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A review by happiestwhenreading
All the Colors of the Dark by Chris Whitaker
4.0
Let’s start with this: ultimately, I liked this book. There are some problematic things for me that kept it from being a big 5⭐️ read for me, but generally, overall, this one held my interest and kept me wanting to read.
The characters are brilliant. It reminded me of Duchess in Whitaker’s first book, We Begin At the End. Whitaker shines with his character development - they’re so well-written, they become unforgettable. He is also great at portraying characters that get “stuck” in life and all the ways they cycle through the traumatic event that changed them.
What doesn’t work for me with Whitaker is his writing style. For me, it’s disjointed and jarring. It’s so disappointing to me because he truly has flashes of brilliance layered between a writing style that forces me to focus so hard, I lose my steadiness in reading. I also feel like his pacing is off a lot of the times. The story will really start to get going, and then it will sllllooooowwww way down, and then punch the gas again. A more even flow would really benefit the experience. Also, for me, this one was maybe 200 pages too long. The middle definitely dragged for me and a tighter edit would have propelled this one forward.
This is definitely a book you don’t want to miss. It’s kind of a genre mash up that worked very well - literary mystery, serial killer thriller, platonic friendship, and nuanced between all of that galore. Just because it won’t be my top book of the year, didn’t mean it wasn’t worth my time! This one is definitely giving fall…so put it on your tbr asap!
The characters are brilliant. It reminded me of Duchess in Whitaker’s first book, We Begin At the End. Whitaker shines with his character development - they’re so well-written, they become unforgettable. He is also great at portraying characters that get “stuck” in life and all the ways they cycle through the traumatic event that changed them.
What doesn’t work for me with Whitaker is his writing style. For me, it’s disjointed and jarring. It’s so disappointing to me because he truly has flashes of brilliance layered between a writing style that forces me to focus so hard, I lose my steadiness in reading. I also feel like his pacing is off a lot of the times. The story will really start to get going, and then it will sllllooooowwww way down, and then punch the gas again. A more even flow would really benefit the experience. Also, for me, this one was maybe 200 pages too long. The middle definitely dragged for me and a tighter edit would have propelled this one forward.
This is definitely a book you don’t want to miss. It’s kind of a genre mash up that worked very well - literary mystery, serial killer thriller, platonic friendship, and nuanced between all of that galore. Just because it won’t be my top book of the year, didn’t mean it wasn’t worth my time! This one is definitely giving fall…so put it on your tbr asap!