In a departure from her acclaimed historical fiction, Paula McLain (The Paris Wife; Circling the Sun) presents a literary thriller examining how a life can be reclaimed after unspeakable tragedy in When the Stars Go Dark.
San Francisco missing persons detective Anna Hart flees to her coastal hometown of Mendocino seeking solace and anonymity. Anna left her husband and job, but the specific cause of her grief is nebulous. Mendocino holds treasured memories of Anna's foster parents, but also of the unsolved murder of a friend when they were in high school. She arrives just as the town is reeling from another crime: a teenage girl, Cameron, is missing, apparently abducted.
Like Anna, Cameron had lost her biological family, and Anna is drawn to her plight: "All the scars I still carry, she carries, too." As Anna pursues the case with her old friend Will, now the town sheriff, they learn of another teenage girl who's been kidnapped, in nearby Petaluma. Here, McLain heightens the chilling tone of the novel with a true, high-profile 1993 abduction. Committed to finding Cameron, Anna thinks, "My mind believes she's gone forever. My heart can't accept that." The double mystery at the center of the tragedy enhances the story's suspense. A heart-stopping climax closes the case but can't relieve Anna's pain. Solace from an unexpected source leads her to confront her past, guiding her toward healing in a hopeful but realistic ending. Anna's sympathetic character and McLain's inclusion of true cases and procedurals make When the Stars Go Dark an immersive, propelling read. --Cheryl McKeon, Book House of Stuyvesant Plaza, Albany, N.Y.