When the Stars Go Dark

I am always impressed when authors step out of their typical genre--even when the results miss the mark--but that’s not the case here. Paula McLain’s new book, When the Stars Go Dark, mostly moves away from historical literature and tackles a crime novel with great success. The story follows a troubled detective, Anna Hart, who specializes in missing children cases. It’s clear from the beginning that Anna is in the midst of her own crisis as she takes on a new case, and McLain gives us small details of that and her past interspersed with the current case. For historical fiction enthusiasts, When the Stars Go Dark takes place in the early 90s (sort of historical), and the real-life disappearance of Polly Klaas plays a role in the show more story. McLain does a lot of editorializing on child abuse victims, adoption, foster care, but through the character of Anna, it still worked for me. I really enjoyed the layers of mystery, and McLain played the natural setting of northern California beautifully. I highly recommend When the Stars Go Dark to McLain’s readers who may not usually read crime novels, and to crime novel readers who like a more emotional connection to the story. show less

“Because everyone wants to be looked for, whether they realize it or not.”

Oooh this one was dark - dealing with missing and kidnapped young girls - but so so good. It's broken in parts, 4 of them, so you can easily catch your breath between sections. And some of it is hard. You are in Anna's head and she's very good at getting in to the mind of the girls that have gone missing. She's also good at trying to piece apart what has happened and assess the horrible danger in each girl's life.

And I found myself completely sucked in the story. I had no leads on who was doing anything. I was so wrapped in Anna's storyline that I was just following all her leads - red herrings or not. And the story of Jenny, such a side note at first, just show more stuck with me. I wanted to know what happened to her so bad I was ready to be angry if we didn't get anwers by the end.

And the ending was so much more than I'd thought it could be. So many things unraveling as we learn all the secrets Anna has been holding on to, all the little things that have happened in this town. We even get some insight to the secrets we weren't 100% sure about in various parts of the story. Nothing felt forced or unreal, it was well crafted and completely hooked me. I hate that I let this book sit on my shelf so long. It was so good! show less

It is 1993, before cell phones, DNA testing and widespread use of the internet. San Francisco police detective Anna Hart grew up in the California foster care system, placed in several homes, separated from her younger siblings. Her final placement, a happy one lasting 11 years, was in Mendocino. So, when tragedy strikes, she leaves her husband, takes a leave of absence from the police and returns to her last happy place, hoping to regroup.

Glancing at the bulletin board in the local coffee shop, she sees a Missing Persons poster for 15-year-old Cameron Curtis who has recently vanished in the night. The poster brings back 20-year-old memories when her friend and neighbor Jenny Ledford disappeared. Her body was later found washed up on show more the shore. That and the fact that Anna tracks missing kids, that’s her job and she’s good at it, compels Anna to insert herself into the police investigation. Luckily, childhood friend, Will Flood, is chief of police and welcomes her involvement. Will’s father was police chief during Jenny’s kidnapping and the fact that her abductor was never caught changed him for the rest of his life. Now it seems Cameron slipped out of her house to meet an unknown person. Unfortunately, there are no clues and Will doesn’t want to end up like his father.

Shortly after Cameron’s disappearance, 12-year-old Polly Klaas who lived in a neighboring town is kidnapped at knife point from her suburban bedroom in front of two friends who were bound and had pillow cases put over their heads. (This is a real case.) The town is galvanized to search for Polly. Anna tells Will that Mendocino must do the same, get out in force.

As the weeks go by and the investigation stalls, it is found that a third girl had gone missing earlier, also still missing. Could all of these abductions be the actions of one person? To know this, Anna needs to get inside the heads of the missing girls, find some similarities and determine how they might have met the psychopath who abducted them.

When the Stars Go Dark is police procedural, psychological thriller at its best. Readers will be rooting for Anna, one of the best characters I’ve read in a long time, and for Cameron’s recovery. McLain uses Anna’s backstory to fill in her life and see what makes her tick. The similarities between Cameron’s and Anna’s upbringing prompt Anna to reflect on her own childhood.

McLain herself was part of the California foster care system for over a decade and a survivor of sexual abuse at the hands of her foster parents. Luckily, unlike Anna, she and her two sisters were never separated. She has said in interviews that this book is the most personal one she’s written, even more so than her 2003 memoir, Like Family: Growing Up in Other People’s Houses, a Memoir.

The emotion and insight she pours into When the Stars Go Dark adds to the impact of the victims’ psyche and bullseye target they wear that may be invisible to us but is recognizable to sexual predators.

The inclusion of the real-life Polly Klaas kidnapping and similarities of Jenny Ledford’s kidnapping to another actual kidnapping, that of Jaycee Dumont, just add to the atmosphere.

In my opinion, this book is perfect in every way and worth 5 stars on any scale and should be up for an Edgar award. Her other works have been described as compelling and spellbinding and I’d characterize When the Stars Go Dark similarly. One reviewer said the book had “…great pacing, fascinating characters, thrills, beauty, peril, violence and forgiveness.” I’d add hope.

I urge you to go to McLain’s website, paulamclain.com and read some of the essays she has posted there.

Mystery lovers and lovers of literary fiction and true crime, fans of Tana French will devour When the Stars Go Dark as quickly as I did. I couldn’t put it down. I also highly recommend Lisa Gardner’s recent book, Before She Disappeared, which also deals with missing children. show less

Not my usual genre, not Paula McLain's either, as it happens, but she does a great job crafting this thriller around the subject of missing girls. Anna Hart, a tough missing persons detective is fleeing a personal tragedy that is only hinted at and returns to Mendocino, where she had happy foster care memories. And she walks right into another missing persons case, so this is not the healing break or respite she needs, but that is not her style anyway. Cameron is a teenage girl, adopted daughter of a movie star who disappears overnight. Anna's old friend Will Flood is on the case - it brings both of them back to their childhood when another girl went missing from their town, so she offers to help and has a lot of profiling experience. show more Meanwhile, another younger girl goes missing nearby - Polly Klaas, who is a real-life case from the 1990s, when this book is set. No cell phones, no googling, no social media, no google earth - all the searching and the work is done in person with photocopies and landlines. Anna is so invested in these cases because she had a hard knock childhood - put into the foster system when her mother OD'ed, separated from her half-brother and sister, and bearing a misplaced childhood guilt for failing them. The way the case proceeds really builds suspense, although I wasn't totally surprised at the kidnapper - but McClain had some other surprises in store instead. Though it is heavy subject matter, it is handled carefully and meaningfully and ultimately is more cause for hope and healing than anything. McClain reveals a personal vested interest in the topic - and it shows in the care she took in writing this book. Compelling! show less

Twelve hours after reading this book, there's still tears in my eyes thinking about it. This story had to be told and Paula McLain does it well making you feel the pain from those who have been sexually abused and those searching for the girls.

The book starts with Anna Hart, a detective who goes to Santa Rosa, CA to help find a missing teenager, Cameron Curtis. She works for Project Searchlight that investigates sex crimes and crimes against children. She works with Will Flood, the town sheriff to track down clues that will hopefully save the girls and lead them towards the kidnapper - the monster. She said, "violence against women is almost never about sex, but about domination...about crushing a woman's autonomy with total control by show more hate."

While Anna and Will are investigating, they also learn about another girl from Petaluma, Polly Klaas, that has been abducted from her home in the middle of the night by strong man with a knife. The reader learns of all kind of clues along the way including a psychic, polygraph tests and massive notes while the clock is ticking. It's more than a "who done it" book as this one feels real. She said often times girls feel they're not worth saving, manipulated by the master, the devil. We all know it's wrong. Every girl is worth saving. Every one of them. That's why Anna and Will work diligently towards this mission.

It would be deeply depressing to lose a child after trying for days, weeks or months to track them down. The psychic said, "The people we love never leave us, Anna. You that know already. That's what I mean by spirit. I mean love." The most powerful part of the book is found in the Author's Notes. A must read.

My thanks to the author, publisher and NetGallery for allowing me to read this advanced copy. show less

When the Stars Go Dark by Paula McLain is not really about the suspense or about the life Anna is running from. It is about damaged, flawed characters dealing with past traumas. The book is dark - by title, by subject matter, and by tone. It brings the statistics to life in a tragic, visual way that I will remember for a long while. This book is such a departure from the historical fiction I have read so far from the author; make sure and read the author’s note for the very personal connection.

Read my complete review at http://www.memoriesfrombooks.com/2021/12/when-stars-go-dark.html

Reviewed for NetGalley.

Heavy Read but Good


This story expresses the point of view of Anna Hart who is a seasoned missing person detective in San Francisco with far too much knowledge of the darkest side of human nature. When 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 that a local teenage girl has gone missing.

The crime is scarily similar to a crime that occurred during a pivotal time in Anna’s childhood. The unsolved murder of a young girl touched the town and changed the people who lived there forever. When past and show more present collide, Anna realizes she was brought back to her hometown for a reason and that her upbringing and life experience gives her insight into how the victims are selected and how they come in contact with this killer. As Anna becomes consumed with the history and needs to save these girls, she must come to terms with the fact that to help others she might need to help herself by letting others in.



Intertwining together actual cases of missing persons, trauma theory, and a hint of the metaphysical, this propelling and deeply affecting novel tells a story of fate, necessary redemption, and what it takes, when the worst happens, to reclaim our lives and come to terms with the fact that we are not meant to live life alone.

What I enjoyed with this novel is that when it begins we are immediately caught up in whatever Anna is running from. You can feel that she is running from love and heartbreak and all this information is given to the reader in little pieces. I enjoyed meeting characters from her past and her time in the system and how the author used that as a way to connect her to the victims she is trying to save. What was also well done was the cast of supporting characters in the town. What I love most and why this is such a high-rated four- star read for me is the fact that the author blends Anna’s past and present so beautifully that by the end of the book I feel like the character comes out as a whole person. The transition is beautiful and shows how having community and faith in yourself is important to make an impact in helping others. show less