A Quick Note On This Review: This article includes affiliate links to Bookshop.org as a way of supporting both local bookshops and my own ability to write.
In 1975, three children’s lives converge in the woods in a way none of them expect. Patch, a kid whose single eye and affinity for pirates makes him an outcast at school, sees a man attacking Misty, a popular girl from school, and intervenes. Patch gets abducted by the man attacking Misty instead, and his disappearance kicks off a hunt by Patch’s best friend and fellow outcast, Saint. Saint eventually finds Patch, freeing him, but Patch’s imprisonment leads him on a hunt for Grace, someone who he met in captivity, but seems to have disappeared the moment he was free.
All the Colors of the Dark by Chris Whitaker is a story that was a bit of surprise; it started with a strong focus on a traumatic event and built a tense situation around it, so much so that Whitaker could have left the story precisely at the point where Patch was freed from captivity; it would have had a sound logic behind the storytelling, fitting cleanly within the traditions of crime thrillers, if a little short for a true novel of the genre. However, Whitaker takes the story in a unique direction beyond the stereotypical close of the story rather than allowing it to remain a more traditional tale.
The novel is more or less two kinds of stories rolled into one. It goes through a slow-down following Patch’s rescue, but once it gets past that, All the Colors of the Dark begins a different kind of story, focused on the aftermath of a traumatic event and the ways it leaves scars on both the people who were most directly involved and the people who love them. Patch and Misty are the most logical people to be impacted, but Whitaker takes things further with an exploration of Saint’s life after the event, and the broader community to some extent. This shift of focus turns what starts as a thriller novel into a literary fiction story about the psychological motivations of people who aren’t fully in control of their own circumstances.
For casual readers, All the Colors of the Dark is most likely to appeal to anyone who likes crime dramas that aren’t focused on blood and gore, as well as anyone who enjoys the psychological impacts of crime on a person and their community. The characters Whitaker renders are engaging, but perhaps what’s most interesting about them is that they manage to build tension around whether Patch really met Grace, which can add a layer of enjoyment for those who enjoy a good mystery.
For writers, Whitaker’s book offers the chance to learn how to meld literary and thriller genres into a unique hybrid with a cast of characters and social norms that creates tension in unexpected ways. Any writer that’s looking to create tension within their story would do well to read All the Colors of the Dark, since it takes advantage of unique devices that don’t rely on uncanny occurrences or strange signs to drive it forward; instead, Whitaker is able to take the reader through all the ways our own minds can work against our very perception of self and reality.
If you’re interested in reading the book and want to support local bookstores as well as my work, consider using this affiliate link: All the Colors of the Dark.
What’s Next?
I am an avid reader and have quite a few thoughts on how some books could benefit both people that want to be entertained and those looking to sharpen their literary skills.
If you’re interested in finding out more about what I’ve been reading – and how it could benefit you – I will be publishing those thoughts on a weekly basis. Check back next week for a discussion of Rachel Gillig’s One Dark Window!
The Writerly Review 