REVIEW:

I’m going to do something I never do…

I suggest you read the publisher’s synopsis before starting When the Stars Go Dark. I’ve read it multiple times since finishing the novel and am marveling at how well it gives readers a glimpse at the plot and tone without giving anything away.

But since I’d be quite the lazy reviewer if that’s all I told you, here’s the down and dirty on Paula McLain’s latest:

• If you don’t read the synopsis, it might take you until the 10-15% mark to grasp what’s going on and settle into the story.

• This is a literary mystery, which means it’s a fictional whodunnit that sometimes uses big words and flowery imagery.

• The setting is small town Northern California in 1993 amidst a search for a kidnapped young girl.

• While fictional, real-life crimes like the abduction of Polly Klaas are prominently woven through the story.

• Trigger warnings are clearly necessary for the abuse and murder of children, but the depictions on the page are not detailed.

• The ending, for me, is a bit of a pfffttt. (Though I did stay up way past my bedtime to get to it.)

When the Stars Go Dark is likely to be a very successful novel, but I’m not sure it will reach the heights of popularity that McLain’s The Paris Wife or even Circling the Sun did. I’m just getting so tired of reading about horrific things happening to kids. Aren’t you?

My thanks go to the author and Ballantine Books for the opportunity to review an advance uncorrected proof via NetGalley.

PUBLISHER SYNOPSIS:

A detective hiding away from the world. A series of disappearances that reach into her past. Can solving them help her heal?

Anna Hart is a seasoned missing persons detective in San Francisco with far too much knowledge of the darkest side of human nature. When overwhelming 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 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. The most difficult lessons of her life have given her insight into how victims come into contact with violent predators. As Anna becomes obsessed with the missing girl, she must accept that true courage means getting out of her own way and learning to let others in.

Weaving together actual cases of missing persons, trauma theory, and a hint of the metaphysical, this propulsive and deeply affecting novel tells a story of fate, necessary redemption, and what it takes, when the worst happens, to reclaim our lives - and our faith in one another.