Review--The Return by Rachel Harrison

 

An edgy and haunting debut novel about a group of friends who reunite after one of them has returned from a mysterious two-year disappearance.

Julie is missing, and the missing don't often return. But Elise knows Julie better than anyone, and she feels in her bones that her best friend is out there, and that one day she'll come back. She's right. Two years to the day that Julie went missing, she reappears with no memory of where she's been or what happened to her.

Rachel Harrison’s The Return was exactly what I was hoping for. It was an insanely creepy and mysterious read filled with puzzles and twists and shocks that kept me guessing and dying to read more! It’s the perfect read for Spooky Season!

Elise, Mae, and Molly are all stunned when their friend, Julie goes missing. What started out as a hike turns into tragedy. Elise is convinced that Julie just ran off for some “me time.” As that is something she would do, disappear for a few days before making a grand appearance. But days turn to weeks to months to two years. Then, finally, Julie returns. 

But Julie isn’t quite the woman Elise remembers. She’s frail, her teeth seem off, all reasonable explanations for someone who’s been gone for two years. Then Mae decides the four of them need a girl’s weekend at a snazzy inn. They’ll rest, relax, and have fun. 

Elise and her friends’ worry grows steadily stronger as the weekend goes on. Julie’s behavior seems very off, she goes from no appetite to strange appetite. It’s very off putting. Plus Elise is pretty sure her room is haunted. It’s always cold, things seem to get moved around when she leaves the room, some of its explainable but other times, not so much. 

This book was just eerie and very creepy! You get led into a false sense of security at times before something weird happens and shakes you to your core! I lived for these thrilling buildups! 

I’ll admit there was occasionally too much downtime moments. Like let’s explore the mistakes of Elise’s past. I get the need to understand our heroine but some of these felt too much. The long winded paragraphs about her past affairs felt unnecessary. 

Another minor complaint were the long chapters with very little page breaks. This is not the read for a busy reader who can only sneak in a few pages here and there and hates stopping mid scene. 

The ending was pure chaos! There were no concrete answers or resolutions. It definitely one of those that will have you scratching your head and theorizing what you thought just happened! It was a good twisted ending for sure! Although I did wish we could put a name to what led the events that took place here. It was just plain bizarre but in a good way!

Overall Rating 4/5 stars