All the Colors of the Dark

I went into “All the Colors of the Dark” by Chris Whitaker thinking it was a mystery or thriller which for the most part, it absolutely isn’t.

“Colors” basically is the story of Patch, a one-eyed boy who helps a girl about to be abducted, and is abducted himself in the process. During his incarceration in absolute darkness, he’s joined by a girl, Grace, with whom he shares a year in captivity. He’s never going to get over her.

»“I carved our initials in the oak tree by the graveyard,” he said.

“Defacing nature for me, be still my beating heart,” she said, biting her lip to keep back her smile.«

On the other hand, there’s Saint, a girl Patch’s age and his best friend. Even though she is a teenager when she meets Patch, it quickly becomes clear that Saint loves Patch boundlessly and unconditionally. After Patch’s abduction, Saint investigates tirelessly until she finds him.

»To love and be loved was more than could ever be expected, more than enough for a thousand ordinary lifetimes.«

This could have been the point at which a novella might have ended with a happily-ever-after for Saint and Patch. “Colors”, though, is not that kind of novel. Instead, it moves on to show how things evolve from this point: Saint going on to become a police officer, join the FBI, and, finally, returning to her hometown becoming the new chief of police - and hunting Patch.

Patch is obsessed and as deeply in love with Grace as Saint is with him. He never ceases searching for her and other missing girls, painting their portraits with obsession and artistic merit that, ultimately, make him rich and famous. His obsession, though, frequently brings Patch into conflict with the law and so Saint does her utmost to be the one hunting for him, in order to bring him in safely.

Chris Whitaker tells a striking tale over decades during which we follow not only Saint and Patch but also their friends and relatives for whom the many twists and turns at times become as difficult as for the reader.

While the story is, without exception, always captivating and engagingly told in short, punchy chapters, there are some elements that made me roll my eyes, thinking “Was that really necessary?!”. (A certain vet at a zoo comes to mind…)

The story, at times, also slows down significantly to the point at which I wished for a bolder editor.

Amusingly, though, just like the novel I read before this, “Colors”’s messages are what made this novel work for me. Not least among them:

»[The objectors to legally sanctioned murder] would fall silent for those ten minutes when their government carried out one murder in vengeance for another.«

At times, the story is weighed down with strong pathos:

»Nix sat alone in the far corner, smiled when she met his eye, though in his she saw a hollow that dampened the stained glass, the triforium, the clerestory of color.«

Never in my life have I read “triforium” or “clerestory” before; no wonder, there are about 0.1 and 0.3 occurrences per million words respectively in modern written English according to the Oxford English Dictionary. I was not a fan of that.

Beyond the few twists and turns too many, though, I still really enjoyed “Colors” and basically didn’t want to put it down.

Four stars out of five.

Ceterum censeo Putin esse delendam