You’re in a small town in west Texas, a town that still mourns a favorite daughter who disappeared many years ago. The daughter of the police chief at the time of the disappearance is now on the force herself. Her efforts are hampered by unresolved feelings for the prime suspect in the disappearance. She had a date with him the night the girl went missing and she still believes in his innocence. But like every town this one has secrets, and those secrets have claimed more than one life and will claim more.

Positives: well written identifiable characters that you can root for

Negatives: each person in the book no matter how small their part of the tale has pages upon pages of backstory, enough to really bog a reader down. But I’ve spent quite a lot of time in the locale and that aspect of the storytelling is dead on.

Part ghost story, part mystery, part philosophical, but completely fascinating. The story unfolded in changing directions, like unfolding origami, revealing new facets each time. I read it in a day, because I couldn't put it down.

Well written story. Kept me engaged the entire time. A page turner for sure! Looking forward to reading more books by this author!

Thank you to Netgalley, the author and the publisher for this ARC.

I struggled with this. I really did. But I also struggled with Black-Eyed Susans. I think the writing just isn’t for me. It has such a sultry feel that made me want to love it for its grit and charm. But I could never fall into her books.

We Are All the Same in the Dark is the latest psychological thriller from Julia Heaberlin. About half way through the book there is a dramatic shift. As always Ms Heaberlin keeps the reader guessing and turning the pages. I want to thank NetGalley and Ballantine Books for an early copy to review.

It took a long while to get into this book, it is told from alternating perspectives. Wyatt, Odette, and Angel (Montana) tell a compelling story about loss (sister, leg, eye) and I began to care about all of them quite early in the story. Who killed Trumanell? That is the first part of the story the remaining half or so is about that and much more. I recommend to anyone who likes to read descriptive and original stories-this is not your run of the mill whodunit..... You cannot read this book too quickly, you will miss so much.


Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the chance to read and review..

Trumanell Branson was the town hero and homecoming queen. In 2005, she goes missing with only a bloody hand print left behind. Her dad disappeared that night as well and her brother Wyatt was found, out of his mind. Wyatt has always been suspect number one and majority of the town believes that he's a serial killer who's never been caught. Ex-girlfriend Odette Tucker, also lost her leg that night, fleeing the Branson house when Wyatt told her to run before she ever made it to the front door. She returns to her Texas hometown after her dad dies, following in the family tradition of becoming a cop. She's determined to solve the case of her friend Trumanell's disappearance no matter the cost. But when Wyatt turns up with a young girl, who's missing an eye, her life and the case become more complicated than ever before.

Wow. Julia Heaberlin is a mastermind. We Are All the Same in the Dark is the best book that I've read this year and I've read a lot of amazing books in the last few months. This story felt so different from anything else out there. There were very few actual twists in the books but the one's thrown in were well thought out and pertinent to the story. Nothing felt gimmicky or over-reaching as can be the case with many thriller type books. I felt very invested in and connected to the two main characters and felt their desperation to solve the case. I loved Heaberlin's use of language, pop culture, and her ability to weave a believable story. I did not figure out the plot or the ending before it came organically and shockingly. I normally like a tidied up ending but I like how she left you with a few questions about certain characters and plot points. This will be one of my top recommended books for years to come.

I received an ARC of this novel from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

A young woman. Trudelle, from a troubled home goes missing. Her best friend, Odette, spends much of her career trying to find out what happened. Then a mute teenage girl is found. What is the connection?

This novel was described as atmospheric and with a gothic feel and I will agree with that. The prose is beautifully written and the story is a good one. I did, however, have some problems with it which I will outline later.

The novel is told from three points of view. The first is that of Wyatt, a young man who was involved in a horrific crime but was found innocent by the court. However this small town in Texas does not agree with those findings. They think that Wyatt is guilty in some way in the disappearance of his sister Trumanelle and his father. They have made him live as a recluse in the family home, certain that he is not only mentally ill but a murderer. He is spurned by everyone in the town except for the young police officer Odette.

As the book opens he is driving home and finds a young girl, injured, lying in a circle of dandelions. Dandelions have a special significance for Wyatt and he feels this is God’s way of telling him to help this girl. He takes her to his home and calls Odette, the only police officer that he trusts.

Second point of view is Odette’s .Odette was also involved in the incident ten years ago, in fact losing her leg in a terrible accident after fleeing Wyatt’s home on the night in question. She has returned, along with her Chicago lawyer husband to find out the truth of what happened that night. She and Trumanelle were friends when they were young. Unfortunately this determination to solve the case will come at a great cost to her.

Odette is then drawn into the case of who the young mute woman is because Wyatt reaches out to her for help. She is now determined to solve the mystery of who she is and whom she may be running from.

The last point of view is that of Angel, given this name by Wyatt when he found her and she was mute. He thought she looked like an angel lying in the dandelions.

This last viewpoint is 5 years later which makes for some very confusing reading. This is the part of the book that will reveal all and the ending was one I didn’t see coming. It was a strong ending although difficult to believe that some men can be so wicked.

I had significant problems with this book. I had to reread the first part of the book more than once to get a handle on what was exactly happening. Wyatt is an unreliable narrator with mental health issues and deep sorrow for his lost sister. He’s a confusing historian that’s for sure.

Odette’s point of view was interesting but she seemed to be going in so many directions. It was hard to believe she could even function on little sleep and not much support. She doesn’t trust anyone, not even her partner, Rusty.

By the third point of view I was beginning to tire of the repetition of the story. I did enjoy this section the most because it finally gives us hope of a satisfying conclusion. I was ready for the ending when it came and it was a good close.

This is definitely a very slow burn of a mystery and I lost patience with it at times. I think it’s a good story but be sure to set aside a good amount of time to stay focused on what is going on.

This was a buddy read with CeeCee and I thank her for helping me get through some confusing sections.

I received an ARC of this novel from the publisher through NetGalley.

The novel is set to publish on August 11, 2020

Will post to Amazon upon publication

We Are All the Same in the Dark
A Novel
by Julia Heaberlin
Random House Publishing Group - Ballantine
Ballantine Books
Mystery & Thrillers
Pub Date 11 Aug 2020 | Archive Date 26 Oct 2020

I was not expecting to like this book as much as I did. I am not familiar with this author. However, if you read one Mystery/thriller this year... let this be the one. You will not be disappointed.
Thanks to NetGalley and Ballantine books for the ARC of this book.
5 star

First sentence: "It takes about eight to ten hours to hand-dig a grave, more if you was doing it in the dark." The novel begins with an epigraph, an excerpt from a crime documentary--the speaker is a cemetery gravedigger.

The sentence grabs the attention and hints of theme without giving anything away. Aside from graves, buried things becomes an essential part of the We Are All the Same in the Dark.

Julia Heaberlin is skilled at keeping the reader in the dark...in the best possible way. If you've read any of her previous books, you know that you will have plenty of clues and still find it difficult to predict what will happen. Layer after layer is uncovered--personalities, memories, secrets, lies. Expectations must be adjusted with additional information. Seriously adjusted.

The novel is dominated by three strong female characters, one of which has been missing for ten years and is presumed dead. Ten years later, Wyatt, whose sister Trumanell disappeared a decade previously, discovers a young girl in a pasture by the side of the road. He debates about what to do, she is surrounded by dandelions which has an association for Wyatt that both intrigues and frightens him.

He takes the girl home, feeling almost as if he has been cursed. When small town cop Odette arrives, she questions the girl who refuses to speak. Odette's voice takes over the novel, but five years later the girl's voice will be added for the last portion of the novel.

Odette was sixteen when she lost her leg in a car accident on the same night Trumanell disappeared, and she refuses to give up her quest to find out what happened. In the meantime, she feels a strong connection to the girl Angel/Angie. Odette knows the girl is running from something bad, and as an amputee, Odette feels connected to the girl who has only one eye. She has a feeling that their meeting was somehow destined.

from description: The discovery of a girl abandoned by the side of the road threatens to unearth the long-buried secrets of a Texas town's legendary cold case in this superb, atmospheric novel from the internationally bestselling author of Black-Eyed Susans.

Julia Heaberlin knows how to pull the reader in. Her characters are complex, her sentences and paragraphs flow easily, she uses structure to separate elements of the story until she is ready to bring them together.

Her relationship with Texas is evident in each of her books, and she writes beautifully. Her settings, her complex characters, her suspenseful plots, and her ability to reveal just enough and not too much make her books exceptional.

(Dandelion heads have 150-200 seeds, and a single plant, up to 15,000 seeds to be carried by the wind. The plant is a survivor. It is also associated with wishes, hopes, dreams that fly into the wind seeking a receptive soil. )

Read in May. Blog review scheduled for July 20.

NetGalley/Random House/Ballentine
Mystery/Thriller. Aug. 11, 2020. Print length: 352 pages.

This is the kind of thriller that makes you stay up reading all night while also making you think every last bump in the night is someone breaking into your house. This book has so much going for it:
+thoughtful and respectful disability rep (based off the acknowledgments, it's not owned voices, but she did a deep dive into research)
+the characters were fleshed out enough that I cared about all of them-- including the red herrings I was sure weren't to be trusted
+multiple POVs, each one masterfully executed
+a real sense of place. I can't mentally map a fictional town to save my life most of the time, but the town in this book was so carefully depicted that I had a clear mental layout of where each location was in relation to everything else.

Generally, when I finish reading a thriller, I'm done thinking about the characters. Something tells me that this book is an exception to that rule. I'll be thinking about Wyatt and Odette for a very long time.

I'll be adding Julia Heaberlin to my auto-buy list.

Thank you to NetGalley for providing an e-arc of this book in exchange for an honest review.

A fantastic who-done-it, We Are All the Same in the Dark, is a story told by three narrators. Wyatt, whose sister and father went missing, Odette, a teenager when they disappeared, and Angel, a girl who strangely enters their lives. Growing up in a small town means everyone knows everyone else's business, so why doesn't anyone know what happened to Trumanell, the school's Homecoming queen, and her father? As another girl disappears, the mystery deepens. Someone knows who is taking these girls. Someone always knows. But who is it?

This was my first book by Julia Heaberlin, and I have been missing out! I loved her writing style. She is a real wordsmith, and I felt like every sentence was written for a purpose. I could not put this book down! If you love mysteries and thrillers and love to try to solve them before the author reveals the secret, then this book is for you!

Thank you to NetGalley, Julia Heaberlin, and Ballantine Books for providing me an advanced copy to preview.

This book is hauntingly written and the ghosts of this story will lure you in with such a ferocity that your mind will question what is real and what is not. Two female main characters anchor the story line, one taking the lead to solve the mystery and the other to bring it to its stunning conclusion. Both are resourceful, both are resilient, and both care. Their story will leave you with a myriad of emotions and new respect for those of us who are not ok.

If you read any book this summer, make this the one!

WE ARE ALL THE SAME IN THE DARK
BY JULIA HEABERLIN

What a beautiful story this turned out to be. I wasn't quite expecting to love this book so much but once I read the first few pages I was feeling that warm feeling inside that I get when I am reading exquisite prose. I feel a total surrender of my current life and escape into that happy feeling that I am reading an excellent and totally absorbing tale that captivates me and I want to bottle this feeling and preserve it. I had been in a reading slump so this book couldn't come along at a more welcoming time. I didn't think that I would enjoy it so much based solely on the description on the synopsis. It was the talented Julia Heaberlin's writing style that hypnotized me and I said to myself that the poetic prose is my kind of book to savor and be drawn into the characterization's and the plot. This type of gentle storytelling and terrific pacing made me sad to finish it as top notch writing often does. There isn't any graphic violence or gratuitous manipulations that the description of the plot hints could happen. Quite the opposite. The writing is quiet and low key but well above average.




On April 7, 2005 which was ten years ago as the book begins Trumanell Branson mysteriously disappeared from a small town in Texas. She was a beautiful nineteen year old young woman who was a high school cheerleader that many of the people in the town blame her younger brother Wyatt for. He is a quiet reclusive young man that suffers from the public at large still wanting him to pay for a crime that he could never have committed. It is obvious right from the beginning that he couldn't have hurt his sister by the way he talks to her as if she still inhabits the physical proximity to him. Her picture still remains on posters in the police station and all around the town.

One night on his way home from driving one of those big tractor trailer rig he spots this waif of a child laying in a field surrounded by dandelions. He stops and brings her home. She is missing one eye and refuses to speak so he gets in touch with one of the town's only citizen that believes he is innocent. That turns out to be Odette Tucker his ex girlfriend who is a police officer. Odette doesn't want to call Child Protective Services right away and put this young girl in the system right away before learning if this child could be running from some kind of danger. Odette brings the girl who comes to be called Angel to her cousin Maggie's house who has a toddler and a baby and Maggie's husband is a doctor who works at a hospital.

For most of the book it is Odette's point of view which I liked very much who she was as a person. She tries to relate to Angel by showing her that she has a prosthetic leg to try to prove to Angel that she is safe and they share a common ground. Odette calls in a favor and takes Angel to an Ocularist which is a person that can make fake eyes that look real. The Ocularist paints a perfectly green prosthetic eye that is the same perfect green eye with gold specks as Angel's real eye. It is a perfect match and looks like a real eye.

When Odette is not working she is trying to solve the cold case of what really happened to Trumanell the town's sweetheart. What she discovers hits close to home. The rest of the book takes place in five years later in Angel's voice. I liked hearing the story told by both Odette and Angel's voice equally as much. What happens is a shock but I was enamored by the narrative although Angel five years later is much more less innocent than she first appeared. When I say less innocent I mean on reflection that she is more street smart but still running from something menacing. I almost have to suspend belief that she is that same person. This was a fantastic read by the same author who wrote "Black -Eyed Susans." I read that debut by this author but want to go back and read it again especially because I loved this one so much and I can't remember the reading experience like enjoying the prose as much as I did this one. There are three other books that this author has written that I am saving for a special occasion. I would highly recommend this book to everybody. It is superb writing that captivated me and I will be spreading the word to everybody to read this book. I don't believe my review did the book the justice it deserves but it is an all time favorite.

Publication Date: August 11, 2020

Thank you to Net Galley, Julia Heaberlin and Random House Publishing Group-Ballantine for providing me with my ARC in exchange for a fair and honest review. All opinions are my own.

#WeAreAllTheSameInThe
1 like
WE ARE ALL THE SAME IN THE DARK
BY JULIA HEABERLIN

What a beautiful story this turned out to be. I wasn't quite expecting to love this book so much but once I read the first few pages I was feeling that warm feeling inside that I get when I am reading exquisite prose. I feel a total surrender of my current life and escape into that happy feeling that I am reading an excellent and totally absorbing tale that captivates me and I want to bottle this feeling and preserve it. I had been in a reading slump so this book couldn't come along at a more welcoming time. I didn't think that I would enjoy it so much based solely on the description on the synopsis. It was the talented Julia Heaberlin's writing style that hypnotized me and I said to myself that the poetic prose is my kind of book to savor and be drawn into the characterization's and the plot. This type of gentle storytelling and terrific pacing made me sad to finish it as top notch writing often does. There isn't any graphic violence or gratuitous manipulations that the description of the plot hints could happen. Quite the opposite. The writing is quiet and low key but well above average.

On April 7, 2005 which was ten years ago as the book begins Trumanell Branson mysteriously disappeared from a small town in Texas. She was a beautiful nineteen year old young woman who was a high school cheerleader that many of the people in the town blame her younger brother Wyatt for. He is a quiet reclusive young man that suffers from the public at large still wanting him to pay for a crime that he could never have committed. It is obvious right from the beginning that he couldn't have hurt his sister by the way he talks to her as if she still inhabits the physical proximity to him. Her picture still remains on posters in the police station and all around the town.

One night on his way home from driving one of those big tractor trailer rig he spots this waif of a child laying in a field surrounded by dandelions. He stops and brings her home. She is missing one eye and refuses to speak so he gets in touch with one of the town's only citizen that believes he is innocent. That turns out to be Odette Tucker his ex girlfriend who is a police officer. Odette doesn't want to call Child Protective Services right away and put this young girl in the system right away before learning if this child could be running from some kind of danger. Odette brings the girl who comes to be called Angel to her cousin Maggie's house who has a toddler and a baby and Maggie's husband is a doctor who works at a hospital.

For most of the book it is Odette's point of view which I liked very much who she was as a person. She tries to relate to Angel by showing her that she has a prosthetic leg to try to prove to Angel that she is safe and they share a common ground. Odette calls in a favor and takes Angel to an Ocularist which is a person that can make fake eyes that look real. The Ocularist paints a perfectly green prosthetic eye that is the same perfect green eye with gold specks as Angel's real eye. It is a perfect match and looks like a real eye.

When Odette is not working she is trying to solve the cold case of what really happened to Trumanell the town's sweetheart. What she discovers hits close to home. The rest of the book takes place in five years later in Angel's voice. I liked hearing the story told by both Odette and Angel's voice equally as much. What happens is a shock but I was enamored by the narrative although Angel five years later is much more less innocent than she first appeared. When I say less innocent I mean on reflection that she is more street smart but still running from something menacing. I almost have to suspend belief that she is that same person. This was a fantastic read by the same author who wrote "Black -Eyed Susans." I read that debut by this author but want to go back and read it again especially because I loved this one so much and I can't remember the reading experience like enjoying the prose as much as I did this one. There are three other books that this author has written that I am saving for a special occasion. I would highly recommend this book to everybody. It is superb writing that captivated me and I will be spreading the word to everybody to read this book. I don't believe my review did the book the justice it deserves but it is an all time favorite.

Publication Date: August 11, 2020

Thank you to Net Galley, Julia Heaberlin and Random House Publishing Group-Ballantine for providing me with my ARC in exchange for a fair and honest review. All opinions are my own.

#WeAreAllTheSameInTheDark #JuliaHeaberlin #RandomHousePublishingGroup--Ballantine #NetGalley

Story starts off with a young girl dumped in a field of dandelions. She doesn’t speak but does say one word “dandelion”. She is discovered by Wyatt Branson who is the brother Trumanell Branson who is missing. It is believed that Wyatt was responsible for what happened to his sister.
Odette Tucker is the town youngest person on the police force. She believes there is a link between these two girls. Odette connects with the girl and calls her Angel. Both have physical impairments.
Story is two in three parts each told from the POV of Wyatt, Odette, and Angel.

I have been in a 3 star slump and had high hopes for this one. The reviews have all been full of praise… hmmm perhaps my expectations were set too high! It is a good story.
I especially love the author’s Acknowledgements and her descriptions of the three real-life Texas women who her protagonists were based. Ms.Heaberlin certainly did her homework; her research is very interesting.

Want to thank NetGalley and Random House Publishing Group-Ballantine Books for this early release granted to me in exchange for an honest professional review. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own. Publishing Release Date scheduled for August 11, 2020

A years old mystery is re-examined when a young girl is found on the side of the road in a small Texas town where everyone knows each other’s business. This was a definite slow burn mystery told from 3 different povs. Heaberlin is an excellent writer but at times I got bogged down with the wordiness. There were also times where I got a little confused about what was going on in the plot. I kept flipping back, thinking that I’d missed something. With that said, the mystery aspect of this was intriguing and I kept reading on because I really wanted to know what had happened. I did figure out the ending beforehand, but enjoyed it nonetheless.

An immersive story of redemption and overcoming perceived disability with flowing and captivating prose that is propulsive and relentless. A small Texan town is haunted by the sudden disappearance of Trumanell a decade ago on June 7, 2005 ... without a trace other than a remnant of a bloody handprint, She was a vibrant nineteen year-old that was beloved and revered by all ... but, not so much by the simultaneous mysterious disappearance of her father, Frank Branson ... the one-eyed town bully and womanizer and probably child abuser. Left behind is her brother, Wyatt ... although cleared of wrongdoing by the police he remains tried and convicted in the court of public opinion. A recent true crime documentary has stirred the pot and infers guilt upon Wyatt. Wyatt is a long haul trucker and upon returning home he notices a young unconscious girl dumped on the side of the road She is prostrate and surrounded by a ring of dandelions ... wearing a thin dirty cotton dress and sash covering one eye (which he discovers is gone). He gathers up the thirteen year old and brings her home. On his way home, one of the nosy citizens notices a girl in his truck ... and contacts the police department: "Wyatt has a girl out there." Dispatched to investigate is Odette Tucker .... the town's youngest cop , and ex-girlfriend of Wyatt, when they were both teenagers. She returned to her hometown five years ago, with her husband, a Chicago lawyer, named Finn in tow . Haunted as well by that fateful night of June 7 ... having come to the Branson door with expectations of a date with Wyatt, only to have Wyatt crack open the door and tell her to run away and not ask any questions. In her panic she was involved in a horrendous car accident ... barely surviving but losing her left leg.
Odette discovers that the young girl is not only one-eyed but also mute ....and no one has reported such a missing girl in the United States in the last fifteen years ... she takes her in custody for her own safety. This girl proves to be an enigma that ties the multifaceted story together. The emotional struggles of this girl, Wyatt and Odette propel the narrative forward in an escalating , unpredictable and twisted fashion. All have disabilities to cope with and overcome. Odette's deceased father and town cop, Marshall Tucker left her a small piece of paper extolling and describing what he thought of her ( which ultimately fits this mysterious young girl). .... Six words were present: tender, resilient, strong, resourceful, kind, and empathetic.
Heabertin's pace is inexorable , relentless and marches toward an expected conclusion that unravels the town's many sordid secrets behind this decades old mystery. Thanks to NetGalley and Ballantine Books for providing an Uncorrected Proof in exchange for an honest review. Publication projected for August 1`1, 2020. This amazing writer has now joined my: Must Read List!
( at readersremains.com ).

This book was everything I was looking for; hoping to find something to take my mind off what's happening out in the world. It was a roller coaster of emotions...I laughed, I cried, & even yelled @ the book..

Thank you to NetGalley for an ARC of We Are All the Same in the Dark.

I've read the author's previous book so I was pleased when my request was approved.

The premise is a familiar one: a young woman named Odette has returned to her small town as a cop, burdened by the disappearance of a friend, Trumanell, a decade ago. Her ex-boyfriend, Wyatt, was Trumanell's brother and was never fully charged though the town believes him responsible.

When Wyatt's discovery of an abandoned young girl dubbed Angel brings Odette back into his life, it also sets her on a path to investigate Trumanell's disappearance once again, except this time, the killer has no intention of digging up the dead.

I liked Odette; she grew on me as I read; she was flawed but aren't we all? But, she was also committed, smart and resourceful, and though she made mistakes, she owned up to them and realized her mistakes were hers and only hers to bear.

The author's twist came in the second half of the story when Angel takes up the narrative, which was an unexpected but nice touch.

Similar to Odette in many respects, flawed, differently-abled but determined and mad as hell, Angel reacquaints herself with Odette's social and professional circle, and has vowed to bring the young woman's murderer to justice, even at the cost of her own life.

The pace of the novel is slow, as characters are developed and exposition on the town and Trumanell's disappearance is fleshed out.

There aren't many likable characters, but they all play a part in the sordid town mystery and what happened to Trumanell that fateful night.

Religion and faith is woven into how the characters deal with the sorrow and suffering in their lives, and I liked how the author handled it sensitively. There's no Jesus jamming or religious mumbo jumbo, but each character views how their lives and paths have crossed with certain people and perhaps there's a reason for that.

The mystery isn't complicated and the author wraps up most of the loose ends.

I did like how the whereabouts of Trumanell's father remains up in the air because in real life, some things are left unexplained and unresolved.

This was a good read with decent character development with female characters you could like or sympathize with.

I did enjoy the postscript on the research the author did when writing We Are All the Same in the Dark.