“All the Colours of the Dark” by Chris Whitaker is an arresting combination of thriller, romance, and crime story. Despite the tome’s substantial length of around 600 pages, Whitaker’s narrative style brings a cinematic pace to the story, transitioning smoothly across genres.
The complex protagonist of the story, Joseph ‘Patch’ McAuley, was born with just one eye. His mother Ivy chose to sculpt a romantic image for him, associating his condition with a swashbuckling pirate adorned with a cutlass and an eye patch, in an attempt to soften the harsh reality of their existence. There were moments however, when Patch could see Ivy looking at him with a sense of personal failure.
Patch’s only confidant is Saint Brown, a wise and mature young girl who understood early on that wealth doesn’t equate to sophistication and that vigorous anger does not signify strength. The narrative takes a dark twist when Patch is kidnapped from their tiny Missouri hometown and held captive for 307 days along with a girl named Grace. Upon his eventual escape, courtesy of Saint, Grace has vanished without a trace. Haunted by her absence, Patch resolves to find Grace by any means necessary, telling Saint that he’ll stop at nothing in his quest, ready to reduce everything in his path to ashes without a backward glance.
However, this is merely the beginning of a multilayered tale that stretches from 1975 to 2001, chronicling Patch’s nation-wide search for Grace, while a tenacious and clever Saint follows his trail. Whitaker’s previous books, including the 2020 award-winning bestseller “We Begin at the End”, echo similar themes, where past traumas inform adult decisions.
Whitaker himself has led a life saturated with trauma. As a child, he endured physical abuse from his mother’s partner, was mugged and stabbed at nineteen, and lost a staggering £1 million from his job as a stockbroker in his twenties. His employers decided not to pursue legal action, allowing him instead to pay off the debt through work. He started writing as a form of therapeutic escape, which later blossomed into a successful career.
Whitaker’s compelling “All the Colours of the Dark” offers more than just an intriguing storyline, vivid locations and unforgettable characters. If you’re a fan of Jason Moon’s Bear Brook podcast or Barbara Kingsolver’s Demon Copperhead, you’ll likely find particular enjoyment in this book.