2024 the best novels of all time review

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NATIONAL BESTSELLER • PEOPLE PICK • OPTIONED BY SISTER PICTURES FOR TELEVISION • The discovery of a girl abandoned by the side of the road threatens to unearth the long-buried secrets of a Texas town’s legendary cold case in this superb, atmospheric novel from the internationally bestselling author of Black-Eyed Susans

“If you only read one thriller this year, let it be this one. Psychologically absorbing, original and atmospheric. I could not turn the pages fast enough.”—Elin Hilderbrand, #1 New York Times bestselling author of 28 Summers

It’s been a decade since Trumanell Branson disappeared, 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, Tru’s 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 documentary about the crime.

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 missing 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. And she is haunted by her own history with the missing Tru.

Desperate to solve both cases, Odette fights to save the 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.

In this twisty psychological thriller, Julia Heaberlin paints unforgettable portraits of a woman and a girl who redefine perceptions of physical beauty and strength.

Praise for We Are All the Same in the Dark

“This chilling tale of buried sins is relentlessly unpredictable.”—The Times (South Africa)

“[Julia] Heaberlin knows how to build to a truly shocking twist, how to break a reader’s heart and then begin mending it. ‘What’s coming is always unimaginable,’ Odette’s one-time therapist tells her, ‘and by that, I mean just that. It cannot be imagined. What’s coming never acts or behaves the way we think it will.’ That’s true for this novel, too.”—The Dallas Morning News

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Ballantine Books (July 27, 2021)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Paperback ‏ : ‎ 368 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0525621695
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0525621690
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 2.31 pounds
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 5.12 x 0.72 x 7.98 inches
Reviewer: Amy Imogene Reads
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title: A honey-slow, menacing descent
Review: Wow, what a honey-slow, menacing descent into the edges of one town's humanity. This book had a unique flow and a different kind of storytelling.I am utterly and entirely entranced by this story. From the reading experience to the well-crafted mystery to the ominous and never-ending undertone of death, We Are All the Same in the Dark is a mystery/thriller that I will remember.Trumanell Branson disappeared from the Branson home in rural Texas ten years ago. A bloody handprint was found on the doorframe, but no body was ever recovered. Her father, the unpopular and abusive Frank Branson, also disappeared that fateful night. The only Branson who made it out of that night alive was Wyatt, the younger brother whose mind cracked that night and no one could ever prove fully innocent (or guilty).Odette Tucker's past is tied up in that bloody night like a bundle of chicken wire—one that she refuses to forget and yet can never fully solve. Her father was the policeman first on the scene at the Branson home. Odette herself was dating Wyatt Branson. And Odette's alibi for the night of Trumanell's disappearance is bloody—she was in a rollover car crash a few miles from the Branson property.Now a partial leg amputee and haunted by that night for personal and professional reasons, Odette's turned into the Tucker legacy: a cop for the local community. And she's never let go of the Trumanell case.Tangled up with guilt, a personal pressure to solve the unsolvable, and the sense that what's happened in the past might be happening again, Odette's not as surprised as she should be when Wyatt—now an unstable adult still living in the fateful home—discovers a young woman on the side of road with a dangerous past.They call her Angel, and she's unknowingly brought everything crashing down in this tiny town.I really, really can't say more of the plot without ruining some of the magic. Let's stop there.I thought this novel did a few things brilliantly. One: the narrative voice. It's a spoiler to say WHY I am calling out the narrative voice as the best part of this novel, but just trust me on the fact that there are some unique surprises in just who is telling the story (and mystery fans, it's not that unreliable narrator nonsense).Two: the almost hypnotic sense of reality vs. storytelling at play, and the constant sense that we have, as the reader, that there's elements of the story that we should know (but don't) and that there are things being told to us via these characters that they feel is obvious (but we can't really tell what that is). This is hard to describe, but I've seen it as a negative in other people's reviews when, for me, it was a huge positive. I like a level of confusion, especially when it's done as spectacularly as this.Fans of intelligent mystery/thrillers with a dash of the gothic, pick this up.

Reviewer: RSW Kindle Customer
Rating: 4.0 out of 5 stars
Title: 4 Stars
Review: Love this Texas based 4 Star Thriller.SUMMARYOn an ominous night, ten years ago, Trumanell, a beloved small town legendary beautiful queen and her good-for-nothing father went missing. Trumanell is presumed dead and the town is still obsessed with finding out what happened to her. They are just fine with her father staying away, but the entire town has never let Trumanell go. Additionally, they blame her brother, Wyatt, for her disappearance. Although there has never been a single piece of evidence linking Wyatt to her disappearance, the whole town blames him and he becomes a social pariah, an outcast.Wyatt never got past that night. He, not only lives as a reclusive hermit due to the hate he receives from the town, but he actively sees and speaks with Trumanell. She keeps the house very clean and she weighs in on his life delicious. Did I mention that he's not exactly mentally stable?One day, Wyatt finds a barely alive, mute, one eyed girl on the side of the road laying in a circle of dandelions. Of course, he does what any unstable man would do and brings her home to Trumanell. Certainly Trumanell can take care of her. Right??Several people in town see him with the young girl in his truck and call the police. That's when Odette makes her appearance in the story. Odette is a police officer who has a long history with Trumanell and Wyatt. In fact, her life story is also linked to the night when Trumanell went missing. That night while fleeing Wyatt and Trumanell's house, she had a car accident and lost her leg. She has a soft spot for Wyatt and convinces him to let her take care of this girl.As Odette follows her obsession, finding out what happened to Trumanell, while simultaneously protecting this lost girl, she finds herself unable to trust anyone and fears for her life. Will she turn over the wrong stone and upset the wrong person? Is she wrong about Wyatt? Is he dangerous? Where did the mute dandelion girl come from? So many questions!!!!WHAT I LOVEDThis is a story based in Texas and I love those, particularly when authors do not make all Texans sound like hicks. Also, I did the immersion reading with both the Kindle and Audible versions and the narrator's Texas accent was spot on!! Not over done but definitely not Midwest. LOVED. IT. ALL. Plus, Julia Heaberlin named several Dallas landmarks and neighborhoods. But that's all pretty specific to me and may not be a big deal to everyone.I loved Odette as a character. She was so multidimensional, smart in so many ways, yet prone to making big mistakes. So much about her present life was tied closely to her past.As I was reading, I felt off balance the whole time. I had the feeling of being in a car skidding on ice; sometimes in control but mostly out of control, never knowing where I would end up. I was never sure which characters I could trust. It always felt like something was waiting around the corner but then the question was, who is it waiting for? Who was in danger - was it Odette? The mystery girl? Wyatt?The fact that Trumanell and her father were never found left a lot of possibilities open, I kept wondering if they were going to show up. Heaberlin was brave enough to make unexpected choices for her characters. some were a little sad but they added a lot to the overall story.There were some interesting themes in the book of you want to go deeper; dandelions, prosthetics, family dynamics, loss, disappointment etc. The writing style was lovely, Heaberlin's writing was way better than it needed to be for such an entertaining, suspenseful plot. Such vivid descriptions and spot on metaphors.WHAT I DIDN'T LOVEThere were a few things that didn't make a lot of sense to me, and didn't seem likely. But that's true of almost all thrillers.The plot went off on a few unnecessary tangents. There were a few small story lines that could have been edited out which would have streamlined the story and made it a little more focused.OVERALLAnother success by Julia Heaberlin! A suspenseful, intriguing plot with screwed up characters and a writing style above par. I highly recommend it to my GR friends who love thrillers and to anyone from Texas who is tired of reading books where we are reduced to stereotypes.

Reviewer: CM
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title:
Review: Lyrically beautiful and emotionally astute, We Are All The Same In The Dark is raw, stunning, and darkly twisted. Rather than being a frenetic page turner, it is one of those books you want to sip rather than gulp; you want to enjoy curled up with your cat while relaxing with a cup of tea at your side.We have three POVs, all of which are equally wonderful, and a midpoint that genuinely shocked me. The story is at once a slow-burn mystery and a mystery wound so incredibly taut you won’t be able to put the book down.Absorbingly atmospheric with a brooding presence, I highly recommend.

Reviewer: husband
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title:
Review: husband read it said it was alright

Reviewer: Tianna
Rating: 2.0 out of 5 stars
Title:
Review: I hate to say it but I didn't read this book. I bought it as a thriller novel reader and I felt it was quite boring. I got about half way through and gave up to move onto something I would enjoy.

Reviewer: Judy Samuels
Rating: 2.0 out of 5 stars
Title:
Review: The story never reached it's climax. It seemed to meander from one character to the next and none of them were explored in enough depth to feel any connection to them. I didn't care at all what had happened to Trumanell, and in fact, the repeated use of her name was irritating. The story didn't let us get to know her, or understand her and her brother's intense relationship. Odette's obsession with Trumanell was inexplicable and the whole story was confused and lacking pace. Disappointing read.