I highly recommend this hauntingly riveting tale. I fell in love with the intricately drawn characters who will remain with me for a very long time.it is beautifully written with insightful quotes sprinkled throughout.

ALL THE COLORS OF THE DARK by Chris Whitaker

I read this and listened to the audiobook narrated by, Edoardo Ballerini, who always does an outstanding narration. He is a favorite narrator of mine and I highly recommend the audiobook.

In 1975 in the small town of Monta Clare, in the Ozark mountains of Missouri, young girls are gone missing. When a girl from a wealthy family is being attacked, Patch, a thirteen-year-old boy with one eye who pretends he is a pirate, happens to be in the area and saves her from being taken. What follows changes Patch’s life and others in this small town. This well crafted powerfully written novel is part thriller, suspense, crime fiction, coming-of-age, love story, and Bildungsroman (new word for me, and describes it perfectly).

Patch and Saint, a teenage girl, are the two main characters and have a very special bond of friendship. This novel unfolds over decades as Patch and Saint, navigate their teenage years into adulthood. Both Patch, Saint, and others in this small community live out their lives, forever changed by the tragic events of one year. This complicated story touches on serial killer violence, obsession, loyalty, kindness, memories, dreams, hope, and so much more.

I found myself getting lost in the pages of this beautifully written, character-driven story that I didn’t want to end. This book blew me away, and by far my most favorite read of 2024 thus far. Once again, Chris Whitaker has written another book of sheer brilliance.

I can’t say enough about Chris Whitaker’s new release - All the Colors of the Dark. It is so many things - quietly beautiful and deep, haunting, dark, bright and hopeful. It’s an unputdownable coming of age tale, a buddy story, a serial killer mystery, and an epic drama about love and obsession. All the Colors of the Dark is storytelling at its best - finely drawn characters you won’t soon forget and a plot that will keep you on the edge of your seat until the very end.

Here’s the set up. It’s 1975, in the small town of Monta Claire, Missouri and girls have gone missing. Patch, a poor one-eyed boy, who thinks he’s a pirate, and Saint, a beekeeper raised by her grandmother, are outsiders. They form a quick and long lasting friendship which will span decades and be tried by circumstance. Everything changes when Patch becomes the unlikely hero who thwarts the kidnapping of a local girl and is taken instead. He is held captive in a dark room. There he meets Grace, a voice in the dark, his angel and savior. But does she really exist? Patch believes she does, and he will stop at nothing to track down his capture and find the girl he loves.

Trigger Warnings: violence, abuse, predatory behaviors, captivity

All the Colors of the Dark by Chris Whitaker is a brilliant literary epic drama spanning decades and genres. This exceptional, very highly recommended novel is certainly one of the best novels of 2024. If you loved Whitaker's We Begin at the End (2020) then please read All the Colors of the Dark.

It is 1975 in the small town of Monta Clare, Missouri, where Saint Brown and her best friend Joseph “Patch” Macauley are best friends. Saint, whose parents are both deceased, lives with her grandmother and keeps bees. Patch was born with one eye, thus the nickname and his love of all things pirate related. He lives with his neglectful single mother. When Patch sees a man attacking Misty, a popular girl from school, he steps in to stop it. Misty escapes but Patch is captured instead and held captive in a dark basement for many months.

Saint is determined to find her best friend and never loses hope, always seeking clues about his whereabouts. Her dogged persistence and tenacity is never-ending. While captive in the total darkness of the basement, Patch meets a girl, Grace, who tells him stories from places across the country and keeps him safe. Grace gives Patch hope and a reason to survive.

And this is just a very brief taste of what awaits you when reading All the Colors of the Dark.

What follows is a glorious, heartbreaking literary saga that covers 1975 to 2001. It is an in-depth character study that merges together, in part, as a domestic drama, a coming-of-age tale, a missing person mystery, a serial killer thriller, a story of obsession, and a love story, a prison drama, and more. The short chapters are from the point-of-view of Saint or Patch. Once I started reading All the Colors of the Dark I was totally immersed in the believable and heartrending world Whitaker paints. It is a long novel, but was impossible to put down.

The writing is eloquent, descriptive, poignant, and the final result is simply a masterpiece. Whitaker is such a gifted writer! All of his characters come to life as fully realized individuals with strengths and flaws. I felt like I intimately knew all of the characters and their story will continue to resonate with me for years. Bravo, Chris Whitaker - All the Colors of the Dark is a masterpiece of literature. Thanks to Crown Publishing for providing me with an advance reader's copy via NetGalley. My review is voluntary and expresses my honest opinion.