When the Stars Go Dark

Anna Hart is a detective who specializes in finding missing children. Recently, her life was shattered by a terrible tragedy. Trying to escape her thoughts, Anna returns to Mendocino—a small town on the coast of Northern California where she grew up. And she learns that just days ago a local teenage girl went missing. Exactly the same thing happened twelve years ago to Anna’s friend, Jenny. Back then, the kidnapper took the girl from a bus stop, and a while later her body was found in a creek. The killer was never found.

When the past and the present collide, Anna understands that fate itself brought her to Mendocino: life has taught her to read predators and victims in their psychology. But the longer she searches, the more it starts to resemble an obsession…

Polly McLean skillfully weaves together real kidnappings, trauma theory, and metaphysics, crafting a gripping story about how to forgive yourself.