Reviews with content warning for Religious bigotry - All the Colors of the Dark

WARNING: a VERY unexpected unpopular opinion review!!

Oh yes, this rating is not a mistake. I still can't believe it myself, but one of my most anticipated releases of 2024 and one I had already pencilled in as a 5 star read ended up being a VERY unexpected dud for me. I was SO excited to be buddy reading All The Colors Of The Dark with Nicki, and we both had high expectations for this book. To our surprise, both of us ended up struggling considerably with this story that so many people seem to love... It almost felt like we were reading a completely different story than everyone else, and I have to be honest here and say that I don't think I would have finished it if I had read it alone. Why did I struggle so much with All The Colors In The Dark then? I'll try to keep it brief, because I don't want to turn this shorties review in a full blown rant. Yes, it was THAT bad for me. Please don't shoot the messenger!

So, All The Colors In The Dark. I'm not sure if it was Fickle Freida ruining the day for me, but the fact is that both of us struggled considerably from the very beginning. I know that most people seem to love the writing, but for me personally it was just too flowery and it was hard to make proper sense of the sentences at times. This story is definitely more literary fiction than crime thriller; not something I expected and not a genre I usually enjoy. I know this reaction is very personal and I did become a bit more used to the writing style after a while, but I never warmed up to it and especially dialogues could be very frustrating. Why does everything have to be so incredibly vague?! I like surprises and twists in my stories, but in this case it felt like the author kept the reader in the dark until the very end, and even then things weren't cleared up in a proper way. And then I'm not even talking about the fact that you have to be able to suspend your disbelief a LOT, because there are so many situations that just don't make sense...

What more? Well, definitely the fact that All The Colors In The Dark is just so incredibly SLOW. I know that this is a character-driven story and those tend to be slower, but this was just glacial pace almost throughout. Directly linked to this is the fact that this story is just extremely overlong; it could have been cut in half and it would still be overlong for me. I think I would have enjoyed this story so much more as a crime thriller... But then again, literary fiction doesn't usually work for me in the first place. I wasn't a fan of the short chapters either, and to make things worse they jumped all over the place. Add a boatload of characters that I was never able to warm up to, probably partly due to the writing style and wonky dialogues, and it was a struggle to keep reading. Sure, I'll say that I did like Saint and Patch initially, but only before Patch was kidnapped. Afterwards, their behavior started to frustrate me more and more, and I wasn't a fan of how everyone seems to be enabling Patch's behavior. And then I haven't even mentioned the focus on religion in part of the plot... And the fact that the ending itself was mainly confusing and utterly not worth the time we invested to finish it despite our struggles. I'm so glad we buddy read it with Nicki though, because we could compare and talk through our frustrations on Twitter. It took us ages to get through this story, but mostly because we couldn't really stomach more than a dozen or so chapters each day... And it is honestly a miracle we even finished it.

Yikes, this review ended up being a rant after all... As you might have already guessed, All The Colors Of The Dark and me REALLY didn't get along. I'm still shocked myself, because I absolutely loved his previous book We Begin At The End... But this story most definitely wasn't my cup of tea.

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beate251's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

This is an epic, sweeping story spanning almost 30 years and has as many characters. To give a synopsis is almost impossible but I will try. It all begins in 1975, when teenager Joseph "Patch" Macauley rescues popular Misty Meyer from a kidnapper but gets snatched instead.

Against all the odds, he is found a year later by his friend Saint Brown. But he is not the same anymore, and he can't stop talking about a girl called Grace who periodically shared his cell and kept him sane by sharing knowledge and travel stories. Police Chief Nix and others think his mind has conjured her up as a means to stay sane but Patch dedicates his life to finding her again. Under the guidance of his mentor Sammy he paints her and other missing girls, many who turn up dead later.

There is definitely a serial killer on the loose but no one can catch him. Patch is in a relationship with Misty for a while, then starts wandering the country, visiting parents of missing girls and now and then robbing banks, only to give the money to charities that look for missing persons.

Saint grows up to become a police officer and she never lets go of finding Patch's abductor - and Grace. When Patch turns Robin Hood it sets them on a collision course, but they will never stop being friends, having each other's back.

When I say I read this in one sitting and you look at the page count you will surmise that I must have lost sleep at night. Yes, massively, but I couldn't stop. The chapters are so short, just one or two pages long that it was easy to simply read "just one more chapter".

But I am deducting points for the length because I think a good author should be able to get a story done within about 400 pages. There were definitely passages that dragged and were repetitive.

I also couldn't understand that it took decades for the serial killer to be found and the mystery of Grace solved. Saint had so many recordings of Patch giving her information and they knew who they were looking for, her not finding the right info earlier felt absurd. A man nearly died under the vile death penalty, for goodness sake!

This is the story of many traumas. This is the story of a pirate and a beekeeper, of a man who touched so many lives, and in the end they came through for him. This is a story of second chances, of friendships and of never giving up. Impressive stuff.

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literary_liv's review

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adventurous dark emotional funny mysterious reflective sad tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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astoriareader's review

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emotional funny hopeful mysterious reflective tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

SYNOPSIS

We get to follow the lives of Patch & Saint over a 25 year span, namely from 1976-2001.
We start in the small town of Monta Clare, Missouri. Patch & Saint are young & friends, and they only have each other. They are outsiders & don’t really fit in with everyone else at school. One day, Patch saves a girl, Misty, from being taken by a man in the woods. In the process of saving Misty, Patch is taken himself.
I don’t want to spoil more, so I will leave it at the story follows Patch & Saint for 25 years and how they intertwine.

MY THOUGHTS

At 608 pages, this book may be intimidating to some, but the chapters are all short & digestible. It’s a slow burn, but a big payoff. Worth the read. Very satisfying ending.
The book is a mix of genres and topics - mystery, literary fiction, love story/romance, thriller, missing girls, coming of age, & even some mentions of historical events.
The characters are so deep, complex, & vividly captured. One of the best character studies I have ever read.
Loved the exploration of loyalty, trauma, courage, vulnerability, family (ones you are born into & ones you make along the way), friendship, hope, grief, guilt, the different kinds of love, & more that I am missing.
A masterpiece. The plot & characters are expertly woven together. Whitaker is clearly an expert storyteller. It all flows so well. Excellent pacing.
Gorgeous, poetic prose. Not sure how I haven’t read any of Whitaker’s books before, but can’t wait to get his other ones.

TL;DR: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️it’s only September, but this is one of the best books of 2024. one of my new favorites of all time.

Content Warnings

ladybug12793's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional mysterious sad slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

This had so much potential to be at five star read, but it was overly drawn out over decades. Not the typical mystery thriller. 300 pages could have been omitted easily. The writing itself was beautiful and heartbreaking but a lot of it was unnecessary. I literally read 18 books in between finishing this book because I kept having to set it down because I got so bored. I almost DNF’ed too many times to count

This is by far SLOWWWW paced FYI.

Also, saint deserves sooo much better. Disappointing. Didn’t even end how I hoped. And Patch and Grace didn’t even end up together. It’s super unrealistic that the doctor stayed in prison for 20 years and allowed himself to almost be put to death for a crime he didn’t even commit because of HIPAA that doesn’t even come into account since the patient was dead. Also there’s mandatory reporting for rape, especially statutory rape as healthcare workers. Moronic.

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katharina90's review against another edition

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dark emotional mysterious sad slow-paced

Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated

4.5

This book wrecked me. Entirely and absolutely.

It's the slowest paced thriller I've ever read, but the short chapters paired with a writing style that leaves you guessing did add a certain level of thrill.

I loved the complex, flawed characters and their relationships with one another. It's a heartbreaking but beautiful story. Many plot twists, some of which I really didn't see coming.

There's a lot going on in this book--maybe a little too much, maybe it's longer than it needed to be--but overall, it was a captivating and moving read.

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