Author: Paula McLain
Published: April 13th 2021 by Ballantine Books
Format: Kindle, Hardcover, 384 pages
Genre: Police Procedural
Source: My thanks to Netgalley and the Publisher for an opportunity to read an advanced copy of this book.
First Line: The night feels shredded as I leave the city, through perforated mist, a crumbling September sky.
From the Publisher: Anna Hart is a seasoned missing persons detective in San Francisco with far too much knowledge of the darkest side of human nature. When tragedy strikes her personal life, Anna, desperate and numb, flees to the Northern California village of Mendocino to grieve. She lived 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.
The crime feels frighteningly reminiscent of the most crucial time in Anna’s childhood, when the unsolved murder of a young girl touched Mendocino and changed the community forever. As past and present collide, Anna realizes that she has been led to this moment. The most difficult lessons of her life have given her insight into how victims come into contact with violent predators. As Anna becomes obsessed with saving the missing girl, she must accept that true courage means getting out of her own way and learning to let others in.
Weaving together actual cases of missing persons, trauma theory, and a hint of the metaphysical, this propulsive and deeply affecting novel tells a story of fate, necessary redemption, and what it takes, when the worst happens, to reclaim our lives—and our faith in one another. (PenguinRandomHouse)
My Opinion: I didn’t know what to expect from Paula McLain's foray into suspenseful police procedurals, but by the end, I know that she is a gifted writer that has more than historical fiction up her sleeve. The writing pulls you in from the first page and by the time you reach the end, you want to start over to savor the lyrical writing and emotional pull of all her characters. Yes, all. There is not one misstep with any of them.
From the Publisher: Anna Hart is a seasoned missing persons detective in San Francisco with far too much knowledge of the darkest side of human nature. When tragedy strikes her personal life, Anna, desperate and numb, flees to the Northern California village of Mendocino to grieve. She lived 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.
The crime feels frighteningly reminiscent of the most crucial time in Anna’s childhood, when the unsolved murder of a young girl touched Mendocino and changed the community forever. As past and present collide, Anna realizes that she has been led to this moment. The most difficult lessons of her life have given her insight into how victims come into contact with violent predators. As Anna becomes obsessed with saving the missing girl, she must accept that true courage means getting out of her own way and learning to let others in.
Weaving together actual cases of missing persons, trauma theory, and a hint of the metaphysical, this propulsive and deeply affecting novel tells a story of fate, necessary redemption, and what it takes, when the worst happens, to reclaim our lives—and our faith in one another. (PenguinRandomHouse)
My Opinion: I didn’t know what to expect from Paula McLain's foray into suspenseful police procedurals, but by the end, I know that she is a gifted writer that has more than historical fiction up her sleeve. The writing pulls you in from the first page and by the time you reach the end, you want to start over to savor the lyrical writing and emotional pull of all her characters. Yes, all. There is not one misstep with any of them.
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