We Are All the Same in the Dark: A Novel by Julia Heaberlin

My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Category: Adult
Genre: Mystery, Suspense
Content: Strong language, drug use


It’s been a decade since Trumanell Branson disappeared from a farm, leaving only a bloody handprint behind. Her pretty face still hangs like a watchful queen on the posters on the walls of the town’s Baptist Church, the police station, and in the high school. They all promise the same thing: We will find you. Meanwhile, her brother, Wyatt, lives as a pariah in the desolation of the old family house, cleared of wrongdoing by the police but tried and sentenced in the court of public opinion and in a new crime documentary.

When Wyatt finds a lost girl dumped in a field of dandelions, making silent wishes, he believes she is a sign. The town’s youngest cop, Odette Tucker, believes she is a catalyst that will ignite a seething town still waiting for its own girl to come home. But Odette can’t look away. She shares a wound that won’t close with the mute, one-eyed mystery girl. She is haunted by her own history with the missing Tru.

Desperate to solve both cases, Odette fights to save a lost girl in the present and to dig up the shocking truth about a fateful night in the past—the night her friend disappeared, the night that inspired her to become a cop, the night that wrote them all a role in the town’s dark, violent mythology.

A few years ago I read Black-eyed Susans and I liked it so much I was looking forward to reading more from this author. When I saw this one I decided to give it a try. The author did a great job of setting up the "small town with secrets" atmosphere of this book, and it surprised me a couple of times with twists I didn't see coming. But I did not end up liking it as much as I had hoped.

This story is narrated by three different characters. Wyatt, Odette, and Angel. All the characters are deeply flawed. I had sympathy for them, and I liked the way the author portrayed the character who was missing a leg, and the character who was missing an eye. I thought the author did a good job of getting into their heads and showing what they felt. I also thought the parts about the prosthetics and the ocularist were very interesting. Despite this, I just couldn't really like the characters as much as I wanted to, and this affected the way I felt about the book in general. I still have several other books by this author on my to-read list, so I will probably revisit her books again at some point. I just wish I had liked this one more.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with a ARC of this book.