All the Colors of the Dark

By Chris Whitaker

ONE OF THE NEW YORK TIMES’S 50 BEST THRILLERS OF THE CENTURY • NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • OVER ONE MILLION COPIES SOLD • From the author of We Begin at the End comes a soaring thriller and an epic love story that “hits like a sledgehammer . . . an absolutely must-read novel” (Gillian Flynn, author of Gone Girl). Read with Jenna Book Club Pick as Featured on Today A Best Book of the Year: Washington Post, She Reads, Kirkus Reviews “Kept me frantically turning the pages and somehow made me cry at the end . . . Brava!”—Kristin Hannah, author of The Women “Melds tense suspense with a powerful exploration of devotion, obsession, and love.”—People 1975 is a time of change in America. The Vietnam War is ending. Muhammad Ali is fighting Joe Frazier. And in the smalltown 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.

BUY THE BOOK

Published Jun 25, 2024

Average rating: 7.75

3,711 RATINGS

|

|

BOOK TALK
Join a book club that is reading All the Colors of the Dark!

Fibre and Fiction

An online, read what you want bookclub, especially for crafters of all types to craft and chat.

Beerded Cork Book Club

Our brand new club launches on Wednesday, February 4, 2026, and we’d love you to be a part of it! We’ll be meeting on the first Wednesday each month!

Community Reviews

What Bookclubbers are saying about this book

✨ Summarized by Bookclubs AI

Readers say *All the Colors of the Dark* is a richly written, deeply emotional, character-driven novel with complex, flawed people and satisfying, unp...

Inventorchemist
8/10 stars
Chris Whitaker has an incredible talent for writing prose. His rich and complex descriptions of characters and scenes filled all of my five senses with the satisfaction of a 5-course meal at a Michelin-rated restaurant. This story was exceedingly well told and fitted intricately together like a Swiss watch. Further, his vocabulary sent me seeking the meanings of numerous words in an attempt to expand my knowledge of the beautiful English language.

Further, I listened to this story with Audible, which was narrated by the unbelievably talented Edoardo Ballerini, whose voice renderings fill your head and heart like the sounds of nature in an old virgin forest being explored for the first time on a spring day.

I very much wanted to give this book 5 stars, but I couldn’t for two reasons:
(1.) In my humble opinion, the book was unnecessarily long at about 600 pages and could have been shortened into a much more satisfying portion. This probably speaks more to my impatience as an American and an only child rather than to the excellence of this wonderful work.
(2.) this genre is honestly not my favorite genre – at the first sign of romance, boredom sets in for me.

If I could give it 4.5 stars, I would, but sadly, I must be satisfied with 4 stars. That being said, if you love romance (and most Goodreads readers seem to be romance lovers!) then this will likely be a 5-star book for you.
Rlouise
9/10 stars
That’s a great description. On point
CeLynasings
10/10 stars
I always loved the movie Forest Grump because of how they interjected real timelines and events into the story. This was such a beautifully written book that you truly could see all the colors in the dark. The twist, turns and heartfelt moments allowed me to feel every word the characters spoke and picture them as if I knew them.
MandiCole11
8/10 stars
4.5
The story itself is easily 5⭐️ for me. The trouble was the length and some of the pacing. I can't give an overall rating of 5 to a book that at some points I feel like I'm trudging through or wanting to skim. That's not to say it isn't worth reading - I'm glad I read it. But it is a long-form character driven mystery. Beautiful, but long.
boyleschris
Barb's recommendation