The Next Girl by Emiko Jean Review (Gifted, AD)

Hello Readers,

Thank you, NetGalley for giving access to an eBook copy of The Next Girl by Emiko Jean for free in exchange for an honest review. As this is a publication day review my post will be spoiler free. The eBook I received from NetGalley doesn't do the cover justice, so I am using a cover image I have found through google (Fair use under the copyright act sections 29 and 30 under use for a review).
 
Happy Publication Day
 
Title: The Next Girl / The Return of Ellie Black
Author: Emiko Jean
Genre: Thriller, Mystery, Suspense, Psychological thriller, Crime Fiction
Pages: 398 (Kindle)
Cover:
 

Synopsis:
I guess you're probably wondering about the next girl. Because there's always another girl, right? A girl waiting to be taken. To be swept away. I'll tell you about her. It's been twenty years since Detective Chelsey Calhoun lost her sister, and she's been searching ever since: for signs, for closure, for other missing girls. Happy endings are rare in Chelsey's line of work.
Until one day, local teenager Ellie Black is found in Washington State woods. Two years after her disappearance, she's an echo of herself, but alive. But something's not right about this girl. Where has she been, and who is she protecting? Chelsey has to find out. For herself, for her sister, and before the next girl is taken.
 
Miniature Review
 
There are two spoilers I will give for this book, the first is that the book is about a girl found in the woods following a two-year disappearance. The second is this is not an easy read as there are sporadic revelations of Ellie's awful treatment at the hands of her abductor. Emiko does a respectable job writing about trauma sensitively and depicting the severe, long-lasting effects Ellie had.
 
This is an immersive mystery psychological thriller that changes the pace as it isn’t a rapid and fast paced but it's a slow burning cautious tale. That takes us as the reader along a dark tale that goes deep into the depraved world of monsters who prey on women and the effects it has on a survivor. This is the last time I will mention it, but the subject matters inevitably don’t make for easy reading.
 
This story is told from two points of view Chelsey and Ellie’s. Both Chelsey and Ellie are extremely well portrayed. I knew from reading Empress of all seasons that I was going to love Emiko characterisation in this book, and I wasn’t wrong.

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