Review: ‘When the Stars Go Dark’ by Paula McClain
When the Stars Go Dark” by Paula McClain is the story of Anna Hart, who goes to Mendocino to escape her problems and to help find a missing girl named Cameron. Anna has worked as a detective to find missing girls, and in Mendocino, she takes the case of a missing girl Cameron, daughter of movie star Emily and her husband, Troy Curtis. Author McClain visits every iconic place in Mendocino: the statue of Father Time and the Maiden atop the bank, the Good Life Bakery, and the headlands. She runs into Will Flood, and they decide to work together on the case.
They go to the high school and talk with Cameron’s English teacher, who shows them Cameron’s poetry. Cameron had gone to the school clinic, and the nurse found scar tissue from previous abuse. Perhaps another predator.
Anna and Will drive to Petaluma, where another girl has been kidnapped from her home in front of two friends who were having a slumber party. Is there a link between the two cases? The suspect didn’t knock or hesitate, and he knew the house. Rod of Petaluma also offers the use of his helicopter to search for Cameron. Daily searches and posters in businesses are everywhere. Anna thinks Mendocino should do the same.
Anna and Will go to see Emily’s brother, who owns a vineyard in Napa, another suspect on the list. But he has a good alibi. Anna sees a psychic, Tally, who says she’s just the messenger and doesn’t know anything but feels she can stop the killer.
Anna decides to put on a documentary of Cameron’s life and to show it on Saturday, with photos and her favorite things, who she is, and what she cares about. The community will respond.
Anna goes to Ukiah, where Cameron was raised, and she meets Hector, Cameron’s adopted brother, and he tells her about her childhood. She was a fighter and fierce. Another victim, Shannon, has been found in the trunk of a burnt-out car in the forest a few miles inland. They think it may be a forest ranger or a park employee who knows the area and who is the killer.
The next day they see on the bulletin board at the Bakery a post asking for models to pose. Anna calls the number at the Art Center and radios Will to meet her there.
Is Anna on the right path to finding Cameron, or is she on a blind alley because of her own abuse? Find out in this dramatic story set in Mendocino on the new fiction shelf of your local library.