by Paula McLain
First published 2021
Anna Hart investigates missing persons in San Francisco until personal tragedy sends her fleeing to Mendocino, the Northern California village where her foster parents once raised her. She arrives seeking refuge and solitude. Instead, she discovers that a local teenager has disappeared. The case strikes Anna as disturbingly similar to an unsolved murder from her own childhood, when another young girl died and the crime transformed the small community forever. Anna finds herself drawn into the investigation despite her grief. Her professional experience with missing persons cases has taught her how predators target their victims. As she pursues the truth about the missing girl, Anna must confront her own past trauma. The investigation becomes personal in ways that force her to examine her isolation. She realizes that healing requires vulnerability and connection with others. McLain draws from real missing persons cases and trauma research to build this story about second chances and recovery.
Genres: mystery, crime, contemporary, psychological-thriller
Vibes: atmospheric, emotional, intimate, suspenseful
Tropes: personal-investigation, second-chance
Setting: San Francisco, Mendocino, Northern California
Period: contemporary
370 pages · Hardcover · Ballantine Books