This book was one of my most anticipated of September, and it definitely didn’t disappoint. Emiko Jean’s last book, The Return of Ellie Black, was one of my absolute favorites of 2024, and this was a worthy sequel!
Detective Chelsey Calhoun is a few months pregnant, but she’s not ready to go public yet, because she doesn’t want to get stuck behind a desk. Yet when she and her partner have to investigate the murder of a woman and the disappearance of her teenage daughter, she’s not prepared for the case to hit so close to home.
The murder victim was a woman named Anne, but behind that simple name was a frightened woman who had to find her own way again and again. She was raised on a farm in a remote Japanese town, only to get involved with the yakuza in Tokyo, then flee to Idaho for a new start, only to seek refuge in Seattle. Her 16-year-old daughter Naomi is missing, and Chelsey is worried that she might meet the same fate as her mother.
The more Chelsey and her partner dig into Anne’s past, the more secrets are uncovered about her past. For Chelsey, who was adopted as a young child, the questions about Anne make her wonder about her own past. But she also finds that if some secrets find the light of day, it might prove deadly.
This is both a twisty mystery and an emotional story. Chelsey’s pregnancy definitely made her even more focused on finding Naomi before it’s too late. The book is narrated by Chelsey, Anne, and Naomi, and each voice is slightly different. I hope we’ll get back to Seattle in another of Jean’s books!
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