Published in 2024, All the Colors of the Dark is Chris Whitaker’s fifth novel. Whitaker is a New York Times and Sunday Times bestselling author, and All the Colors of the Dark is a Read with Jenna Book Club pick and an international bestseller. The novel follows two children, Saint and Patch, whose lives forever change when Patch intervenes to save a young woman from an act of violence. This traumatic event affects their lives and others in their small Ozark community. Set between the 1970s and the 2000s in the United States, All the Colors of the Dark is a sprawling tale of personal and national history. The novel’s themes include women’s struggle for autonomy, the lasting effects of trauma, and the search for identity.

This guide refers to the e-book version of the 2024 Crown edition.

Content Warning: The source text includes mentions of child abduction, abuse, sexual assault, predatory behavior, mental illness, violence against women, domestic violence, abortion, and suicide.

Plot Summary

Joseph “Patch” Macauley is a poor 13-year-old in the Missouri Ozarks. Born with one eye, Patch is often bullied and lives with his mother, Ivy, who struggles with addiction. He calls himself a pirate, and Ivy encourages this, hoping it will distract him from their circumstances. His only friend is Saint, an avid beekeeper who lives with her grandmother, Norma. One fateful day, Patch saves his crush, Misty Meyer, from an older man named Eli Aaron, who subsequently injures and kidnaps him. Saint desperately searches for her friend and hounds the local police chief, Nix, for leads. She investigates the kindly local doctor, Marty Tooms, though Nix clears him. Meanwhile, another girl, Callie Montrose, goes missing.

Almost a year later, Saint finds a clue that reveals that the school photographer, Aaron, is an unsettling man who often hangs around young girls and previously photographed Misty. Saint goes alone to confront him. She narrowly escapes, saved by Nix, and Aaron’s house burns down. They find Patch lying nearby.

Grace, Aaron’s daughter (though this is not revealed until the end of the book), cared for Patch in captivity. She tried to keep him alive despite his deteriorating condition. After his rescue, Grace flees with her father. The police conclude Aaron died in the fire and close the investigation, but Patch insists Grace needs help.

His obsession with finding Grace consumes him, and he ignores school and Saint’s attempts to reconnect. He begins taking over his mother’s custodial job and cleans the gallery of Sammy, a local art dealer. Though the man initially accuses him of stealing, he realizes Patch is a talented artist, and they become friends. Patch and Misty begin a tentative romance, though Patch warns her they are from different worlds.

As the months pass, Patch quits school to work in a mine and works on a painting of Grace in his spare time. He begins painting other missing girls and sending the portraits to their families. Saint’s investigation leads her to Tooms’s house, where she discovers a bloody mattress, triggering an investigation. Meanwhile, Misty’s father bribes Patch to end his and Misty’s relationship so that she will attend Harvard. He breaks up with Misty and leaves her devastated.

Years later, Tooms is in prison for Callie Montrose’s murder. Police linked him to Aaron and believe the two are working together. Saint works with Nix on the Monta Clare police force. Meanwhile, Patch searches the United States for Grace, interviewing families of missing girls and painting them. When he runs out of money, he begins robbing banks with an unloaded flintlock pistol, a pirate gun.

Saint is dating a local man named Jimmy at her grandmother’s insistence. They have a tepid but stable relationship, and she marries him to please Norma. Her personal life becomes strained as she accepts an FBI position in Kansas City despite Jimmy’s objections. She struggles with the distance from her husband, who becomes increasingly resentful. After discovering she is pregnant, Saint initially visits an abortion clinic but decides to keep the child. Returning home, Jimmy misunderstands, believes she had the abortion, and beats her violently. She divorces him and moves away to Kansas City, where she continues her career. She gives the child up for adoption, telling no one of his existence.

Meanwhile, Patch reconnects with Misty in Boston. They share a brief romantic encounter. He leaves while she is sleeping and continues his search for Grace. With the FBI, Saint tracks down Patch in Arizona. She pleads for him to give himself up because Tooms confessed to her that Patch killed Grace. Patch flees, and Saint, in a desperate move, shoots him in the thigh.

Years later, Patch is released from prison. Saint picks him up and takes him back to Monta Clare. Although he never responded to her letters, Patch thanks her for her support, which helped him get a reduced sentence. He moves back into his old house and begins to see Misty. One day, they drive to the state park where Tooms claimed Grace was buried. Patch believes Grace might still be alive.

As his relationship with Misty deepens, he discovers that they have a daughter named Charlotte, born from their one night together in Boston. Patch requests that Misty not reveal his identity to Charlotte yet. He puts down roots in Monta Clare and tears down his old home to build a new one, which locals call “The Mad House” due to its extravagant architecture. At the housewarming party, Misty reveals she has cancer. After Misty’s death, Patch becomes Charlotte’s guardian.

Adjusting to their new lives, Patch and Charlotte grow closer, and he supports her artistic interests. When a case of another missing girl arises, Patch takes Charlotte with him on the road, leading to a confrontation with Saint, who urges him to focus on Charlotte. This idyllic era comes to an end when Patch runs into Jimmy at the local zoo. When Jimmy insults Saint, Patch hits him, accidentally killing the man.

Patch is imprisoned for Jimmy’s death. He spends his days working at the library, where he befriends Cooper, the brother of a missing girl he helped. Patch seeks information about Grace from Tooms, who is on death row, but gets no answers.

In Monta Clare, Saint is now chief of police, struggling with her new role and raising Charlotte. Norma blames Saint for Jimmy’s downfall and believes Saint would have had an easier time with Charlotte if she stayed with Jimmy. Norma has a heart attack and dies shortly thereafter. In a shocking turn of events, Nix kills Richie, Callie Montrose’s father, and then dies by suicide.

Patch learns Tooms will be executed in two weeks and continues his efforts to uncover the truth about Grace. At Norma’s funeral, Saint receives a tip about Aaron, who has resurfaced in Miami. She rescues a young woman from Aaron but does not catch him.

Patch orchestrates a prison escape with other inmates’ help. Saint pieces together the mystery of Nix and Tooms. The two men were lovers, and Callie became pregnant because her father was sexually abusing her. Tooms offered illegal abortions to young women in need, and Callie came to him. She hemorrhaged and died, and Nix helped Tooms bury her. Believing Tooms would be executed, Nix decided to enact justice on Richie and ensure he paid for his crimes.

Saint stops the execution just in time, and Tooms tells her that he lied about Grace’s death because he hoped it would allow Patch to move on. She pursues Patch, who is headed to Grace Falls, Alabama, having realized due to a hint from a fellow prisoner that it is where Grace grew up. Patch finds Grace at last and is shocked to learn that she is Aaron’s daughter and has been his prisoner for many years. Aaron tries to kill Saint, who arrives soon after, but Patch shoots him. Saint promises to care for Grace and Charlotte and lets Patch escape.

Years later, Saint visits the child she gave up and is happy he is in a loving home. Charlotte and Saint take a road trip before Charlotte leaves for college. They find Patch living on a sailboat in the Outer Banks and share a heartfelt reunion.