2025 is off to a good start in terms of my reading. Chris Whitaker’s All the Colors of the Dark is a very slow-burn story about missing girls and a serial killer. Some people might not like how slowly the story moves along, but I think this novel is great and I spent a lazy Sunday afternoon powering through this book to its satisfying conclusion.

All the Colors of the Dark begins in 1975 in the small town of Monta Clare, Missouri, where a thirteen-year-old boy named Patch saves the popular girl at school from being kidnapped just to be kidnapped himself. Patch’s best friend, Saint, does not give up hope that Patch will be found and spends the next year hounding the local police and conducting her own investigation into his disappearance. That is all I am going to say about the plot because I do not want to spoil the tension if you decide to read this novel yourself.

All the Colors of the Dark has an interesting mystery at its core, but it is really about the characters and the story wends its way through decades of the characters’ lives as they deal with the fallout of Patch’s kidnapping. It is a story about how obsession affects people’s lives and how people are willing to do anything for those that they love. You must know by now how much I love character-driven stories and All the Colors of the Dark is a fascinating study in character. I was so engrossed in the story that I temporarily forgot about the serial killer and wondered if the novel would resolve that part of the story, but rest assured, the novel wraps everything up nicely.

As much as I enjoyed All the Colors of the Dark, it is not without it flaws. Certain aspects of the story are too contrived and clichéd, but this novel kept surprising me all the way to the end, and each time something was revealed, it made complete sense when I looked back on the story and realized the writer had scattered little clues throughout. I highly recommend All the Colors of the Dark if you like mysteries.