When the Stars Go Dark: New York Times Bestseller

(Hardback)

Available Formats

---

Publishing Details

Classifications

Physical Properties

Description

Anna Hart is a seasoned missing persons detective in San Francisco with far too much knowledge of the murkiest side of human nature. When unspeakable tragedy strikes her personal life, Anna turns to the Northern California village of Mendocino to grieve. She spent summers 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 that a local teenage girl has gone missing; a crime that feels frighteningly reminiscent of a crucial time in Anna's childhood, when the unsolved murder of a young girl changed the community forever. Anna becomes obsessed with this missing girl, but as past and present collide around her she is forced, once more, to confront the darkest side of humanity. This propulsive and powerfully affecting story is about fate, unlikely redemption, and what it takes, when the worst happens, to reclaim our lives and our faith in one another.

Reviews

A superior psychological thriller...Paula McLain focuses on the victims rather than the abductors in a gripping serial-killer story that is also a sensitive study of grief.

-- Times Crime Club

A powerhouse of a novel that is guaranteed to keep the reader up all night.When the Stars Go Darkis a beautifully written, sharply observed literary thriller with an extraordinary, unforgettable heroine and a twisty plot with a surprise ending... A gripping story drenched in the exquisite allure of the natural world.

-- Kristin Hannah, New York Times bestselling author of The Nightingale

McLain puts her heroine in mortal peril to deliver the kind of heartpounding conclusion that thriller fans crave. As a bonus, avid readers of the genre will be pleased to find theyve picked up several kernels of intellectual nourishment along the way. In the end, a book full of darkness lands with a message of hope.

-- New York Times Book Review

Alyrical and quietly devastating novel.

-- Mirror

With this breathtaking novel, Paula McLain proves she can do anything. Exquisitely written, immersive, and atmospheric,When the Stars Go Darkis a tour de force of literary suspense. It pulled me under and left me gasping.

-- Christina Baker Kline, author of The Exiles

Fuelled by pure high anxiety. . .When the Stars Go Darkis an atmospheric and intricately plotted suspense novel.

-- Washington Post

When the Stars Go Darkisa fantastically propulsive and deeply atmospheric novel that grabs you from the very first page. Its visceral and hauntingly suspenseful.Paula McLain has proven to be a masterful storyteller no matter the genre.

-- Aimee Molloy, author of The Perfect Mother

Paula McLain, already established asthemaster of the historical novel, now explodes into crime fiction witha richly satisfying, tremendously moving mystery haunting, poignant, lyrical, urgent, unique, unforgettable.

-- Chris Pavone, author of The Paris Diversion

I loved Paula McLains When the Stars Go Dark, which is the beautifully written and positively profound story of Detective Anna Hart... The twisty plot keeps the pages flying, and McLains lyrical and poetic prose reveals insight after insight about the human heart, making this riveting read not only an engrossing psychological thriller, but crime fiction of the highest order.

-- Lisa Scottoline, author of Someone Knows
Lyrical and beautiful, When the Stars go Dark is a riveting deep dive into trauma, survival and obsession. With her deeply flawed and utterly compelling heroine, elegant prose and layered, twisting story, Paula McLain has penned an extraordinarynovel of literary suspense, as gripping as it is unique and unforgettable. -- Lisa Unger, author of Confessions On The 7:45

'Stunning... McLain matches poetic prose with deep characterisations as she shines a light on the kindness in her characters souls. Fans of literary suspense wont be able to put this one down.'

-- Publishers Weekly

A total departure for the author of The Paris Wife, McLains emotionally intense and exceptionally well-written thriller entwines its fictional crime with real cases including Polly Klaass 1993 kidnapping and is enriched by her own experiences as a survivor of trauma.

-- PEOPLE, Book of the Week

[McLains] newest novel weaves together actual missing persons cases and trauma theory to explore the meaning of fate, redemption and human connection. This mystery will keep you guessing, and stay with you long after you finish. Dive in.

-- TheSKIMM

Paula McLain . . . focuses her gimlet eye on the not-so-sunny underbelly of California in this gripping new novel about a San Francisco detective who can't seem to outrun her past.

-- Town & Country

A psychological thriller that deftly evokes both the entrancing landscape of the Mendocino hills and the rough terrain of shattered lives . . . Most memorable of all are the girls, past and present, who emerge here not as convenient victims but as vulnerable, believable characters. A muted yet thrilling multilayered mystery enriched by keen psychological and emotional insight.

-- Kirkus Reviews

[A] stunning and atmospheric crime novel . . . A complex mystery that you will have you glued to the page.

-- Book Riot

We're thrilled to sink our teeth into this atmospheric read.

-- BuzzFeed

McLain offers readers flashes of insight . . . that will linger after the last, tension-packed pages of this thoughtful work. Recommend to patrons seeking a next read after Michelle McNamaras Ill Be Gone in the Dark and the TV show Criminal Minds.

-- Booklist

This melancholy but gripping tale uses backstory and flashbacks to propel the mystery forward. Part suspense, part self-discovery tale, this first attempt at crime fiction from historical fiction author McLain (The Paris Wife) is hard to resist. Fans of the authors other works will not be disappointed.

-- Library Journal

The author of The Paris Wife harnesses heavy suspense for her fifth novel. A detective seeks refuge from a personal tragedy in Mendocino, the Northern California town where she spent her youth, when she confronts a missing persons case that harkens back to a traumatic disappearance from her past.

-- EW.com

In Anna Hart, Paula McLain has created a vulnerable, intelligent, unforgettable protagonist whose interior life is as interesting as the mysteries she has to solve. When the Stars Go Dark is simultaneously suspenseful and moving my favourite kind of book. I'll recommend it far and wide.

-- Liz Moore, author of Long Bright River

Paula McLain's absolutely incredible literary thriller about the human journey on the way to solve a mystery includes parts of her own experience in foster care mixed in with her reflections on abandonment and belonging in this genre-bending novel.

-- GMA.com

[An] emotionally intense and exceptionally well-written thriller.

-- People Magazine

McLain weaves together actual cases of missing persons, trauma theory, and a touch of the metaphysical in this gripping tale that will keep you up all night, muttering just one more chapter to yourself.

-- E! Online

When the Stars Go Dark is truly an intimate and illuminating experience. Kudos to McLainfor laying her soul bare and penning the most personal book shes ever written.

-- BookTrib

Impressive.

-- Literary Review
This is a thought-provoking book that will - quite deservedly - stay with you for a very long time. I think it is a book that almost everybody will gain from reading. -- Mystery People

Author Bio

Paula McLain is the New York Times bestselling author of Love and Ruin, Circling the Sun, The Paris Wife, and A Ticket to Ride, the memoir Like Family: Growing Up in Other Peoples Houses, and two collections of poetry. Her writing has appeared in The New York Times, Good Housekeeping, O: The Oprah Magazine, Town & Country, The Guardian, The Huffington Post, and elsewhere. She lives in Ohio with her family.