Fast-paced, gripping thriller-mystery, character driven dream of a book. I had to give myself some time to digest this book after reading it to write a review without spoilers. Decades spanning tale set around a small Missouri town spins both the darkness and hope of life. Thanks to NetGalley and Crown for this advanced reader copy in exchange for a fair review.

Spoiler alert— this book is going to be huge! ⁣
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⁣All the Colors of the Dark is such a unique book that fuses several genres. Part love story, part thriller with a dash of historical fiction— All the Colors of the Dark reminded me a bit of Demon Copperhead and Forrest Gump! ⁣
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⁣A young boy becomes a local hero when he saves a girl from abduction— setting off a chain of events that will forever change his life forever. Chris Whitaker’s writing is brilliant, rich and immersive. The characters are complex and I will absolutely never forget Patch and Saint. ⁣
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⁣Five beautiful, epic stars! ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ I highly recommend this one! ⁣
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⁣Thank you to NetGalley and Crown Publishing for the ARC. All the Colors of the Dark publishes today- June 25, 2024!

I would like to express my gratitude to NetGalley, Crown Publishing, and award winning author extraordinaire Chris Whitaker for granting me early access to his latest astonishing novel, All The Colors of The Dark. This 608-page saga spans over 25 years from 1976 to 2001, chronicling the intertwined lives of best friends Saint and Patch as they navigate the transition from adolescence to adulthood. The novel explores the complexities of growing up within the dynamics of friendships and families, encompassing the journey of childhood challenges and the intricacies of navigating adulthood's responsibilities and life's hardships. If you enjoyed the author's acclaimed "We Begin at The End," I believe you will find this stellar book equally captivating.
All The Colors of The Dark is an epic coming of age novel that leans heavily towards mystery/thriller/drama as it follows two inseparable 13-year-old best friends, Patch and Saint, confronting the harsh realities of their impoverished Ozark small town in 1975 when several girls mysteriously disappear in the surrounding areas. Joseph “Patch” Macauley, known for his distinctive eye and pirate persona with his eyepatch, and his loyal friend Saint, who is being raised by her grandmother and passionate about beekeeping, embark on a quest that gains urgency in their Monta Clare, Missouri town where everyone’s sense of safety is shattered. Patch is skipping rocks at the lake one hot summer day when he hears a girl screaming in the woods, and heroically rescues a classmate from an attempted abduction by fighting the balaclava-clad man off before disappearing without a trace himself. The devastating tragedy sets Saint on an unwavering mission to uncover the truth behind Patch's violent disappearance and solve the mystery surrounding other unsolved abductions, an all encompassing investigation spanning decades that escalates when attention turns to a specific missing girl.
The characters in "All the Colors of the Dark" are richly depicted, stirring emotions that echo in the reader's soul. From Patch, the heroic figure whose wisdom exceeds his years, to Saint, who fearlessly and relentlessly pursues her missing best friend with unwavering support from her grandmother Norma, to Misty, rescued by Patch but burdened with her own secrets, and Chief Nix, each character adds layers of complexity and emotion to the narrative. The story weaves a poignant tapestry of optimism and sorrow that resonates deeply throughout. I could not stop reading this phenomenally written thriller, even though it was an incredibly long 608 pages. Prepare to be heartbroken, hopeful, and everything in between as this story explores enduring loyalty, friendship, love, compulsion, and the darkest corners of the human heart. Will their loyal bond survive tragedy, trauma, and the ultimate test? "All the Colors of the Dark" is a deeply emotional journey that will resonate with readers long after its spectacular ending. 5/5

What an incredible journey.

All the Colors of the Dark follows Saint and Patch over the span of 20+ years as they navigate friendship, loss, and blind hope. The story begins with young Patch stumbling upon a girl being attacked in the woods and he decides to jump in and save her. With Patch now missing, Saint does everything in her power to find her friend. All the Colors of the Dark captures the grief, trauma, and obsession that spawned from that tragic day in the woods.
This is a very long read and although it is classified as a thriller, my biggest advice is to just relax and enjoy the ride. The amount of thought that went into weaving this story is incredible and I loved how it all came together.

Thank you NetGalley, Crown Publishing, and the author for access to this book in exchange for an honest review.

When the daughter of a wealthy family is targeted, the most unlikely hero emerges—Patch, a local boy with one eye, 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.

This was a book that I just couldn't put down. It had short, propulsive chapters that kept me reading well past my bedtime. Patch is a character that just worms his way into your heart. You are rooting for him the whole way, even when he keeps on making such bad decisions along the way. He is a character that I won't soon forget. This book is a journey, and a long one at that, but it really was so worth it in the end. This story is so compelling and totally different than any other one. Yes, I feel it was a little too long at times, and Whitaker also has a very singular writing style. It did take me just a bit to adjust to it again, but once I did, I was all in. Just trust him that the payoff is so worth it!

I think this will definitely be one of the biggest books of the Summer, and well deserved. I was so glad to see that it was a @readwithjenna pick and that it is also being adapted for the screen. A huge thank you to @netgalley, @crownpublishing and @chriswhitakerauthor for this advanced copy in exchange for my honest review. Go read this book now! Publishes 06/25/2024

Thank you to Crown Publishing and Net alley for the opportunity to read an advanced reader digital copy of Chris Whitaker's "All the Colors of the Dark." This novel will be published on June 25, 2024, so rush to the bookstore to purchase it. I guarantee that you will not regret buying this excellent novel.

1975 is a time of change in America. The Vietnam War is ending, Muhammad Ali is fighting Joe Frazier, and girls are disappearing in the small
town of Monta Clare, Missouri.

When the daughter of a wealthy family is targeted, the most unlikely hero emerges—Patch, a local boy who saves the girl and 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.

With its 600+ pages and short chapters, "All of the Colors of the Dark" is a book you wish would never end. You fall in love with Patch, his best friend Saint, the rich girl Misty, and various Monta Clara, MO., townspeople. One day, Patch, a one-eyed 13-year-old boy who wears a pirate patch, sees a man trying to abduct a young girl. Patch saves her but gets abducted himself in the process. His best friend, Saint, a beekeeper, does all she can to find Patch and bring him back. Over a twenty-five-year period, Patch and Saint try to find out what happened to all the missing girls, who kidnapped Patch, and who helped him survive during the abduction. The novel's title is a fitting connection to the experiences the characters go through. Chris Whitaker is a master of developing memorable characters. "All of the Colors of the Dark" is a tale about love, dedication, resilience, sacrifice, redemption, and loss. There are vile, deplorable characters in the novel who are judgmental and vengeful. Themes of identity, good versus evil, color versus darkness, sacrificial love, loneliness, and survival permeate this novel. Information one receives in the dark resonates and imprints on the mind. "All of the Colors of the Dark" is a story full of turns and twists that captivate the reader as they follow Patch and Saint in their quest to learn the fate of the missing girls. Your heart breaks while reading this novel, but somehow, Mr. Whitaker heals the heartbreak.

Mr. Whitaker, I am deeply grateful for the journey you took me on with Patch and Saint. I will forever cherish the characters in this novel, which is a mystery, a love story, and an homage to friends.

"All of the Colors of the Dark" is one of my favorite novels this year. Do not let the book's size deter you from picking up a copy and reading Patch and Saint's compelling story for yourself. You won't be disappointed.

All I could say after finishing this new book from Chris Whitaker was "Wow" All the Colors of the Dark jumps to the top of favorite book of the year.

"1975 - Patch has only one eye and thinks of himself as a pirate. His father died in Vitenam and his mother cannot cope. Patch struggles to get by. His friend Saint believes in him though. And then Patch saves a girl from an attack but disappears. Saint is desperate to find him even if no one else cares."

Before you finish you will love Patch and Saint. You will shed some tears along the way. You will recognize pure evil. And a willingness by some to put others above themselves. You will wonder at Saint's belief and hope that she's right.

Whitaker begins in the 70's and moves through the turn of the century. There are many surprises along the way and Whitaker ties a lot of the story together near the end. Parts of the story that you didn't even know were linked.

And that ending - what a perfect ending. I hated to leave these characters. Whitaker's story is character driven and he puts so much depth and emotion into them.

Fastest 600 pages you'll ever read. Don't miss it.

This book is a mixture of a love story, missing person story and even a serial killer story all rolled into one nonstop novel. It is a very long and epic story of a one eyed boy who becomes a hero back in 1975. This book takes you on a tumultuous ride. Thanks to @NetGalley for the ARC of this book.

I read We Begin at the End in 2020 and loved it. It was one of my top reads for 2020.  All the Colors of the Dark is another fantastic read. The way that Whitaker can make you care for his characters is phenomenal.  I am going to do a very brief review on this amazing book, only to let you experience it.
 
Set in the span from 1975 to 2001. It is set in the town of Monta Clare, Missouri. Girls from this area have been disappearing. All the Colors of the Dark is told from a dual narrative. We hear from thirteen-year-old Patch, the pirate who saves a wealthy classmate from a serial killer and goes missing instead, and his best friend Saint, the beekeeper. The morning that she lost her bees, The one-eyed pirate Patch is kidnapped. Saint can’t believe Patch would just give up and die, so she tries with everything to find him. 
 
 
Over the next 25 years, we watch as America goes through changing times, and the effect that has on the people in Monta Clare. This is not only a thriller/mystery, but of a wonderful coming of age story.  It kept me enthralled until the last sentence. Oh and that sentence…wow.

This was quite the saga - with beautiful themes of love and redemption and humanity. The length was intimidating, and at times, I felt there could have been tighter editing. But overall, the characters were engrossing and the story propulsive.

All the Colors of the Dark is a luminous, sweeping, multi-generational literary mystery. At a whopping 600 pages, I was hooked from the first line to the last, and this is a new all-time favorite.

Our story begins in 1975 in the small town of Monta Clare, Missouri, where girls are disappearing. When a young boy named Patch saves a girl from her would-be abductor, he sets off a chain of events that will impact the lives of everyone around him.

This book is very, very hard to review without giving away parts of the plot that I just really don't want to give away. What I will say is that the characters in this story, especially Patch and Saint, will stick with me for the rest of my life. They just feel like real people to me. Whitaker's prose is so vivid and evocative that I felt like I could see Monta Clare, and the thousands of miles from there that our characters travel. Whitaker also clearly believes that we are smart enough to put the pieces together without needing everything spelled out for us. I was fully immersed in their world.

This book isn't just a thriller - it's a deeply emotional journey that explores the endurance of the human spirit. The relationships described in this story cracked my heart wide open and brought tears to my eyes on multiple occasions. I would compare the feeling I had here to the one I had when I read Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow - this is not a traditional love story, but it is a love story nonetheless.

All The Colors of the Dark is a literary masterpiece that transcends genres. Chris Whitaker has created a story that is both thrilling and deeply moving, with characters that will stay with you long after the final page. This is a novel that demands to be read, shared, and remembered. I cannot recommend it highly enough.

Thanks so much to Crown Publishing for the review copy in exchange for my honest review.

This 600-page story is quite the saga, spanning from the 1970s to present day. It follows a boy named Patch, his best friend Saint, and the found family in their orbit. One day Patch sees Misty, a popular girl from school, being abducted in the woods. He helps her get free and gets abducted himself.

I don’t want to give too much away, because once the story is set up you really get sucked into finding out how the years pass. There’s a serial killer story line that propels the story and makes the pages turn faster near the end. There’s love and mystery and friendship and so much heart in this book. I finished it last week and am still thinking about the characters.

Pick this one up - this will be on Book Of The Year lists for sure. It has a 4.6 rating on Goodreads and is already a Read With Jenna choice.

Thank you to NetGalley and Crown Publishing for a digital ARC of this book in exchange for my honest review.

After Patch saves his classmate by thwarting a kidnapper and ends up kidnapped himself, his best friend Saint goes to the ends of the earth to find him. This sparks a trail of missing girls and what happened to them. Spanning 25 years, we follow Patch and Saint on a quest to solve the mystery while healing their own trauma.
If you like Christ Whitaker, you will like this novel. This is a mystery but also a tale of friendship, love and loss. One of my favorite reads so far for the year.
Thank you to Crown Publishing and Netgalley for this ARC.

Another CW book that I just won't be able to stop thinking about. He has a way of interwtining each and every one of his characters in a way that is beautiful and unexpected. Can't wait to see it adapted to TV!

3.5 stars. I’m an outlier on this book. There are many rave reviews, and all are valid. There is a lot of beauty and heartache in the way this story was written and the way it all plays out. For me, it just didn’t strike the same chord as ‘We Begin at the End’ did.

I struggled to connect with the characters, and I think it’s because the writing is so raw and full-bodied that I could feel the pain and didn’t want to allow myself to attach deeply to it. It felt dark and oppressing, which is a testament to the author’s talent. It’s a book I may want to revisit when I’m in a place to appreciate the entire saga of it in a more complete way.

Thank you to NetGalley and Crown Publishing for the eARC in exchange for an honest review.

How have I missed Chris Whitaker? This book has it all. Its a love story, a historical look at the seventies on, a serial killer thriller, a mystery. Place and character rich, descriptions are vivid and characters are driven. So much appeals about this story that I could go on. But really just read this book if you like smart books that make you Fall in love with strong characters. Clever and suspenseful. A must read for 2024! Can't wait to read more by this author.

Copy provided by the publisher and Netgalley

Wow - long books can be daunting but I did not want this one to end! Patch and Saint are childhood friends and I’d even call them misfits, and both come from non-traditional families in a small but tight knit community. Patch only has one eye and portrays himself as a pirate while Saint is an introvert who keeps bees and sells the honey. When young girls start disappearing, Patch happens to stop his childhood crush from being kidnapped and instead is kidnapped himself. Saint will stop at nothing to find him and this tragedy propels the lives of the 2 friends, their families, the police chief and the girl he saved into decades of journeys that could be dangerous mentally and physically. Chris Whitaker brings the characters to life and reminds us of the good and the bad in people and the sacrifices we will make for the people we love. This book is not the traditional thriller I usually read but includes a variety of my favorite story elements including a serial killer, police investigation, lots of suspense, romance and family heartbreak with so many twists and turns that it was truly hard to put down and to stop thinking about. I was truly sad to see it end although anxious to find out the ending. I absolutely loved this book!

Thank you to NetGalley and Crown Publishing for the Avanced Reader copy! #AlltheColorsoftheDark #NetGalley

"All the Colors the Dark” by Chris Whitaker is a masterful blend of suspense, emotion, and narrative power. Set against the backdrop of a changing America in 1975, the novel captures the essence of a nation grappling with the end of the Vietnam War and the cultural shifts of the era.

The story unfolds in the small town of Monta Clare, Missouri, where the disappearance of local girls stirs fear and mystery. Amidst this turmoil, an unlikely hero emerges: Patch, a one-eyed local boy whose act of bravery brings both salvation and sorrow. Saint and Patch meet and become sure friends, although outsiders and far from popular, they are unique to each other and loyal. The incident of Patch's bravery will shape their lives and their friendship for years to come. Both will see their lives and relationship to each other irrevocably changed. Patch will embark on an unrelenting search for the truth while Saint will go on and forge a career.

Whitaker weaves a complex tapestry of characters and themes, exploring the depths of devotion, obsession, and love. The novel is not just a missing person mystery or a serial killer thriller; it’s also an epic love story that examines the light and shadows of human emotion. I connected to how much this novel showed that trauma does shape lives, how hope endures, and how love can remain despite a myriad of challenges. I found it both harrowing and triumphant, as Whitaker skillfully melds tense suspense with a powerful exploration of the human spirit. The emotional depth here affected me in a way I won't soon forget.

“All the Colors of the Dark” is a novel that resonates with the heartache and hope of its characters. It’s a poignant reminder of the fine line between triumph and tragedy and the enduring power of hope that guides us through the darkest times. I found it to be a testament to Whitaker’s ability to craft a story that is both thrilling and deeply moving. It’s a book that will stay with you long after you’ve turned the last page, reflecting the complexity of the human condition.

Thank you to NetGalley and Crown Publishing for the ebook ARC to enjoy before the book releases on 6/25.

I picked up this book knowing nothing about it except that it was written by Chris Whitaker. I read his last book (We Begin at the End) and really liked it, so that was all I needed to know to start this one.

Throughout the first 60% of this book, I was unsure if I liked it. The pacing is slow, the writing style is unique and I just could not decide if I liked it or not. But all of the sudden, at right about the 60% mark, I started liking the book. And by the end I REALLY liked it a lot! So despite a slow and uncertain start, this one came together at the end.

I actually felt like the story was wrapping up about 15-20% into the book. What on earth would happen next when it seemed like the whole plot was suddenly wrapped up! And then the story continued for decades. It was certainly an unpredictable book, and I really was just along for the ride to see where this story would (slowly) take me.

Whitaker does have a unique style of writing. This book felt like a riddle at times. As a reader, I needed to infer and read between the lines to figure out what was happening. Every chapter (and there are 240 chapters!) ended with a cliffhanger that was not immediately resolved in the next chapter leaving me wondering what was going on. The dialogue also felt like a puzzle. One character would talk, and the other character would reply with something that had nothing to do with what the first character said. And they would go on and on like this...many times throughout the book! It was odd and jarring at first but became almost endearing by the end.

This is a slow-burn mystery, and really the mystery takes a backseat to the characters. While there are some moments of suspense, it is a slow paced story. That's not a bad thing, but it's good to know that this is a slow and long (600 page) book that is meant to be savored and not one that you can rush through to the end.

Despite my uncertainty at the end, I would give this a solid 4 stars. It's a complex and layered story that made me think. It is also memorable and I don't think I will forget it any time soon. And the ending was satisfying...so much so that I might even bump up my rating to 4.5 stars!

Pack your patience and dive into this one. It's worth the effort!

In 2021, Chris Whitaker's We Begin at the End became one of my Best Reads of the year, and he's repeated himself with All the Colors of the Dark. Whitaker has a talent for creating compelling stories featuring exceptional thirteen-year-old outsiders. In this book, it's Joseph "Patch" Macauley, a boy who loves pirates, and his best friend, Saint Brown, who convinces her grandmother that she wants to become a beekeeper.

All the Colors of the Dark begins with Patch's traumatic rescue of a young girl being attacked by a serial killer and follows Patch, Saint, and others through to 2001. I think what grabs me most about Whitaker's writing is that he has such a gift for making me feel all the emotions of his characters, and sometimes that is exhausting.

I want to talk about this book for pages and pages, but I don't want to risk spoiling anything for anyone else. All the Colors of the Dark is part missing persons mystery, part serial killer thriller (in which the serial killer is more shadow than substance), and part love story. It's a tale of obsession, and-- above all-- a tale of hope.

Read it.