by Paula McLain
Ballantine Books, 2021. 370 pages. Mystery/Thriller
Anna Hart is a seasoned missing persons detective in 1990s San Francisco with far too much knowledge of the darkest side of human nature. When unspeakable tragedy strikes her personal life, Anna, desperate and numb, flees to the place where she once was the happiest: the Northern California village of Mendocino. Yet the day she arrives, she learns a local teenage girl has gone missing. Anna is in no condition to become involved with the search, but she feels drawn to the case. The crime feels frighteningly reminiscent of the most crucial time in Anna's childhood, when a similar missing persons case touched Mendocino.
On the surface, writing a thriller might seem like a big departure for McLain, who is known for her historical fiction about the lives of fascinating real-life women. However, McLain has played to her strengths with this book, setting the mystery adjacent to an actual missing persons case; that of Polly Klaas. It’s McLain’s skill at fleshing out both realistic characters and places that helps this thriller come alive.
Anna herself is an interesting character: it’s her own sense of loss and grief, and her compassion for others who might feel the same way, that drives her to help. Readers will follow Anna along every twist and turn of the case, and will feel the same urgency Anna feels to solve it.
If you like When the Stars Go Dark, you might also like:
by Laura Dave
Simon & Shuster, 2021. 306 pages. Mystery/Thriller
When her husband of one year disappears, Hannah Hall’s only warning is a cryptic note stating “Protect her.” Despite her confusion and fear, Hannah Hall knows exactly to whom the note refers—Owen's 16-year-old daughter, Bailey, who wants absolutely nothing to do with her new stepmother. Hannah quickly realizes her husband isn't who he said he was. And that Bailey just may hold the key to figuring out Owen's true identity—and why he really disappeared.
by Kristin Hannah
St Martin’s Press, 2018. 440 pages. Historical Fiction
Those who love McLain's literary yet urgent writing style and detailed sense of place in When the Stars Go Dark will also enjoy this book. Lenora Allbright is 13 when her father, Ernt, convinces her mother, Cora, to forgo their inauspicious existence in Seattle and move to Kaneq, Alaska. It's 1974, and the former Vietnam POW sees a better future away from the noise and nightmares that plague him. But never was a family less prepared for the reality of Alaska: the long, cold winters and isolation. Locals want to help out, but the harsh conditions bring out the worst in Ernt, whose paranoia takes over their lives.
by Elizabeth Smart
St. Martin’s Press, 2013. 308 pages. Biography
For those who are interested in books about the escape of real-life abducted teenagers, this book, and Jaycee Dugard’s book, are great options. Ten years after her abduction from her Salt Lake City bedroom, Elizabeth Smart reveals how she survived and the secret to forging a new life in the wake of a brutal crime.
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