Kirkus Review: Best Fiction Books of 2024
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Sign up todayAll the Colors of the Dark
Narrator
Edoardo Ballerini
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Length
14 hours 34 minutes
Language
English
Bookseller recommendation
“This mystery/thriller is also an epic love story. It is my number one book of 2024 and possibly of all time. When I wasn’t reading it, I was thinking about it. It was an action packed story of bravery, resilience and sacrifice. This was a deeply emotional journey with the complex characters that will stay with you long after the book ends. I was left in tears and will always remember this book. ”
— Sandra • Underground Books
Bookseller recommendation
“All the Colors of the Dark follows Patch and Saint, two childhood best friends who endure some serious traumas in childhood...and adulthood. Those traumas inform every life decision moving forward. This story is about loyalty, love, loss, and what lengths a person would go to in order to keep a secret. And so much more. Intense, fast-paced, scary, addictive. My new favorite book of 2024. I listened to this book and the narrator was fantastic.”
— Liz • The Well-Read Moose
Bookseller recommendation
“Riveting read from the first page to the last! Couldn’t stop listening! ”
— Jen • The Literary Cat Co.
Bookseller recommendation
“This book easily slid into my top five. A must read. ”
— Bobbi • Buffalo Books
Bookseller recommendation
“This is one of the best books I've read in 2024! Fast-paced thriller, accessible prose. Understated beauty and dramatic turns. Not overwrought!”
— Angela • True Leaves
Bookseller recommendation
“All the Colors of the Dark is unlike any novel I have ever read. It is a beautifully written epic literary drama that spans decades. It is a character study that paints a picture of each person, so you feel like you have known them forever. It is a coming-of-age story. It is a thriller about a serial killer. It is a hauntingly beautiful love story. But most of all it is a story about obsession and how it takes over everything. It is at times heart wrenching, but it will also at times make you laugh. And you will never forget the story of Patch and Saint.”
— Nancy • Fiction Addiction
Bookseller recommendation
“Wow! This thriller grabs you and keeps you in suspense to the very end, with intriguing back-stories, missing persons, acts of heroism and a mystery about whether a boy’s memory is real or a hallucination. I loved the friendship between Patch, a heroic boy and Saint, a girl who is a creative survivor and the way it sustains them when the unthinkable happens in their town. What a page turner! ”
— Patience • Underground Books
Bookseller recommendation
“Heartbreaking and loving all at once, this gripping and fast paced thriller drew me in from page one. Silence of the Lambs meets My Girl with it's simultaneous horror and found family in 1970s Missouri. I couldn't put it down, and I'm not sure to forget it any time soon!”
— Yvonne • Author's Note
Bookseller recommendation
“Twists and turns right up until the end! Chris Whitaker is great at making me stay up way too late, to see what happens. ”
— Marisa • Chapter One Book Store
Bookseller recommendation
“Ready to feel all the feelings? Because this story has ALL of them, including excellent twists and a pervasive mystery that will have you listening non-stop. All the Colors of the Dark weaves the story of multiple characters affected by a single, dark event throughout time, and follows each as they grapple with trauma, grief, and endless hope. This is one of my favourite reads of the year! ”
— Baylee • Daisy Chain Book Co.
Bookseller recommendation
“If you love staying up past bedtime, you’ll love this book! A mystery full of twists and turns that leaves you guessing right up until the end. Full of well thought out characters who will win your attention and your heart. ”
— Marisa Neyenhuis • Chapter One Book Store
Bookseller recommendation
“My favorite book of 2024! Can’t wait to read it again!”
— Shannan • Bookish Modesto
Summary
NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • 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
The Boston Globe’s #1 Thriller/Mystery of 2024 So Far
A Washington Post and Kirkus Reviews Best Book of the Year
“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 (Best New Books)
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.
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Audiobook details
Author:
Chris Whitaker
Narrator:
Edoardo Ballerini
ISBN:
9780593943335
Length:
14 hours 34 minutes
Language:
English
Publisher:
Penguin Random House Audio Publishing Group
Publication date:
June 25, 2024
Edition:
Unabridged
Libro.fm rank:
#25 Overall
Genre rank:
#6 in Fiction - Literary
Reviews
“All the Colors of the Dark kept me reading until 2:30 a.m.—the turns just kept coming. This is literary fiction that works as a crime thriller. The deadpan humor is pitch-perfect, the plot cinematic.”—Boston Globe“Breathless . . . the story ripples out, spanning decades and perspectives, to consider how one moment transforms the lives of a little boy and the people who love him.”—The Washington Post
“Sure to bring suspense to the beach!”—US Weekly
“Melds tense suspense with a powerful exploration of devotion, obsession, and love.”—People
“This book hits like a sledgehammer. Equal parts harrowing and triumphant, Chris Whitaker's novel is a haunting story of America, alternating between its twin strands of violence and love. An absolutely must-read novel.”—Gillian Flynn
“All the Colors of the Dark is a hypnotic tale. . . . What is truly amazing about this novel is its ongoing sense of heart and tenacity as a small group of individuals makes their way through the world.”—The Anniston Star
“This novel grabbed me, held me and seeped into my soul in a way few books have. An instant modern classic.”—KMUW, NPR Kansas
“All the Colors of the Dark will appeal to those who have loved To Kill a Mockingbird, The Catcher in the Rye, and F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby. . . . This novel commands the same attention and appreciation as those as [Whitaker] unfolds this crime, love, three-generational saga. . . . Smooth, descriptive drama holds the reader captive with the unexpected through the very last page.”—OKC Friday
“Chris Whitaker kept me frantically turning the pages and somehow made me cry at the end. . . . Brava!”—Kristin Hannah, #1 New York Times bestselling author
“Engrossing, heartbreaking and uplifting in equal measure—I’ve never read anything quite like it. This book will stay with you for a very long time.”—Lucy Foley, #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Paris Apartment
“Chris Whitaker’s latest novel is a book to lose yourself in. . . . [T]his sprawling crime novel transcends its genre to become something epic in scope, haunting, and ultimately deeply moving.”―Alex Michaelides, bestselling author of The Silent Patient and The Fury
“All the Colors of the Dark is mesmerizing and intoxicating. Chris Whitaker is a poet who will leave you in breathless awe and suspense. Amazing. Haunting. Unforgettable.”—Patricia Cornwell
“I’m bereft at having finished this epic story of love and loss. Profoundly emotional and powerful, I savored every beautifully written word. I can’t recommend this highly enough.”―B. A. Paris, New York Times bestselling author of The Therapist and Behind Closed Doors
“Taut, beguiling, and suspenseful, All the Colors of the Dark reveals the depth of a town’s loss when a young boy goes missing under dubious circumstances.”—Nita Prose, #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Maid and The Mystery Guest
“This is much more than a whodunit, though it fills that bill well. It is also a richly layered tale of love, loss, and hope.”―Kirkus Reviews, starred review
“With deeply affecting characters and ambition to spare, Whitaker has conjured a dazzling epic that defies easy categorization.”—Publishers Weekly, starred review Expand reviews
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