Ask a bookseller: “All the Colors of the Dark” by Chris Whitaker

In The Thread’s Ask a Bookseller series, we talk to independent booksellers across the country to find out what books they’re most excited about right now.

Maris Herrington of McLean and Eakin Booksellers in Petoskey, Michigan, says one of the best books she’s read so far this year is Chris Whitaker’s mystery thriller “All the Colors of the Dark,” out Tuesday, June 25.

Maris has this preview: It’s about a little boy named Patch. He has one eye and sees himself as a kind of pirate.

It’s towards the end of that time, and he sees a young girl being dragged into a man’s car. He intervenes and is kidnapped instead. And everyone thought he was dead. But his best friend Scout is still convinced he’s alive. She finally finds him a year later.

Patch is convinced that during the year he was in the dark basement, another girl named Grace was with him. He is convinced that she is still alive. So he dedicates his life to finding Grace.

And so it only begins! It’s a book about friendship, love and obsession. It’s one of the better books I’ve read this year. And it’s sure to win everyone’s heart. Wow.

Plus there are a series of murders. This book has so many layers, it’s crazy. He’s an incredible writer who puts these twists and turns in and brings them all together. Throughout the book he keeps you guessing. It’s a book you won’t want to put down.

— Maris Herrington

Whitaker will visit the bookstore in Petoskey, Michigan, on July 29 as part of a U.S. tour. According to Penguin Random House’s website, there are currently no plans to stop in Minnesota.