Happy new year! We are back with our first review of 2025. So far, I have been a very slow reader this year. Life has been a bit too busy to find the time, but I am getting my butt in gear. For this year’s reading goal, I’ve decided to try and read 48 books, which seems possible since I read 65 last year. And I’m up to 4 books so far, so we shall see how it goes. Anywho, my first review/read of the year is Chris Whitaker’s All the Colors of the Dark. And as a Canadian, not using that “u” is really driving me crazy! To accompany this month’s review, I made an Away Colors cocktail.
Away Colors Recipe
2oz Añejo Rum
0.5oz Fernet-Branca
0.5oz Banana Liqueur
0.75oz Honey*
1 twist Orange
*this is an optional ingredient.
In a shaker with ice, add all ingredients and shake. Strain into a rocks glass filled with ice, garnish, and enjoy!
This cocktail was interesting. It started off hectic with my local liquor store out of añejo rum so I used white rum, then my husband accidentally bought 99 proof banana liqueur instead of regular banana liqueur. So for me, this cocktail was very boozy and not good at all. It tasted like ethyl alcohol with the slightest hint of banana.
But I decided to go and get the proper ingredients to be able to give actual comments. And I still found this one not good. It was less lighter-fluid, but still very bitter with the Fernet Branca overpowering the drink. I hoped the honey would cut that a bit and add some sweetness, but no such luck. Speaking of, this month I added honey as my special ingredient. Honey was a pretty easy choice for this novel. A small chunk of the novel focuses on beekeeping and honey is mentioned dozens of times, as well. So, it seemed the obvious choice and I had hoped in it making this cocktail more palatable for me. But alas no. However, if you like a more bitter drink this one may still be for you!
All the Colors of the Dark Synopsis
(from book cover)
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.
Review
“Why do we hold on to the bad things and forget the good?”
Wow! We have started the year off SO well. I loved this novel. All the Colors of the Dark is a lengthy, character-driven mystery that pulls at the heartstrings and grips you until the end. I strangely don’t have much to say about this one other than it’s great. It’s funny that the books I enjoy are the harder reviews to write. But with that out of the way, I am ready to get into this short and sweet review.
I’ll start by saying this book is long. I was worried going in that my big complaint would be that it was far longer than it needed to be, as I typically think mysteries should be max 400 pages. But All the Colors of the Dark isn’t just a mystery, and I found it to be a quick read despite the page count. I was so entranced with the characters and their lives that I couldn’t put the book down and finished in only 3 days. There were some parts that felt a bit slow, but overall the extremely short chapters (often only 2-3 pages) helped make this novel feel shorter than it was. I’ve seen a lot of other reviews that say the opposite as what I found with this one, so always just keep in mind that reading is subjective.
As mentioned above, this novel is heavily character driven, which isn’t always the case for mysteries. And I loved how Whitaker used this way of storytelling to slowly peel back the layers of the mystery and bring it to the light. And the mystery itself was so intriguing! I wanted to know what happened and how everything would play out so badly that I did sometimes want the book to be shorter if only to know what happened sooner. But I did, unfortunately, figure out most of the mystery. I still really enjoyed the reveal and the end, but I felt there were enough clues to solve it relatively easily.
The characters are the real shining light in All the Colors of the Dark. I think this is probably one of the best examples of a well-done character-driven novel that I’ve done for this website. The main characters are so deeply fleshed out and unique. They really stood out to me and made me feel, as a reader, that I could understand their intentions, thoughts, and feelings. Apart from the main characters, the side characters are equally well done. Every single character in this novel has a unique voice and perspective. And I genuinely found myself caring about every character that we get connected to.
My final comment for this one is that the the writing is incredible. It can be a little flowery at times, but not in an overly pretentious way, in my opinion. I’ve seen some complaints online about how confusing some sentences were, but I personally never struggled with understanding Whitaker’s prose or the intention in his words. So again, just be mindful of that critique and make your own judgements.
On that note, my biggest issue was with some editing errors. There were quite a few grammar mistakes that bothered me, but the biggest issue was with a name change for a character who is only in 5 paragraphs. But these types of mistakes aren’t a huge deal and didn’t ruin the novel at all for me. And Whitaker did mention in the author’s note that grammar isn’t his strong suit and thanked someone for making sure he didn’t name multiple characters the same name, so at least he’s self-aware and we can kind of see where the problems arose.
Another small issue was that one plot point felt really Forrest Gump-y to me. I won’t go into more detail for spoiler reasons, but again this isn’t a huge problem I just think it’s worth mentioning. And my final negative for this novel is that it lacked diversity. This isn’t higher on the list of negatives solely because the bulk of this novel takes place in very small town America in the 1970s. So, I understand where the lack of diversity is coming from and I’m glad the author didn’t force diversity in in a non-meaningful way. But I still feel he could have incorporated more diverse characters somehow.
And the final thing I’ll mention is that I, personally, would not consider All the Colors of the Dark a thriller, which is how I’ve seen it described online. So, definitely be aware that it is more crime drama than thriller going in. Also, there are a lot of trigger warnings that come with this novel, so be aware that child assault, sexual assault, and abortion are big topics in this novel.
But with all that said and done, I really loved this novel. All the Colors of the Dark was a dark story with bits of light, or colour if you will, sprinkled through. I absolutely recommend reading this one this year! And I am nervous that the rest of the novels I read for the blog this year won’t compare. But hopefully we get some more great ones! And as always, try out the cocktail… I guess?
My Rating:
Thanks for reading! And, if you read the book or try the cocktail let me know in a comment or on Instagram. Also, if you haven’t yet read my previous reviews, I recommend reading We Begin at the End, The Heaven and Earth Grocery Store, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow if you liked this one!
Teghann
If you enjoyed this review please like or comment. Also, if you’d like to be notified of new posts subscribe below. Or, to be a bigger part of the community head to @bartenderwithabook on Instagram!