He explained that he wanted her to bomb Governor Pike and that he would kill Grace if Ellie refused.

In the present, Chelsey goes to the Blacks’ house as arranged, but Ellie is gone. Chelsey discovers materials to construct a pipe bomb in her room. When Chelsey gets to the precinct, she learns that Ellie tried to bomb Governor Pike but that the bomb was intercepted and Ellie is on the run. Since Sergeant Abbott’s ex-wife is Governor Pike, he takes Chelsey off the case. However, Chelsea tracks Ellie’s phone with the help of Ellie’s old boyfriend Danny. When they lose the signal, Chelsey and Danny realize that Sergeant Abbott’s sons, West and Doug, fit the profile of the girls’ kidnappers and have a personal vendetta against Governor Pike for divorcing their father. Danny discovers that Doug and West own a World War II bunker in Olympic National Forest, and they drive toward it.

Aided by Ellie, the girls try to escape the compound, but West and Doug stop them. Chelsey arrives and shoots Doug; after a struggle, she also knocks West out. Serendipity runs out of the house, and Chelsey tackles her. When she sees her face, Chelsey realizes that Serendipity is Lydia.

A few days later, Chelsey visits Lydia in the correctional facility. Lydia explains that she was romantically involved with West and that West killed Oscar out of jealousy and then framed him for Lydia’s murder. Ellie gives Chelsey a written account of her captivity to help with the investigation. Ellie knows that it will take time, but she feels hopeful that she will recover from her trauma. A few months later, Chelsey packs up her parents’ house. Chelsey says goodbye to the ghosts of herself and Lydia as she leaves.