Breakaway Books

Authored by Chris Whitaker; Published June 2024; Thriller

⭐️⭐️⭐️ / 🏖️

All the Colors of the Dark is, again, a tome of a mystery, covering multiple decades and generations of townspeople. The intricate layering of the story is impressive—but I found the characters just a little too difficult to empathize with. 

All the Colors of the Dark follows Patch and Saint, two kids who are caught up in the pursuit of a serial killer after he kidnaps Patch, and Saint refuses to give up on getting him back. But once Patch is recovered, he can’t let go of the girl he was imprisoned with and goes on a decades-long quest to find her and many, many other missing girls.

The most enjoyable part of this novel was the slow unpeeling of all the town’s secrets as the true nature of the circumstances surrounding Patch’s kidnapping is discovered. The telling and re-telling of the crime continually shifts like a kaleidoscope in motion, until it feels impossible to know what truly happened. A deluge of clues was a delight to follow, laying the groundwork for the final reveal of the full truth. Without spoiling anything, suffice it to say that almost nothing is as it initially seems.

But for me, Patch was difficult to empathize with. Traumatized at a young age, he made choices that felt impossible to understand—abandoning all those who love him, time and time again, on a quest to find a person who never asked to be found. It felt delusional and at worst, self-indulgent. Saint, though clearly strong and persistent, somehow still seemed like a doormat at the strangest times. I kept wanting to shake her shoulders in the hope that she would take control of her life. Their dialogue throughout the novel felt out of step with their age and at times, a tad melodramatic.  

The concept of Patch’s art—where he painted a portrait of every missing girl he heard about in his search—did feel beautiful, and the comfort he was able to give to their families was, at times, heartwarming. But even his art could not shake him loose from his obsession with the woman with whom he was captured.

If you liked The God of the Woods, you could give this one a shot—it has a similarly epic span, even if the characters are less sympathetic.