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A review by oomilyreads
When the Stars Go Dark by Paula McLain
5.0
When the Stars Go Dark written by Paula McLain
PUB DATE: April 13, 2021
“She survived violence, betrayal, and terror, the theft of her soul…”
In 1993, 12-yo Polly Klass was abducted from her Petuluma home during a slumber party which drew national wide attention. This was before cellphones, Amber Alerts & national databases. There were several abductions in the area during that time.
This suspenseful crime thriller opens during this fearful time and begins with Detective Anna Hart leaving her family after a devastating tragedy to grieve in a small town that she once called home, Mendocino, Ca. A place of cliffs, beaches and forests in which she spent most of her childhood with her foster parents learning survival skills. She is immediately drawn into helping a childhood friend who is now the local sheriff in finding a missing teenage girl. This case eerily reminiscent of another friend who disappeared in 1972 only to be found murdered a few days later, case still unsolved.
“…some victims don’t have even a whisper of no inside of them. Because they don’t believe the life they have is theirs to save.”
Hart is a skilled missing persons detective that has seen the darkest side of human nature. At age 8, she was ripped from her 2 half siblings whom she was caring for and arriving with heavy baggage after a series of foster homes to Mendocino. Due to her painful childhood experiences she is always looking for redemption through her work. But by not forgiving herself, she becomes obsessed with her cases, turning to alcohol, and having nightmares about the victims almost nightly.
“The ghosts of the kids you’ve helped, they hang on you like stars”.
Author McLain seamlessly weaves different themes including importance of community, portraying how childhood trauma, the dangerous cycles of silence & violence, familial suffering can impact & damage the psyche, and insight into how victims encounter predators.
McLain crafts an atmospheric, emotional & psychological multidimensional thriller of fate, heartbreak & redemption, and the resilience it takes to survive.
Thank you Netgalley, Ballentine Books, Penguin Random House for this ARC!
PUB DATE: April 13, 2021
“She survived violence, betrayal, and terror, the theft of her soul…”
In 1993, 12-yo Polly Klass was abducted from her Petuluma home during a slumber party which drew national wide attention. This was before cellphones, Amber Alerts & national databases. There were several abductions in the area during that time.
This suspenseful crime thriller opens during this fearful time and begins with Detective Anna Hart leaving her family after a devastating tragedy to grieve in a small town that she once called home, Mendocino, Ca. A place of cliffs, beaches and forests in which she spent most of her childhood with her foster parents learning survival skills. She is immediately drawn into helping a childhood friend who is now the local sheriff in finding a missing teenage girl. This case eerily reminiscent of another friend who disappeared in 1972 only to be found murdered a few days later, case still unsolved.
“…some victims don’t have even a whisper of no inside of them. Because they don’t believe the life they have is theirs to save.”
Hart is a skilled missing persons detective that has seen the darkest side of human nature. At age 8, she was ripped from her 2 half siblings whom she was caring for and arriving with heavy baggage after a series of foster homes to Mendocino. Due to her painful childhood experiences she is always looking for redemption through her work. But by not forgiving herself, she becomes obsessed with her cases, turning to alcohol, and having nightmares about the victims almost nightly.
“The ghosts of the kids you’ve helped, they hang on you like stars”.
Author McLain seamlessly weaves different themes including importance of community, portraying how childhood trauma, the dangerous cycles of silence & violence, familial suffering can impact & damage the psyche, and insight into how victims encounter predators.
McLain crafts an atmospheric, emotional & psychological multidimensional thriller of fate, heartbreak & redemption, and the resilience it takes to survive.
Thank you Netgalley, Ballentine Books, Penguin Random House for this ARC!