Reviews tagging 'Animal cruelty'

The Return of Ellie Black by Emiko Jean

6 reviews

sariereads's review against another edition

Go to review page

dark mysterious tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.75


Expand filter menu Content Warnings

trippalli's review against another edition

Go to review page

dark sad medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.0

A sad tense and dark journey into the experiences of a teen kidnapped with other teens and a girl and their efforts to survive and escape. Really horrific and sad, a dark tale of abuse, psychological terror and Fighting for survival despite being beaten, raped and watching other girls get killed violently. A story of survival, police brutality, teen resilience and the terrifying world of abuse and damaged violent people gaslighting and brainwashing victims.

Not for the feint of heart

Expand filter menu Content Warnings

timetotalkbeauty's review against another edition

Go to review page

dark emotional mysterious reflective tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix

4.0


Expand filter menu Content Warnings

kimveach's review against another edition

Go to review page

dark emotional hopeful mysterious reflective sad tense fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

It's an excellent thriller - I couldn't put it down.

Expand filter menu Content Warnings

thrillofthepage's review

Go to review page

dark mysterious tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25


Expand filter menu Content Warnings

honestlyyours77's review against another edition

Go to review page

challenging dark hopeful mysterious reflective tense fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

I rarely give a book 5 stars so when I do it is exciting for me. I want to thank NetGalley and Simon & Schuster Publishing for this ARC in exchange for my honest review.

To be honest I got drawn to the book because of its title and actually it’s my only criticism of the book. There is a book that I had read in the past called “The Truth and Lies of Ella Black” and when I saw this current book I thought maybe it was a sequel as I confused the Ellie Black for Ella Black.” So my criticism is that more care should have been taken when choosing the titular characters name. A quick Google search would have brought up the older book and the names are just too similar making it easy to confuse the two.

However, it is most certainly not the same world at all once I started reading it. The description says “ 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.

The 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 twisty page-turner that will shock and surprise you right up until the final page.

The book is female centered for sure but I wouldn’t call it a “feminist tour de force” so don’t let that guide your decision to pick up the title when it debuts in May 2024, which you totally should.

Stephen King is quoted as saying “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.”

Other than calling it a suspense novel which I wouldn’t call it that, everything else he stated was a perfect description of my opinion as well, especially the last 50 pages. Many times I figure out various intended surprises of a book but this time I was so engrossed and turned the pages so fast that I didn’t even try to unravel things. The story zipped along giving entertaining content where you didn’t fall into a sleuthing mode. Instead I wanted to keep reading simply to find out Ellie’s story.

However, by the end everything came together rather quickly and it all made perfect sense. The author did a wonderful job creating the world without being predictable or relying on overused YA tropes. I also liked the structure of the book which switches between narrators as well as time frames seamlessly.

Lastly, I will say that either I am having Deja vu or I have heard a similar story at some point either from the news or a life time movie. I really can’t remember at all and that’s fine as it didn’t detract from the story at all.

I look forward to reading more of this authors works. It’s refreshing to read flawed and unreliable narrators but still want to root for them along the way.. if you’re a lover of YA thrillers, crime, psychological crime and light suspense (I guess) than this book is for you!

Expand filter menu Content Warnings
More...