The Return of Ellie Black

The novel delves into the complexities of missing persons cases, particularly when it comes to missing young women. The United States has a relatively high rate of such disappearances, with roughly 250,000 girls and women going missing each year (Brownworth, Victoria. “Do We Have an Epidemic of Missing Women?” DAME, 10 Jan. 2022). However, only a few of these cases attract widespread attention, limiting public understanding of the plight of these women. For instance, while media coverage tends to focus on white women, Black and Indigenous women and girls are disproportionately likely to go missing—and to receive less public attention when they do. Moreover, statistics on missing girls and women do not collect data on ethnicity, making it impossible to know how many missing white women (the bulk of such cases, by raw numbers) are also Latinx (Brownworth). Similar inequities permeate the investigative process, with Indigenous women’s bodies, when recovered, significantly less likely to be identified (Ordway, Denise-Marie. “Research Raises New Questions About Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women.” The Journalist’s Resource, 26 Apr. 2023). It should also be noted that while “missing white woman syndrome” has become a byword for a certain kind of cultural fixation, factors like socioeconomic status, age, and perceived attractiveness also factor strongly in determining which women’s cases generate public interest; the disappearance of a working-class white woman with a substance use disorder is relatively unlikely to be taken seriously by either the police or the media. Compounding the problem, people marginalized by virtue of their race, class, etc. are more likely to have experienced police persecution and may therefore hesitate to come forward when their loved ones go missing (Brownworth).

The factors that contribute to such disappearances are similarly misunderstood. Most women who go missing have experienced domestic violence at the hands of men (Brownworth). This implies a woman’s kidnapper and her abuser may be one and the same; it also implies a connection between the disappearances of women and girls and a broader culture of misogyny. However, media reports on missing women tend to be sensationalistic and thus present their cases as outside the norm rather than in keeping with it.

Jean highlights many of these misperceptions in The Return of Ellie Black. For example, the racial and socioeconomic disparities in missing persons cases cause Chelsey to feel guilty throughout the novel; her white, middle-class adoptive family had the resources and connections to find out what happened to Lydia as quickly as possible, while families such as the Blacks cannot afford to fund searches for their loved ones. Indeed, Ellie believes this is why she and the other girls were taken: Their kidnapper did not believe that anyone would come looking for them. To combat the discriminatory practices in missing girl cases, Chelsey takes on every missing woman or girl case she can. Jean also emphasizes the fact that most abductees know their kidnappers. This is why Chelsey interviews Danny and Ellie’s family so insistently, for example. Moreover, the link between abuse and abduction figures prominently in the novel’s twist ending, when Chelsey discovers that Lydia and Serendipity are one and the same.

Jean strives for accuracy even when she is not challenging outright misconceptions. For example, the novel mentions the importance of reporting a missing person immediately because of the significance of finding evidence within the first 48 hours of the person going missing. Investigations are more likely to bear fruit if the police can interview eyewitnesses immediately, in part because memory is more accurate shortly after a crime has been committed.