I felt this way many times during the story, especially towards the end. I’m okay with a good cliffhanger, but leading up to something big, having it just about to unveil, and then having the next chapter turn to a different part of the storyline was frustrating. It happened too many times in a book that was already long.
Yes, thriller-mystery writers have to walk a fine line – they can’t reveal too much or too little, and must create an ending that can’t be guessed, but is still plausible. Not an easy task!
I’ve griped about aspects of All the Colors of the Dark, but it’s Pulitzer Prize material next to some other thrillers I’ve read (lookin’ at you, Frieda McFadden and Alice Feeney).
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I had such high hopes for Scout. She could really have soared and done so much. I think I liked her best. I never understood her unwavering loyalty to Patch. The grandma and also Nix were interesting.
I didn’t understand why the doc was willing to be executed instead of explaining what was going on. That never made sense to me.
I really wasn’t a fan of Grace. She had many opportunities to do something—run away, turn her dad in and save lives, SOMETHING! I didn’t understand why she only cared about saving Patch and not the countless others her dad stalked and killed.
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As I understand it, Dr. Tooms said nothing because proving his innocence would require “outing” the young women who came to him to end their pregnancies, and his code of honor wouldn’t allow that. And the investigation that would inevitably follow would reveal his relationship with Chief Nix, which he felt would be harmful to the man he loved.
And since Dr. Tooms not explaining what happened meant that Callie Montrose’s father would not be held to account, Chief Nix decided to go with vigilante justice.
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We Begin at the End has been on my Goodreads “Want to Read” list for a while, but I’ve never gotten around to it. Which of the two Whitaker books did you prefer?
Yeah, I guess Doc Tooms felt doomed no matter what he did and so he chose to just let fate do its thing. It was unbelievable that only Scout was able to rescue him moments before he was to ge executed by literally driving to the rescue.
I doubt Saint would have had such success in real life (although there have been last minute stays of execution – but it’s very rare).
Moving from actually discussing the book to tangential thoughts regarding discussions of the book. My real life book club read this one also and - whoa - totally different from the discussion going on here. Everyone liked it - really liked it. Yes, critiques mentioned here came up but with less negativity: example - length was mentioned as a negative but the short chapters seemed to offset negative feelings about it. I truly wish I had kept notes but never do that anyway. I’m just finding it of interest to see almost a polar opposite discussion to my previous one.
Back to book discussion: one of the things I like about the book is that by painting portraits of the lost girls, Patch kept them remembered, long after most of the world moved on. Not the families, so that must make it even harder for them. One father mentions how the loss of his sister affected her beloved brother, changed him. He also mentions in passing that her brother lives a somewhat quiet solitary life, works as a librarian. The girl is found because someone sees the painting, recognizes the girl after seeing her through a window, and reports it. That brother plays his part as the librarian at the prison. Others involved in Patch’s jail break had missing family members that he had taken the time to learn about and paint. He understood that the family never moves on and that meant something.
So unrealistic … sure but I loved the meaning behind it. His care about the missing, his connection to the families, the discoveries of girls with outcomes both good and bad, and the gratitude of the families that he had done what he had. I think somewhat of the Nancy Guthrie case. The news cycle has moved on; the family never will. Other families of missing loved ones have spoken out, reiterating their pain. Again, yes to not realistic re the jail break but not to the gratitude that someone (Patch) takes their memories and pain and acknowledges it long after most have moved on.
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I struggle with books where I don’t feel a solid connection to the characters. I did care enough to see how it ended but just barely. Mostly for me though, the whole topic of child abduction was too dark and heavy. And while the author did a good job of not getting graphic, my mind filled in way too many blanks and it was too disturbing for me.
I thought of this while reading as well. At first, I was musing to myself, “Come on, how could they not have caught Grace’s father by now, given all they know? What kind of shoddy police work is this?”
And then I thought of two things: The Nancy Guthrie case – unsolved and mystifying on so many levels; and the Golden State Killer, who lived a normal family life for decades, while killing repeatedly with a clear M.O. that police recognized, but could do nothing with.
Thank goodness for DNA advancements! That’s probably one reason the book was set in the 70’s and 80’s. If today, the police would likely have been pounding on Grace’s father’s door a lot sooner.
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That’s a blank left for the reader to fill in. We didn’t get to know Grace at all. In the brief time she was present, she spoke in riddles; and then she was absent for the better part of the book. My guess is that she lived in a situation that was hell on earth, and spent the rest of her days with survivor’s guilt, e.g., writing Patch “letters…that sometimes ran to a hundred pages” (p. 591).
I can’t judge her or even analyze why she didn’t try to rescue herself or others. Not doing something–being paralyzed, in a way–seems to be the more common self-preservation response. Think Elizabeth Smart, Jaycee Dugard, etc.
I guess you are correct @Mary13 but she’s definitely not anyone I felt did as much as one would hope. It’s hard to understand people who are traumatized by abusive relatives. Fortunately I don’t have much experience.
I like the points Ignatius mentioned about the focus on abducted/ missing girls- and I did enjoy the concept of those paintings - “ bringing all the colors of the dark “ out into the world- it was lovely.
And, Kudos to Whitaker for addresing one of the reasons many young girls are runaways, abuse at home. I did appreciate the twist that Callie was abused by her police officer father, and focusing on that issue for a second.
I was truly surprised about Saint’s child. I didn’t see that coming.
And, like others I kept reflecting on the Nancy Guthrie kidnapping case, and the French wife who was drugged for years by her husband who allowed unspeakable things to happen to her. So it was refreshing as Ignatius points out to have a male character as a hero, and advocate for women and girls.
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Your points are why I kept reading.
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Yes, trying to keep the world remembering the lost girls and painting lovely pictures of them and funding charities for missing people was good and noble. Patch did have good aspects.
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I had a lot of sympathy for Patch and loved the idea of him painting portraits. It’s also one of the few times I’ve read a book that I felt described being a painter in a realistic way. (I used to paint portraits, but felt I wasn’t reliably good enough to do it for money.) I wished he’d stuck to making money from paintings instead of robbing banks.
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@Mary13: One funny thing about Saint’s career: No Quantico for her. She did a good job on the local Monta Clare police force and suddenly got a call that the FBI wanted her, asap. I raised an eyebrow at that.
The FBI already knew 'twas Patch who robbed the banks. The FBI reached out specifically for Saint because she had persisted-against all odds-and found Patch after he had been abducted. Once the FBI guy shows her the picture of Patch with the flintlock gun she understands why the FBI wants her. To her credit, she shows the same sheer doggedness in finding him a second time.
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“To her credit, she shows the same sheer doggedness in finding him a second time.”
And, it was just at that point when I thought if this were an action movie, it was one car chase scene too much.
I never bought into to Saints “dogged” determination to hunt down the love of her life, the first time, the second went too far, was too much! I had enjoyed picking up the book whenever I could, to read, to find out what’s next, but it was then I just wanted it to end,
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Initially, I thought that Grace wasn’t real – until almost everybody in the book also thought she wasn’t real, and then I knew she had to be real. Does that make sense? 
Patch’s creation of Grace Number One was interesting. I guessed the likeness would be on target, and sure enough, the real Grace was “a mirror of Grace Number One, so close it was like she could not have been real” (p. 560). I wonder how hard it would be to paint a portrait of someone you have never seen, just by feeling their face.
I went looking for information on tactile painting and (for obvious reasons!) the title of this article caught my eye: John Bramblitt Paints With All The Colors Of The Mind
John Bramblitt is a blind artist. There is something about his intense use of color that made me imagine that Patch’s work might be similar. Bramblitt’s paintings of sailboats definitely made me think of Patch’s happy ending!
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Wow—what a talented guy to make these lovely paintings with such different moods & subjects.