The broken and resilient outsiders who featured in Chris Whitaker’s previous book We Begin At The End had a heartstring-tugging realness to them, and All The Colours Of The Dark is no different. At nearly 600 pages, those thrilled by We Begin At The End ought to again leave satisfied: Whitaker’s writing combines Dennis Lehane’s grit and the human rawness of top-tier Steinbeck.

All The Colours Of The Dark opens in an American town, Monta Clare, circa summer 1975. Teenager Joseph ‘Patch’ Maculey saves a girl from being abducted, but is kidnapped instead; his best friend, Saint Brown, makes it her mission to find and rescue her buddy. Held in a dark room for days on end, a girl called Grace approaches Patch, helping him survive the ordeal – but once Patch is free, there’s no evidence Grace ever existed, and he changes into someone Saint can hardly connect with.

Meanwhile, Patch is determined to find Grace and starts a journey that takes him through the heartland of America over the next few decades. Yet Saint’s love for him hasn’t dimmed over this time: now a policewoman, she’s determined to help Patch despite the risk that the truth could destroy them both, and readers are advised to brace themselves for when it does come hurtling around the corner.

The America that forms a backdrop within the pages of All The Colours Of The Dark is pretty real, both acknowledging and taking in religious and politically influenced shockwaves. Add bank heists and a sadistic killer on the loose to Patch and Saint’s agonising story, and you have something that elevates this novel to Whitaker’s magnum opus.