While there is a death at the very beginning of “The Stars Turned Inside Out,” author Nova Jacobs has much more in store for readers than a typical murder mystery. This very sophisticated story takes place in Switzerland, in the CERN facility, to be exact. And it’s in this place where physicists try to divide atoms into smaller and smaller pieces, and try to find dark matter, that mysterious concept most of us don’t fully understand, where the death takes place. And while the cause of death is clear, how it happened is not.

The story is related in pieces, perhaps a nod to the pieces of matter that the physicists at CERN study. We learn about the “Now,” when the death is being investigated, and the “Before” with both clearly labeled as to dates. What we find as we learn more about the events is that many of the players in this story are not who they appear to be.

Eve is one of the CERN physicists, and she works closely with another physicist, Arnav, in their group. But Eve is torn because while she loves her job as a physicist, she wonders how important it is when the world is in a climate crisis. In her few spare moments, she works on climate science. But those moments are few and far between as the physicists’ lives are pretty much devoted to being in the lab.

As the story progresses, we learn about the social lives of those who work at CERN, their happy hours, their coffee breaks, the mysterious chateau in the woods where Stephan Hawking stayed. We learn that most physicists who work at CERN are postdocs, working at CERN through the auspices of different universities, like Howard, a new postdoc working there. Eve is immediately drawn to Howard, and like her, he has experienced loss. In his case, the loss of not just one parent like Eve, but both. There’s something a bit off about Howard, and it’s important to find out exactly why he is different, because his is the death that was featured in the first pages of the novel.

In addition to Eve’s point of view, we also learn about the events through the eyes of Sabine, a private investigator who has close ties to Yvonne, who runs CERN, and Chloé, who is one of the heads of a group. Those three women were close friends at university, and their ties still bind. Another brilliantly drawn character is Niels Thorne, a flamboyant, extremely well-dressed physicist of means whose desperate goal is discovering dark matter. The other scientists are derisive about the fact that he spends more time giving tours than actually doing scientific work, but he’s a likable character nonetheless in his immaculate jackets and scarves.

Unlike most murder mysteries, this one doesn’t leave clues dropped about like Gretel’s scattered bread crumbs. Instead the story develops gradually as we learn more about the characters and about particle physics. It’s a subject that many of us know nothing about, so put on your researcher shoes and be prepared to learn at least something about the science that happens at CERN.

Then there is a fascinating link between the study of physics and the metaphysical as Jacobs presents us with ideas relating to a universal consciousness and infinite alternate universes. When you finish the book, you might just do what I did and go back to reread some parts because of the information we didn’t know until the end of the novel. A few crumbs scattered, after all. Between the scientific information, the buildup of the characters, a love story, the metaphysical, and the mystery, there’s a lot to digest. But the ending is perfect and exceptionally touching. This novel will certainly leave you thinking about our world and the possibility of other worlds, and really, what is important in life.

This review was first posted on Bookreporter.com.