When the Stars Go Dark

by Paula McLain

“Krummholz” is the word for this kind of vegetation I remember from one of Hap’s lessons, a German term that means “bent wood.” Over many decades, hard weather has sculpted the trees into grotesque shapes. The salt-rich north wind kills the tips of the branches, forcing them to dip and twist, swooping toward the ground instead of the sky.

The sensitive readers, they have a certain look. You can almost smell it on them, that they need books to feel okay.”

I want to be with those who know secret things or else alone.

I want to unfold. I don’t want to stay folded anywhere, because where I am folded, there I am a lie.

Maybe it’s Cameron and the other girls, all within a hundred miles. Maybe it’s the Internet. We’ve never had a tool like this before, not anything like it. Millions and millions of people are out there, reachable with a few clicks of a button, and at least one of them knows something.”

The FBI is working on putting together a national database connecting crime labs all over the country. You know how slow everything is now, how disjointed. Once the new database is up and running, a semen sample from a rape kit in Seattle could be matched with a sentenced perpetrator in Philly or DC. Think about all the cold cases that could get new life, Anna. It blows my mind.”

So weird to rrealize how recently this came about.

I had nightmares consistently and often woke in the middle of the night feeling as if my whole body was buzzing, set on high alert.