Readers feel passionately about All the Colors of the Dark (Crown, June 25), an immersive literary thriller that clocks in at more than 600 pages. One especially passionate reader—Today co-host Jenna Bush Hager—said she “may never have loved a book as much,” selecting it for her Read With Jenna book club in June. Our editors, meanwhile, have chosen it as one of the best fiction books of 2024, and we emailed author Chris Whitaker with some questions about his breakthrough.

What was the character or scene that initially started you working on the book?

I started with the idea of two abducted teenagers who fall in love in the pitch-black basement they’re being held in, having never seen each other. The boy escapes and can’t find his way back to the girl. So I had a kind of mystery, but also the makings of a love story, and then I began writing and it turned into so much more.

You’ve spoken publicly about traumatic experiences in your own childhood that informed your writing of the boy, Patch. Is going there painful for you as a writer? Therapeutic?

It actually wasn’t until two years in that I made the link between Patch and my own childhood. I wondered why I was struggling to tell his story, particularly writing some of the traumatic scenes, until I realized how closely they mirrored events from my own life. It was always this big unspoken thing from my childhood that, although I buried it deep, was always there looming, holding a kind of power over me—a mix of shame and embarrassment and a feeling of being different. I won’t say those feelings are gone, but they’re definitely lessening the more I talk about it and the more I talk about Patch and his journey.

What inspired you during the writing of the book? What were you reading, listening to, watching?

I was working in a public library when I started writing this story. I studied maps from the 1970s, travel guides, and history books. I listened to people read transcripts, which helped me pick up on speech patterns. I studied everything from painting to ballet, piano to beekeeping, fishing to mining. I learned to use a microfiche machine as Patch uses one during his search. This kind of research should help explain to my editor why I missed my deadline by two years.  

Where and when did you write the book? Describe the scene, the time of day, the necessary accoutrements or talismans.

I wrote at night, alone in the garden cabin I built during lockdown. It was such a strange time because there was this terrible thing going on [in] the world, and everything looked and felt different, but each night I’d close the blinds and escape back to 1975, spending thousands of hours telling the story of a pirate and a beekeeper. My daughter was born, and I was also doing online events to promote my last book, and because of the time difference I was up all night. I have memories of my daughter asleep in my arms at 3 a.m. as I typed with one hand. I can’t decide if she was a talisman or a hindrance. Let’s go with the latter in case she comes for future royalties.   

What book or books published in 2024 were among your favorites?

The Women by Kristin Hannah was beautifully done, and has rightfully taken over the world. Jodi Picoult is such a gifted storyteller and I devoured By Any Other Name. Day One by Abigail Dean is stunning. Here One Moment by Liane Moriarty left me thinking about it for weeks after. I have a copy of James by Percival Everett that I’ve been saving as a treat for when I finish touring. I know it’s going to be phenomenal.

Tom Beer is the editor-in-chief.