Late last week I was going to do a post about this book I’ve been reading that has just blown me away. It was going to be part of my Friday Reads features, but then, well, life got in the way. I was simply numbed by the murder of Renee Nicole Good in Minneapolis and the threats against Greenland, and no matter how hard I tried to push that aside to work, to write, I just couldn’t. It was akin to how I felt in the days after my husband died when I could barely function mentally.
After a weekend away from my computer for the most part, doing some coloring and working on a jigsaw puzzle, I’m able to compartmentalize a bit and focus on this amazing book.
So here it is:
All The Colors of the Dark
Christ Whitacker
Crown
June 2024
586 pages
ISBN-13 : 978-0593798881
*** SYNOPSIS ***
1975 is a time of change in America. The Vietnam War is ending. Muhammad Ali is fighting Joe Frazier. And in the small town of Monta Clare, Missouri, girls are disappearing.
When the daughter of a wealthy family is targeted, the most unlikely hero emerges—Patch, a local boy, who saves the girl, and, in doing so, leaves heartache in his wake.
Patch, and those who love him, soon discover that the line between triumph and tragedy has never been finer. And that their search for answers will lead them to truths that could mean losing one another.
A missing person mystery, a serial killer thriller, a love story, a unique twist on each, Chris Whitaker has written a novel about what lurks in the shadows of obsession and the blinding light of hope.
*** REVIEW ***
Patch, a one-eyed boy who thinks he’s a pirate, is instantly a lovable character as the reader gets to know him and his special friendship with Saint, the only person in the school who likes him and is willing to hang out together.
The story slides easily and slowly into the depth of their friendship and the things that bind them together – mainly a love of nature. It also lays the groundwork to the relationship Patch has with his Mother, Ivy, and that of Saint and her Grandmother, Norma.
When Patch saves Misty from a man who attempts to abduct her, he also disappears, and Saint is obsessed with finding him. When she finally finds him after he barely escaped a fire that consumed the place his abductor had taken him, he is changed in so many ways and is hardly the boy she once knew. He is obsessed with finding Grace, the girl who shared his dungeon, and disappeared the same day he was found.
The tale that goes on from there is heartbreaking, surprising, tender, horrifying, with the heart of it being friendship, dedication, and survival. All presented in a narrative style that is wonderfully descriptive, letting us see and hear and feel the scenes as if we were there with the people.
As a reader I connected to the story, and the people, in an emotional way I seldom do with fiction, which is a testament to the talent of Whitacker to craft characters so real and a story so compelling. Which doesn’t mean they were all perfectly drawn. At least not for me. The gallery owner, Sammy, who oversees Patch’s artistic career is a bit overdone as a drunken, failed artist. And Ivy, the failure of a mother is too much the stereotypical doper mom who doesn’t take care of her son.
Still, this is a book well worth reading if you like a story that is part mystery, part coming of age, part romance in the truest sense of romance and not sex, and part social commentary on family and community.
It’s not always an easy read as there is so much murder and kidnapping, but that isn’t shown in graphic detail in very many places. And that darkness is offset in some ways by the artistry of Patch, who paints the missing girls he discovers in his search for Grace, as well as his kindness and generosity in gifting the paintings to the families. The paintings are worth thousands, but much to Sammy’s dismay, Patch would rather give them away, and is not willing to sell the first painting he did titled, Grace 1.
*** ABOUT THE AUTHOR ***
Chris Whitaker is the author of the New York Times and Sunday Times bestselling All The Colours Of The Dark. His other acclaimed and bestselling novels include We Begin At The End, Tall Oaks, and All The Wicked Girls.
Chris’s novels have been translated into thirty languages and have won the CWA Gold Dagger, the CWA John Creasey Dagger, the Theakston Crime Novel of the Year, the Ned Kelly International Award, and numerous awards around the world.
His books have also been selected for the Read With Jenna Book Club, Waterstones Thriller of the Month, Barnes & Noble Book Club, Good Morning America Book Club, and for BBC2’s Between The Covers.
All The Colours Of The Dark is currently in development with Universal Pictures. We Begin At The End is currently in development with A24.
Chris was born in London and lives in the UK.
Follow him on Instagram @chriswhitakerauthor
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
That’s all from me for today, folks. Have a great start to your week. Be safe. Be happy.
