by Emiko Jean
Simon & Schuster, 2024. 299 pages. Fiction
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. So when local teenager Ellie Black, who disappeared without a trace two years earlier, is found alive in the woods of Washington State, Chelsey is determined to track Ellie's kidnapper down. 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.
This fast-paced novel keeps the suspense high while also taking time to explore the motivations of each character. Jean does this by jumping between perspectives and timelines a bit, in order to help the reader understand the background stories of both Ellie and Chelsey. This means the story depicts some of Ellie's time with her abuser, which some readers might be uncomfortable reading, although the point of these sections is not to glorify Ellie's situation, and isn't overly graphic. I found myself entirely invested in the story, hoping that the kidnapper would be caught and that both Chelsey and Ellie could move on to leading happier lives. This is a gripping page-turner of a missing person novel.
by Paula McLain
Ballantine Books, 2021. 370 pages. Fiction
Anna Hart is a seasoned missing persons detective in San Francisco with far too much knowledge of the darkest side of human nature. When unspeakable tragedy strikes her personal life, Anna, desperate and numb, flees to the Northern California village of Mendocino. The day she arrives, she learns a local teenage girl has gone missing. Anna is in no condition to become involved with the search—until the village sheriff pleads for her help. Then, just days later, a twelve-year-old girl is abducted from her home. As Anna investigates the cases, she slowly realizes that true courage means getting out of her own way and learning to let others in.
by Charlie Donlea
Kensington Publishing Corp., 2024. 344 pages. Fiction
When DNA results reveal a disturbing connection to the mysterious disappearance of a famous baby from nearly three decades ago, a woman's search for answers draws her to an ominous small town in Nevada and a dangerous web of corruption, power, and lies.
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