Detective Chelsey Calhoun is married, pregnant, and mostly happy, until an explosive new case shatters everything. A mother is dead, her sixteen-year-old daughter Naomi has vanished, and the search will awaken questions about Chelsey’s own origins that she’s spent a lifetime avoiding. The victim called herself Anne Walker, but she was born Rika Takahashi, and her journey from a remote Japanese farm to suburban Seattle conceals decades of deception. Told in three interwoven voices spanning Tokyo’s underworld, an isolated Idaho town, and years of carefully constructed lies, this is a story about the secrets families carry and the sins that echo across generations.

I enjoyed this one but not as much as the first book. I listened to The Return of Ellie Black and was completely hooked from start to finish, but I read this one instead and I’m honestly not sure if the format switch had an impact on my experience or not. The beginning also starts similarly another I just read (though the storylines are pretty separate minus the initial murder situation) so maybe I was a little biased going in. Or maybe the reading funk I’ve been in lately is just weighing on me more than I realize. Hard to say.

It’s written in a similar structure as the first with multiple voices and timelines, but we get a lot more of Chelsey’s inner thoughts and turmoil this time around. It’s definitely a sequel, however it doesn’t actually give away the first book’s climax, so you could technically read this one first, though I don’t know if I’d recommend it. You’d miss a lot of the emotional context that makes Chelsey’s journey feel as layered as it does here and you’d probably find yourself saying, ‘wait so what happened? Where’d he go? etc’.

Where this book really shines is in the mother-daughter dynamics and the exploration of cultural identity. Knowing where you come from, finding where you belong, and reckoning with the parts of your history that were hidden from you. Jean handles all of that with real care. It read less like a mystery though and more like an introspective literary fiction novel with a crime at the center. If you go in expecting a thriller you might feel the same way I did, but if you approach it as a slower, more contemplative read it works really well.

It’s not very long and it’s a good slow burn. More the kind of book you lounge with on a quiet afternoon or sit with and think on after you finish. Jean definitely set us up for a third book and I’m excited for wherever Chelsey goes next. If you loved The Return of Ellie Black this is still absolutely worth reading, just go in with slightly different expectations. Or don’t who am I to boss you around.

AMAZON | GOODREADS | BOOKSHOP | ★★★★

Before You Were Anne comes out September 1, 2026. Huge thank you to Simon & Schuster for my advanced copy in exchange for my honest opinion.  If you liked this review please let me know either by commenting below or by visiting my instagram @speakingof.books.