When the Stars Go Dark by Paula McLain offers a change of time and space from her most recent historical novels. The reader joins Anna Hart as she tries to escape a horrific life changing event. Will her past help her heal? Will she get the chance to find out? All of her focus is taken up by a search for a missing girl and all of the entanglements that result.
Excellent, page turning literary suspense novel. Hoping that Anna Hart will make further appearances.

I’m giving this a 3.5 stars. I didn’t love it but I didn’t hate it.

I found the plot aspect was interesting and I appreciated how it tied together the real life case of Polly Klaas. If you haven’t read or heard of her case be warned it is very upsetting.

Unfortunately the writing just didn’t pull me in. I just found I wasn’t connecting as much as I would of liked to. So while there was aspects of this book that I liked it wasn’t my favourite read.

I gave The Paris Wife by Paula Mclain 4 stars in 2013, which led me to request an arc for When The Stars Go Dark when I saw it on Netgalley. Due to the gruesomeness, please be warned, this book talks about the death of children, abduction, grief, sexual abuse and other graphic content. In the author's note, McLain mentions she wanted the story set before DNA, cellphones, and the internet had been developed and chose 1993 randomly. During research she discovered many children went missing at this time in Northern California, one of them was Polly Klaas, and parts of her story are included. In respect for Polly, I'd like to share a bit about her story and share the link for the Polly Klaas Foundation.

"Twelve-year-old Polly Hannah Klaas was having a slumber party when a strange man holding a knife entered her bedroom, tied up all the girls and put pillow cases over their heads. The intruder then took a sobbing Polly off into the night...From the very beginning the search for Polly Klaas was conducted using the Internet, which had never been done before...In order to handle the many generous donations to the Polly Klaas Search Center, the members had to file for official non-profit status. This was achieved within a month of Polly's kidnapping, and the Polly Klaas Foundation was born."

http://www.pollyklaas.org/

Title: When The Stars Go Dark

Author: Paula McLain

Publication Date: April 13, 2021

Publisher: Bond Street Books, Penguin Random House Canada digital galley from Netgalley

Suggested Reader Age: Adult

Genre: Mystery, Thriller

Triggers: emotional abuse, physical abuse, child abuse, child neglect, absent parent, blood, gore, graphic injuries, death, murder, kidnapping, death of a child, mental illness, sexual assault, trauma, PTSD, victim blaming

› Anna's had a hard life filled with trauma. Her mother died before she turned thirty, her father was killed, the foster homes Anna lived in were horrible until she moved to Mendocino to live with wonderful foster parents. As a teen, her friend, Jenny, was murdered. Her life has led her to become a detective and she's now living in San Francisco working for "Project Searchlight". The work with cases involving sex crimes, crimes against children, abduction and murders consumed her life, and after a tragic accident causes a falling out with her husband, Anna leaves him and their new baby to return home to Mendocino for the first time in seventeen years. On her arrival she discovers a teen is missing and Anna has a gut feeling that she's supposed to help find a missing teenager named Cameron Curtis. Teaming up with her friend Will, a detective, Anna drudges up memories while trying to figure out what happened to Cameron. Did she run? Did she kill herself? Was she taken?

"The ghosts of the kids you've helped, they hang on you like stars. They're all around you, even now."



› I use the CAWPILE method to rate books.
0-3 Really bad
4-6 Mediocre
7-9 Really good
10 Outstanding

› Characters: 7

› Atmosphere: 7

› Writing Style: 6

› Plot: 8

› Intrigue: 8

› Logic: 6.5
For a detective she's not very smart! Climbed down a cliff knowing there was no way back up, then complained when there was no way up.

› Enjoyment: 7.5

Average 7.1

1.1-2.2 = ★
2.3-4.5 = ★★
4.6-6.9 = ★★★
7-8.9 = ★★★★
9-10 = ★★★★★



"We can't always see them," Hap says, meaning the stars, "but they're always with us sweetie. Don't give up."



My Rating ★★★★

› Final Thoughts
• When The Stars Go Dark is a dark, disturbing story about trauma, truth, forgiveness, strength, healing and love that reminded me of Midnight at the Bright Ideas Bookstore by Matthew Sullivan and This Is How I Lied by Heather Gudenkauf. It's hard to read, but if you can get past the triggers this is an exciting plot-driven novel.

"The rate of sexual assault for Canadians age 15 to 24 is 18 times higher than that of Canadians age 55 and older. 82% of all victims of sexual assault under the age of 18 are female, and girls under age 18 report a rate of sexual violence almost five times higher than boys under 18." https://canadianwomen.org/the-facts/sexual-assault-harassment/#:~:text=The%20rate%20of%20sexual%20assault%20for%20Canadians%20age%2015%20to,Canadians%20age%2055%20and%20older.&text=82%25%20of%20all%20victims%20of,higher%20than%20boys%20under%2018.

"Every 73 seconds, an American is sexually assaulted. And every 9 minutes, that victim is a child. Meanwhile, only 5 out of every 1,000 perpetrators will end up in prison." https://www.rainn.org/statistics



The National Sexual Assault Online HotlineChat online with a trained staff member who can provide you confidential crisis support. https://hotline.rainn.org/online?_ga=2.176069984.37129104.1619997219-1712887532.1619997219

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for the complimentary copy in exchange for my honest review.


*Quotes taken from an ARC copy and subject to change*

I was granted eARC access to When the Star Go Dark by Ballantine Books via NetGalley. Thank you for the opportunity! My thoughts are my own and my review is honest.

When the Stars Go Dark is the story of a grieving mother who runs off to her hometown (well, the only town in her foster system youth that felt like home) and finds herself wrapped up in a few missing girl cases. As she works to help solve these cases, she's also working toward being ready to forgive herself and begin her own healing process.

There have been people in my circle discussing this book and boiling it down to "beautiful writing but too much happened." I must politely but emphatically disagree! This book does such an amazing job of what life is like in the fallout of unbelievable trauma and I wouldn't change a thing. It's perfect. This book scratches the itch that particular episodes of shows like Criminal Minds scratch for me; the ones that still profile people and catch bad guys, but also delve into the troubled past of one of the good guys we've grown to care about and understand a little more about how they got here. This is the Derek Morgan's youth at the community centre episode. This is the cadette hopeful Ashley Seaver falling for the serial killer's trap episode. This is the finally solving Rossi's 20-year-old cold case episode. There are so many little details, so many other things going on, an actual crime that gets solved and an actual bad guy that gets caught, but more satisfyingly we see what the good guy hides, what makes them tick. We see them finally bring it out into the light of day, examine it, and finally decide to take a healthy action on it. That's Anna's story in this book.

I don't know if this book (or those episodes) stands out as so beautifully, tragically perfect and impactful to me simply because they are in general, or if this is the sort of thing that can only be appreciated by another survivor's damaged soul. Either way, my soul is saying a big, heartfelt and heartbroken namaste to Anna and to Paula.

I've also got to acknowledge that the dog named Cricket brought such a big grin to my face every time the name was mentioned. An old friend of mine got a puppy during the pandemic and named her Cricket, and she's the brightest, cutest, goofiest 11-month-old bundle of legs and fluff right now. I know how the dog in the book was described looks nothing at all like my friend's border collie, but my mind's eye inserted that Cricket, which then somewhat transformed Anna into my friend, border collie Cricket's owner. Random, interesting, completely unintended touchstone for the win.

I would recommend this book to any fan of general fiction or crime fiction who wants to feel a whole bunch of emotions in bulk quantities for the entire length of the book!

Thank you Netgalley and Bond Street Books for the chance to read When the stars go dark by Paula McLain. I must admit I had difficulty getting into this and put it down several times but once I really got into the story I warmed up to it. I found it was a bit too slow paced for me and very dark at a time I needed something much more uplifting -- which could be my own issue.
Anna Hart is a missing persons detective in San Francisco. When tragedy strikes her personal life, Anna, goes to her hometown to grieve. 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, but can solving today's crime help her heal?

This is an emotion packed story of kidnapping, sexual assault and sexual abuse against women and children yet it is also a mystery/suspense. The author has created unique and deeply flawed characters that are carrying a heavy weight of their own while trying to solve these crimes. The characters are likeable and relatable in many ways. The author weaves a tale dealing with deeply troubling matters but does so without it being graphic. This makes the book easier to read.

(FYI the dog is ok). A bit of a spoiler but many people will not read a book when the dog dies. I think this book is really good and needs to reach more people.

I like how the police discuss how things are changing and the ways that greater Cooperation will lead to more convictions. A bit of realism in a work of fiction.

Thank you to Penguin Random House and NetGalley for the ARC of this book.

This book kept me guessing right till the end. Another edge if your seat, can’t put down till the end. Kind of book. Loved.

Rating: 5/5 stars.

“When the Stars Go Dark” is a heartbreaking and moving mystery from author Paula McLain. The author masterfully laces together an enthralling and deeply personal mystery with elements of historical fiction. Part of the story, as well as some of the characters, are very loosely based on some real-life true crime cases. The author explains these sources in an addendum at the end of the novel, as well as explaining her very personal connection with the main themes of abuse and survival.

This was the first book I have read in a long time that brought me to tears. I absolutely loved it. The story is so compelling, focusing on the sensitive subject of the abduction and disappearances of a few young women in a small town in California. Each of the characters is well formulated and fleshed out. The main character, despite her faults and mistakes, is so likeable that I felt compelled to keep reading, with the hope that she was successful in her quest to save the missing girls, all the while fighting her own personal demons. The prose is beautifully written, and the descriptions paint a picturesque setting.

Overall, I fully enjoyed this book, even if it made me bawl. I highly recommend it for fans of mysteries dealing with similarly sensitive subjects like “The Silent Patient”, as well as mysteries that cross over into the historical fiction genre.

*I received a complimentary copy of this book on NetGalley and have provided an honest review.*

I've read Paula McLain's The Paris Wife and Circle the Sun and I knew right away that this would be a book totally different from her norm in terms of cadence and subject. Knowing how personal this story is to the author made it all the more compelling. McLain draws on her own past and bears her soul making for an emotional read.

This is a slow paced, character driven story, dark with a theme that draws on the historical past of the northwest. It's during a horrible time in 1993 surrounding the disappearance of young girls. At the same time, Anna Hart is reeling from her own tragic past and lands in the middle of a missing person case.

This is a complex story with a large cast of characters (yea I had to pay attention). Anna is well developed in terms of her emotional journey, she faces her past a midst these missing girl cases. Though it lagged a little in the middle the ending was fast paced and while I would have liked it to go on for another chapter or two I get what the author did there. It was still a good ending.

When the Stars Go Dark releases April 13th. My thanks to the publisher (via Netgalley) for a digital arc in exchange for an honest review.

Paula McLain does it again! A beautifully crafted masterpiece! Dark, haunting, and "on-the-edge of your seat," this story will grip you and not let you go until the very last page.
Thank you to the publisher, author, and NetGalley for the e-Arc.

I was interested in When The Stars Go Dark because I have enjoyed other books by Paula McLain in the past. I loved Circling the Sun. Love and Ruin was also interesting. Both are historical fiction based on real people, whereas this new book is a departure from her other books- it’s a detective crime story.

The book is set in 1993 and is about a missing persons detective, Anna Hart, who has returned to the community in Mendocino, California where she grew up. She’s looking to escape from her own personal turmoil, yet immediately becomes entrenched in a case about a mysterious disappearance of a young local girl.

I was reading this book on the Kindle app on my phone and I have to admit, it took me weeks. I enjoyed it, but I found the middle to be slow. But I have to say that the writing was excellent, and the last quarter of the book grabbed my attention. Perhaps, the experience would have been different if I’d been reading a physical book and read it over a shorter period of time. I really appreciated the author’s note at the end. It was illuminating to discover her personal connection to writing this book. And there is a strong focus on trauma theory, which gave a deeper and more thoughtful layer to the story. I only realized at the end that the references to Polly Klaas was referring to a real-life missing persons case from that time.

I can’t wait to read more reviews as this book reaches its publication date and hear what other readers think!

Thank you to Paula McLain, Penguin Random House Canada, and Netgalley for an ARC of this book.

A powerful and moving mystery.
It’s 1993 and Anna, a detective specializing in missing children’s cases, returns to her hometown on personal leave, only to get wrapped up in the disappearance of a local teen, Cameron. Anna’s past is slowly revealed as the case broadens with the possibility of multiple missing girls, including the real-life disappearance of Polly Klaas. (Paula McLain notes this case to be a major inspiration for this novel.) Will Anna’s past experiences help or hinder her as she races against the clock to save Cameron?
Paula McLain has such a graceful and ultra realistic way of writing about some incredibly tough topics such as child abduction and sexual abuse. This is a gripping mystery, full of thrills without relying on the gratuitous shock value that seems to plague many contemporary thrillers.
Thank you to Penguin Random House Canada and NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for my honest review.

Engrossing and a thought-provoking change from the traditional San Francisco noir with a refreshing take on the women's point of view. Delighted to include this one in the April instalment of Novel Encounters, my regular column highlighting the month's top fiction for Zed, Zoomer magazine’s reading and book club vertical (full review and feature at link).

McLain is a best-selling American author whose last three novels have been historical fiction ('The Paris Wife", "Circling the Sun" and "Love and Ruin") . This new release is a thriller and features detective Anna Hart, who works on missing persons cases. After a tragic loss, Anna leaves her home and ends up in Mendocino, California - the town where she grew up. As a foster child she was taken in by a loving couple there . When she arrives back in town she meets up with Will, a childhood friend and now a policeman working on the case of a missing 15 year-old-girl. The case is reminiscent of the unsolved murder of one of her friends years ago and Anna volunteers to help with the current case. This is a wonderful recommendation for thriller fans and the beautiful writing and depth reminded me of books by Rene Denfeld. I really enjoyed it.

4.5 STARS - 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.

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 novel, 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!

Going back to her hometown will be the escape she needs. But when there are three missing girls, and she is drawn back into the world of violence and it seems as though history is repeating itself, will it give her the chance she needs to heal.

If you are a true crime/mystery lover, you are going to love this! Anna Hart is a character that is relatable and captivating in her telling of the story. She initially arrives in Mendocino as a means to get away from a traumatic experience she goes through in her own life (present day). Eventually, she gets caught up in the missing girls' case and can't stop herself from comparing her life with theirs. You are completely kept at the edge of your seat in connecting the dots throughout her investigation. The interwoven story of the girls and Anna herself moved me to both shock and excitement as I kept waiting to find out what happened next. I know it is words on a page but the story created such an atmospheric and eerie tone that immerses you right alongside the story and it’s characters! This was the first book for me by the author but it certainly won’t be the last. Definitely recommend if you love mystery, thriller, family life, relationships and self-reflection!

Thank you @penguinrandomhouse @paulamclain and @netgalley for my advanced reader’s e-copy in exchange for an honest review!

As referenced in the acknowledgements section, When The Stars Go Dark is a very personal novel based in part on the author’s life experiences, including being in foster care and experiencing abuse. It is clear that a lot of care has been put into writing this book.. The story is about Anna, a detective who gets involved in the search for a missing teenaged girl in her old home town. As Anna works to solve the case, she discovers that other girls have also gone missing and seeks to unravel the common thread linking the cases. But solving the case also means facing her personal demons from the past.

This a character-driven, slow-burn mystery which is interesting but also very intense. It is certainly well-written and the character of Anna is well-developed. However, for me, the plot moved very slowly, particularly in the middle, and I did find it hard to become engrossed in the story. I also thought the story could have been more condensed. That said, when the case ramps up and Anna is closing in on finding the abductor, the action picks up and leads to a satisfying ending. This was a good but not exceptional read for me - 3.5 stars.

Thanks to Penguin Random House Canada and Netgalley for an advance copy of this novel in exchange for an honest review. When The Stars Go Dark is out on April 13.

When the Stars Go Dark is a heartbreaking look at the effects of trauma- both on the survivors and the perpetrators- and the pain that can be unleashed when it’s not healed. Although this is Paula McLain’s first venture into this genre (which I would classify as detective fiction/suspense), she handled it with great skill, compassion and empathy. It reminded me in some ways of The Child Finder by Rene Denfeld, which is a book I loved, so it’s not surprising that I was glued to this book from the time it arrived from NetGalley to the time I finished.

The story starts with Detective Anna Hart, who has devoted her career to finding missing girls, running away from a trauma of her own. She heads to Mendocino, California where she was raised by loving foster parents to look for her own healing there. While she’s there, a local teenage girl goes missing, and soon another is reported missing. Anna is immediately compelled to help find the girls.

This book was set in the ’90s, at the same time that Polly Klaas was taken from her home in Petaluma, California. McLain uses that story to provide historical context to the book and as a bit of a red herring for the detectives in the story who wonder if there is a connection between the missing teenagers and Polly Klaas. This is a highly effective plot device as it grounds the story and adds a heaviness as you remember this isn’t just fiction, this actually happened to that dear girl. And while it was effective it made me wonder how ethical it is to use this in a piece of fiction- is it too soon? Did she get permission from the family? What about the friends that witnessed her abduction? Although it is handled with great sensitivity, it could still be traumatizing to the family. Or, maybe it’s a beautiful way to pay tribute to Polly and make sure she’s not forgotten. I don’t know.

Overall, I really loved this book and the way she spoke of the survivors, reiterating they are never to blame. I loved how real Anna felt and that helping find these girls was a way to heal herself. The ending/reveal got a bit cliched at times but there were a few good surprises, so I won’t complain too much. Plus, McLain is a beautiful writer and there were a few sentences that made me stop and read them over and over again.

Thanks to NetGalley for an advance copy! Publication is April 13 and if you like this genre I highly recommend it!

Thank you to NetGalley, Paula McLain and Penguin Random House Canada for the free e-book in exchange for an honest review.

I really enjoyed this novel and how much work definitely went into not only writing it, but researching it. How much time and effort had to go into the many story lines running through this novel and the hard task of talking about taboo subjects like rape of a child. I loved our main character even though I wanted to know what sent her running from home so much early than we find out. But I think it was a good idea to keep you hooked and interested. There were so many heartbreaking moments in this novel for me and I say bravo on making me feel so many different emotions throughout this novel.