The Stars Turned Inside Out
A Novel
by Nova Jacobs
Pub Date 19 Mar 2024
Atria Books
General Fiction \(Adult\)| Mystery & Thrillers


Atria Books and Netgalley provided me with a copy of The Stars Turned Inside Out for review:


CERN's Large Hadron Collider smashes subatomic particles at breathtaking speeds outside Geneva. When the tunnel is closed for maintenance, a startling discovery is made: Howard Anderby, a brilliant and newly arrived young physicist, appears to have been irradiated by the collider while he was down for maintenance. But security shows no evidence of him entering the tunnel, and for all of the lab’s funding, its video surveillance is sorely lacking.Despite the lab's funding, video surveillance does not show him entering the tunnel.


In order to keep the death under wraps, CERN hires private investigator Sabine Leroux, who has ties to the lab's administration and more than a passing interest in particle physics. Meanwhile, Howard’s colleague and budding love interest Eve, shattered by his death, determines to reconcile what she knew of Howard with his gruesome fate, wondering if she could have done something to stop it.Eve, Howard's colleague and budding love interest, is shattered by Howard's death, wondering if she could have done something to prevent his gruesome fate.


An escalating international physics arms race heightens tensions and fuels speculation of a mole at the lab-causing Sabine to question loyalties and reveal what kind of knowledge is worth killing for.


I give The Stars Turned Inside Out four out of five stars!

This story centers on the death of Howard Anderby, a young physicist at CERN who recently arrive. But there’s no evidence of arriving in the tunnel where his body is found - not a single video in a facility that is surveilled heavily. CERN hire private investigator Sabine Laroux to investigate the murder and get to the bottom of it. With this premise, we’re off on what is potentially an incredible multiversal story with intrigue, mystery, and adventure. I found the last 2/3 of the book entertaining. It wasnt quite what I was expecting but it held my attention. However, it took way too long to get to the meat of the story. I usually can manage a lot of scientific explanation but this story was bogged down with it. I found it deeply exhausting and ended up putting the book aside to read something else for weeks.

That said, I’m glad I read it. It was an interesting story with great ideas. Very creative book that just perhaps needed a bit more editing in its exposition.

It is difficult for me to know where to begin because this book was all over the place. The plot was everything and the kitchen sink, which makes it tricky to review. I am not sure how I feel about this novel, but I was invested enough to see it through to the end, if that is helpful.

What initially hooked me was the premise of a murder mystery taking place at one of the world's top scientific research centers – CERN. Why would anyone murder a physicist? And how would they pull this off at such an esteemed institution? The mystery fascinated me, but this plotline quickly gets overshadowed by so many other subplots starring so many flat, stereotypical characters. Because of this, and the non-linear structure of the book, it's difficult to keep track of dates and plot. The reader doesn't know what is important enough to hang on to and remember.

The prose is oversaturated with information dumps about physics, philosophy, history, and religion. It's so much that it actually disturbs the flow of the novel and slows the pace way down. The general reader isn't going to be able to digest much less care about these heady concepts. So they add very little to the story other than showing that the author has done research in these areas. However, it's far more telling than showing in writing style. Most of these science lessons happen in dialogue, which is a bit too unbelievable. Physicists are intelligent, but do they actually go around mansplaining everything to other physicists that already know a lot of the same content? Or do they talk about, literally anything else?

The magical realism elements in this novel felt completely out of place because of how much actual science is embedded. Sure the theory of the multiverse is an actual thing, but traveling there is something at home in a Blake Crouch novel, but this feels strange in this particular book. Could there be rumors of secret tunnels left by the cold war? Sure. But would the world fund and build a multi-billion dollar collider over unstable ground? No. Of course not.

The romance subplot between the protagonist and the victim also is incredibly slow. If the reader can tell how invested the main character is, then why would we care about their relationship? To me, it felt like Eve tried to hide everything from the investigation rather than help the detectives and get the LHC (large hadron collider) back up and running. I guess this is because she cared about maintaining Howard's scientific reputation, but she felt dodgy and suspicious rather than loving and protective. Meanwhile, Arnav’s hidden love and queerness felt like it came from left field. I'm all about lgbtq+ representation, but there were no subtle hints along the way. Maybe that was the point, but putting two characters who basically despise each other into a relationship out of nowhere was strange. Then to kill off this love interest, felt cheap.

The reveal of the investigation also left me wanting. All the pieces from all the subplots eventually come together at the end, but it's unsatisfying. Maybe this is because the novel spends more time explaining physics than developing the characters' motives and personalities…

This book was okay. Not good, not great. Earning 2.5 stars. Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for providing me with an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.

THE STARS TURNED INSIDE OUT by Nova Jacobs features a mix of science and detective work set at the CERN Large Hadron Collider Laboratory on the French-Swiss border. The physicists who work there are focused on their experiments concerning protons and dark matter, but so is the Chinese government and there's concern about probable data leaks. The chief suspect is named Howard Anderby, a recent arrival who had been working in China. Jacobs uses chapter sub-headings to telegraph shifts in timing to her readers – some are "before" when Howard and Eve Marsh, another scientist, begin a romantic relationship; some are on November 27 when Howard is found dead (murder? suicide? a horrible accident?); and some chapters are labeled “now” as that death and then another is investigated by Sabine, a dear friend to Chloe and Yvonne, two leading scientists at CERN. Gradually, the back stories of various scientists become clearer, but the frequent time jumps add to some confusion. 3.5 stars

A physicist is found dead in CERN's particle collider and private investigator Sabine Leroux is brought in to discover what happened to him. Leroux thinks something is suspicious and investigates his colleagues and other scientists on the campus to learn why he was there that night and what may have happened. Overall, this seemed like it was going to be more of a fast-paced high stakes sort of mystery, but instead felt like it was jumping back and forth from the past and the present and it was hard to grasp what was relevant to the murder itself. It also seemed more introspective with the science aspect, and seemed to ask the question of whether one would travel to another version of their life if they could.

When electrical engineer Claude Touschard goes into the circular subterranean tunnel that makes up a large part of the “Machine”, as the Large Hadron Collider is known to the people who work on and with it, it is for a perhaps eccentric form of recreation. Claude has permission to cycle along the massive corridor while the Machine is down for recalibration and the route thus safe enough from radiation to traverse. Not very many people are allowed into the Machine, and entrance is strictly supervised, so the last thing he expects to find there is a corpse. Worse, the dead man was clearly killed by radiation exposure.

The publicly funded European Center for Nuclear Research – a laboratory more commonly known by its French acronym CERN – that administers the Machine has no interest in the adverse publicity that will inevitably come with a discovery like this. Since the lab has been given a certain degree of legal independence due to its location straddling the border of two nations, CERN director-general Yvonne Faye decides to bring in a private investigator to figure out what happened before they’re forced to turn the case over to national authorities.

Sabine Leroux is not only an accomplished detective with years of experience from working in the Swiss police, but also a close friend from university who once shared physics classes with Yvonne. She’s thus uniquely positioned to investigate the death, and whether a crime, if any, has been committed. While some of the dead man’s colleagues posit that it’s an open and shut case of self-harm, Yvonne isn’t so sure:

QUOTE
“We don’t know that it was suicide,” Yvonne continued. “And before we can resume operations, we need to figure out how the Machine got activated in the first place when it was supposed to have been dormant. And second, we need to isolate the breach to determine how Dr. Anderby gained access to the tunnel while evidently bypassing the eye scanners and lift cameras.”

Simon leaned back in his chair, attempting a sudden breeziness. “That’s easy. He used CERN’s supersecret underground maze.”

Yvonne shot Simon a look of warning.

“I’m serious,” he insisted. “What if the labyrinth hiding beneath the lab is more than just a legend whispered among grad students? Maybe this Anderby was kidnapped by CERN’s colony of trolls.”
END QUOTE

Urban legends aside, Sabine’s investigations mean that she has to learn just as much about CERN as she does the victim. Dr Howard Anderby had been a bit of a loner on the research campus, mostly by choice. Having transferred in from a rival Chinese facility, his theories were often considered outlandish at best. His lack of friends make it easier for wild theories to circulate about what really happened to him on the night he lost his life.

His closest companion, however, knows that Howard had no intention of burning himself to death that night. Dr Eve Marsh had had a complicated relationship with Howard, and is devastated when he turns up dead. She very much wants to cooperate with Sabine but her grief and her own inability to parse what happened to him complicate her ability to communicate with the detective. Even her description of her work is colored by her sorrow:

QUOTE
But her mood being what it was, she gave Sabine a more desolate analogy. She spoke of the physicist as crash investigator–each proton collision a horrific plane or car wreck, after which she and her colleagues must sort through the resulting devastation for clues. For months alone, she might work on a single scrap of metal or stray body part in the debris. Far more thrilling, of course (the whole point of the endeavor, really), was to stumble upon a rare shape or substance one couldn’t identify, a completely alien <i>thing</i>. A thing, in fact, that had been formed out of the crash itself. What might this newfound object say about not just the collision but the makeup of our universe?
END QUOTE

As Sabine investigates this rarefied milieu of particle physics and theoretical science, she uncovers a world of petty jealousies, personal secrets and international intrigue. But who had reason to want Howard dead? The more she learns, the more Sabine is convinced that Howard was indeed murdered, and by someone who won’t hesitate to strike again.

Elegant and romantic, this locked room mystery set in one of the most exclusive scientific enclaves in the world is a must-read for anyone who loves mysteries, science and, especially, that vanishing point between hard fact and science fiction. Don’t worry, fellow deus ex machina haters: the murder is very much rooted in human criminality. That delicious frisson of extrasensory possibility, however – and make no mistake, in these pages that possibility is perhaps little more than a thought experiment – is merely the luscious cherry on an intellectually fulfilling cake. Full of the wonder of science and the sometimes bittersweet joys of solving mysteries, this is a book for the reader who loves knowledge not only for its own sake but for the ways in which we can use it to keep working towards a better world.

Twisty mystery in a mesmerizing setting-yes please! Set at CERN and stuffed with interesting intellectuals, this sciency whodunnit is baffling, intriguing, and sweet!

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for my copy. These opinions are my own.

Thank you to NetGalley and Atria Books for gifting me this ARC in exchange for my honest review!

3.5 Stars!

I was really intrigued by this book based on the description. However, it just missed the mark for me. The first half of the book was too slow paced for me to stay engaged. I didn't think there was a really a plot at first. Once you get halfway the plot becomes clearer and the pace picks up. The murder mystery aspect was very intriguing, and I was eager to solve it. I just felt as though the pace of the beginning and the amount of information we got over other topics took away from the mystery. The last quarter of the book was my favorite of it all. If the entire book had kept the same pace as the ending, it would've been rated a lot higher for me.

As someone who has been fascinated by CERN, and then all these sort of scientific research compounds that exist, since I learned about them...this was such an intriguing book for me. Throw in a murder mystery, and I was hooked. And then it got better! Secret romances, snark and sarcasm, complex backstories, international espionage, and spirituality and mysticism.

Told in two timelines, the before and after of a murder. More secrets than anyone expects come out. The before is told from the perspective of one of the physicists, Dr. Eve Marsh, and her complicated and evolving relationship. The present is in the view of an investigator brought on by CERN, Sabine Leroux, an old university friend of the director-general, and one of the team leaders; a unit of three reunited under strained circumstances. No one's past or present is free of scrutiny.

There's lots of science here, and it really makes you feel like you're not only at CERN but in Geneva. The author did extensive research on the culture of CERN both in person and in reading, and it comes through. This mix of competition and comradery, desperation and passion. The mix of personalities all united by this strange work was fun to read.

I enjoyed the characters, the mystery reveals were solid (one of the reveals made me gasp, that was so fun), and I would read books about science nerds and murder every day if I could.

The Stars Turned Inside Out by Nova Jacobs was a fun and intriguing mystery.
The book was engaging the entire time. I thought this was very well written. I loved Nova Jacobs’s writing style.

Thank You NetGalley and Atria Books for your generosity and gifting me a copy of this amazing eARC!

Before reading this book, the only knowledge I had of the CERN super collider in Switzerland was learned from the actors of my favorite TV show Big Bang Theory. Although most of the physics described by the characters in this book were way over my head, I still found it fascinating. Could the details have been edited a bit more? Definitely. But you can't expect geniuses to talk like the average person either. It took me over 30% of the book to start getting into it and even then the pacing was quite slow, but then the details started to fall into place and I was really glad I stuck with it.
Thanks to Atria Books through Netgalley for the advance copy of this book. The opinions in this review are my own and given voluntarily.

A suspicious death at a science facility in Switzerland reveals hidden intrigue at the facility.

This one switched from present to past to build up the tension. For me, in this one, that took away from the mystery and suspense of it. This one was more literary than suspense (which is what I thought it would be). Maybe if I’d gone in with that in mind, I’d have enjoyed it more.

**Thank you to NetGalley and and Atria books for the eARC of this title!**

While I loved the idea behind this one, the pacing just didn't work for me and I found it to be a bit of a struggle to get through the first 40% of this book or so.

It was worth finishing but getting to that point wasn't as enjoyable as I had hoped based on the concept. I would recommend this book for fans of hard science, and mysteries/thrillers that lean a but more procedural!

I was excited to see a new novel out by Nova Jacobs as I enjoyed her first novel, The Last Equation of Issac Severy. Jacobs put a lot of research about CERN into her work as well as physics in order to be able to work it so well into this suspense novel. This book would be a great read for those who enjoy both science fiction and mystery/thriller.

From the beginning everything about The Stars Turned Inside Out drew me in - the plot, the characters, even the title. I was so thrilled to dive into this one and tune out the world around me.

Unfortunately, I have to DNF, at least for right now. I knew there would be science involved, that's sort of a given. Yet just a few chapters in, I felt both utterly lost and disinterested. A lot of the science can be hard for the lay person to grasp. I felt as if I was just skimming the book instead of reading it.

I do hope to go back and try again when I don't have such a busy schedule because I feel that when I actually get into the book (if I can get past all the science) I'll love it.

I wish I could omit star rating since I'm DNFing, but since I'm required to here, a neutral 3 stars feels best.

Thank you to Atria Books, Nova Jacobs, and Netgalley for an advance digital copy. All thoughts and opinions expressed are my own and given voluntarily.

I received an ARC for my review.

I had been so excited to read this book. The idea of it sounded very intriguing, an Investigation into a mysterious death at CERN. Well, I was disappointed. While I did expect the author to discuss scientific terms and to give explanations, I wasn't expecting the author to spend most of the time explaining. It was as if the death, was an after thought. While the ending was a bit of a surprise, it just seemed to fall flat.

4 stars / This review will be posted on goodreads.com today.


I know virtually nothing about particle science. I barely know that CERN is a lab in Switzerland where people work on something scientific. Yet that didn’t stop me from enjoying this book!

Eve, originally from Arizona, is doing her post-doc at CERN. Her best friend is Arnav. He’s of Indian descent but was raised in the UK. It’s always been the two of them surviving the post-doc world of CERN. Until Howard arrives on the scene.

Howard arrives cloaked in mystery. He previously worked in China at their version of CERN. His aunt was one of the original designers of the collider tunnel. He is charming, but a tad aloof as well. Eve is smitten.

Then a death occurs in that very tunnel, when it is supposed to be down for maintenance. The lab is hit hard by this mystery. A private detective is brought in to try to solve the mystery before the public finds out. Everyone seems to be hiding something, and it is up to Sabine to unravel the secrets, lies, and lives of these scientists.

As I said, I found the science fascinating - even though it is way above my understanding. As are these scientists. But scientists are human too, and though their lives appear to be wrapped up in solving the next particle finding, they do have human emotions and needs.

It’s a well written novel that took me a bit to get through, but honestly, I did really enjoy it. Because this story is more than just science, it’s about life and love too.

There was a lot going on in this book and the plot was cleverly crafted. I became invested about one third of the way in and was so glad I stayed.
Many thanks to Atria and to Netgalley for providing me with a galley in exchange for my honest opinion.

Too much physics, not enough plot!! I was disappointed by this novel, which promised as an academic mystery positioned at the elite CERN institute in Switzerland. I found the characters to be flat and uninspiring, especially given they spent more time delivering tedious scientific monologues than sharing relevant life details. As the story progressed and took an interesting science fiction turn I became much more invested in the plot, but still failed to connect with any of the characters. I wish the first few chapters had been edited down to arrive at the more interested plot points a lot faster - the reader doesn't need to have a working knowledge of quantum physics to understand and enjoy the novel's twists and turns.

The first thing I have to say about this story is that it contains a lot of Physics -- really, really a lot. I know nothing about Physics having managed to dodge the subject in high school, college, and graduate school. The story is also a mystery which is a genre I read and enjoy.

When the body of a young, brilliant physicist is found in the tunnel of the Large Hadron Collider at CERN, the director calls in her college friend Sabine Leroux, a private investigator, to determine not only how Howard Anderby died but how he found himself in the tunnel in the first place. Sabine studied Physics in college but decided that police work and later private investigation were the career for her. She sees much similarity between her job and the jobs of scientists. Fearing for CERN's funding, the director would greatly prefer not to have to call in the police.

As Sabine investigates, she finds herself dealing with all sorts of academic rivalries and secrets as she tries to learn about the life of a man who was very good at keeping his own secrets. Luckily for us readers, the story is also told in part by Eve who is another physicist at CERN. Eve also had a relationship with Howard and has more insight into his mind than anyone at the lab. The story also includes a large number of flashbacks detailing Eve and Howard's growing relationship and Howard's relationship with some of the others at CERN.

But when a second physicist is murdered and his body shows on a live stream of a tank built to capture dark matter, it is impossible to keep the police away from CERN. The second death also shifts the investigation to missing data from the lab and the scientific rivalries between the EU, China and Russia. Spies and moles and traitors to CERN are revealed in the conclusion of this mystery.

Once I allowed myself to skim lightly over the physics and the philosophy, I enjoyed this story. The characters were what kept me reading when the science went too far over my head. I recommend this one especially to science nerds, but mystery lovers will enjoy it too.