When The Stars Go Dark

When The Stars Go Dark is a departure from Paula McLain's previous Historical Fiction books. This latest book falls into the Suspense/True Crime genre and is a compelling, character-driven story about missing teenage girls in northern California towns in the 1990's.

This is a very personal book for the author who has infused her main character, Missing Persons Investigator Anna Hart, with aspects from the author's own experiences as a foster child and sexual abuse survivor. Anna is an interesting and complex character and when she volunteers to help on a case involving a missing teen girl from her hometown, events from Anna's past take hold as other missing teen cases come to light.

With the multiple crimes, there is a large cast of characters to keep track of but I encourage readers to be patient and trust that the author will lead them through the cast and the different crimes. This is a slow building yet riveting story that blends true crime and suspense for an unputdownable, complex story about resilience, healing and the on-going effects of childhood trauma. 

Powerful, beautifully written and well-researched, McLain makes the transition from her Historical Fiction roots into the True Crime/Suspense genre with great success. When The Stars Go Dark is an atmospheric, moving and compelling story that readers won't want to miss. Look for this book in stores April 13, 2021!

Disclaimer: My sincere thanks to the publisher for providing me with a complimentary digital copy of this title in exchange for my honest review.

My Rating: 4.5 stars

Author: Paula McLain

Genre: Suspense

Type and Source: eBook from publisher via NetGalley

Publisher: Bond Street Books (Penguin Random House Canada)

First Published: April 13, 2021

Opening Lines: The mother who tore off her dress when the police came 

to her house with the news and then ran down the street in only 

her shoes, while her neighbors, even the ones who knew her well, 

hid behind their doors and windows, afraid of her grief.

Book Description from GoodReads: A detective hiding away from the world. A series of disappearances that reach into her past. Can solving them help her heal?

Anna Hart is a seasoned missing persons detective in San Francisco with far too much knowledge of the darkest side of human nature. When overwhelming tragedy strikes her personal life, Anna, desperate and numb, flees to the Northern California village of Mendocino to grieve. She lived there as a child with her beloved foster parents, and now she believes it might be the only place left for her. Yet the day she arrives, she learns a local teenage girl has gone missing. The crime feels frighteningly reminiscent of the most crucial time in Anna's childhood, when the unsolved murder of a young girl touched Mendocino and changed the community forever. As past and present collide, Anna realizes that she has been led to this moment. The most difficult lessons of her life have given her insight into how victims come into contact with violent predators. As Anna becomes obsessed with the missing girl, she must accept that true courage means getting out of her own way and learning to let others in.

Weaving together actual cases of missing persons, trauma theory, and a hint of the metaphysical, this propulsive and deeply affecting novel tells a story of fate, necessary redemption, and what it takes, when the worst happens, to reclaim our lives--and our faith in one another.