When the Stars Go Dark by Paula McLain
Published by Ballantine Books
Publication date: April 13, 2021
Bookshop
Paula McLain is well-known for her historical fiction about women. This month she flips the script on her readers with When the Stars Go Dark, a complex mystery set in 1990s Northern California. There, Anna Hart is a missing persons detective who needs time off after a devastating personal loss. She heads to Mendocino to leave everything behind and hibernate. But on her first day back she hears about a teenage girl who’s recently disappeared. And just like that, McLain pulls Anna and the reader into a labyrinth of the past and present with only one way out.
It quickly becomes apparent that Anna is carrying a lot of baggage. Mendocino was the last stop in a series of foster homes for her, but the older couple who took her in were the closest thing she ever had to parents. The man, Hap, a forest ranger, imbued her not just with a love of nature, but an understanding of how to survive in it. She hoped an isolated cabin in the woods would be a refuge, until she sees the poster for Cameron Curtis and finds out an old friend is the sheriff. Her own troubled past and her career of finding missing children compels her to step in. In doing so, she’s able to channel her own experience into finding a girl some consider to be just a runaway. At the same time, she’s shut off from her own pain and any resolution.
It quickly becomes apparent that Anna is carrying a lot of baggage. Mendocino was the last stop in a series of foster homes for her, but the older couple who took her in were the closest thing she ever had to parents. The man, Hap, a forest ranger, imbued her not just with a love of nature, but an understanding of how to survive in it. She hoped an isolated cabin in the woods would be a refuge, until she sees the poster for Cameron Curtis and finds out an old friend is the sheriff. Her own troubled past and her career of finding missing children compels her to step in. In doing so, she’s able to channel her own experience into finding a girl some consider to be just a runaway. At the same time, she’s shut off from her own pain and any resolution.
Great reading often evokes analogies and, in that way, When the Stars Go Dark is like a Michelin star meal. It starts with quality ingredients, but is more about the chef’s ability to put them together and to layer the courses one into another for the best experience. McLain does this by melding Anna, with her troubled childhood and recent tragedy, with a mystery and all the players it involves. She expands the flavors to include real news from the times, slowing drawing the reader with perfect pacing. The novel is psychologically well-seasoned as emotions unfold, deliciously, slowly. When the Stars Go Dark is a satisfying read from a consummate author.
If you haven’t read Paula McLain before, I also loved her novel, Circling the Sun.
This post contains affiliate links which means if you click on a link and make a purchase, I get a small commission (at no cost to you).
*I received a free copy of this book from Ballantine Books in exchange for an honest review.*
I think this is gonna be a huge book for 2021. I’ve actually never read McClain before.
I think you’re right! She does a very good job with women in history as well.
Great! So glad you liked this one. I plan to get to it. Paula McLain seems amazing to me …. how she’s able to switch from biographical novels … all of which I liked…. to a good mystery. I like her sensibilities …
Agreed. This one is so different. I wonder what she’ll do next?