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 … 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
more
This is my first time reading something written by Heaberlin and I’m hooked, which means I happily have a backlist of books to read!
I went into this totally blind and it’s what I recommend. It’s a slower paced mystery that had me flipping those pages quickly. It’s part mystery/thriller/suspense and crime/police procedural fiction and reads like a fascinating true crime story. With 3 POVs, I was worried I’d get confused, but was relieved to find it much easier than expected. it was nice and twisty, but no twists were over the top. I loved all the wonderfully flawed characters and, as someone who is disabled, I truly appreciated the multiple disabilities in this story. Heaberlin clearly did a lot of research in the fields of the disabilities she wrote about, and did a phenomenal job of highlighting the strengths in these characters. I’m sure that the multiple disabilities will be off-putting to some, and it could’ve been for me as well if she hadn’t written so beautifully about those characters.
I highly recommend this to anyone who enjoys a more lyrical, atmospheric slow burn mystery/crime fiction. Don’t go into this one with expectations and I think you’ll enjoy it even more.
Thank you NetGalley and Ballantine books for my e-galley in exchange for my honest thoughts.
PEOPLE PICK • 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
This book was very interesting. It held my interest all the way through. It was a bit wordy and I felt like a lot of it could have been left out. That being said, it was a good story. I wanted to keep reading it and find out who the bad guy was. I did figure it out and that was a bit of a letdown but it happens when you read a lot of thrillers I guess. Though still it was very good. I had a couple of unanswered questions but that’s ok too.
This story is told from three people’s POV. Odette, Wyatt, and Angel. Most is from Odette and Angel with a little of Wyatt’s words in the beginning.
Wyatt and Odette dated when they were young. Teens. When his sister, Trumanelle, goes missing things take a drastic turn for them. The same night she goes missing Odette is in a wreck and loses part of her leg. Her life is not the same ever. She grows up and becomes a cop like her late daddy. There are many secrets in this story about what happened the night Trumanelle and her daddy, Frank, went missing. Most of the town think Wyatt killed them and he’s not talking. He’s been silent for so many years and even though he has been treated horribly he refuses to say what happened on that fateful night.
Angel is a little girl who Wyatt found on the side of the highway. She was dehydrated and only has one eye. She couldn’t or wouldn’t talk. She’s a mystery to Wyatt who takes her to his home to try and help her. Odette ends up helping and Angel ends up going with her. She’s got a lot of secrets of her own and lives in fear of being found. She’s running from something/someone and won’t tell who. She’s a very smart little girl, thirteen years of age but refusing to talk when all Odette wants to do is help her. You’ll understand her fear as you read her story.
Wyatt is a trouble man. He’s seen lots of bad things. Had lots of bad things happen to him. He won’t talk about what happened the night his sister and dad went missing. He wants to protect someone. Is it himself or someone else he’s really protecting. Possibly someone he loves.
This is a somewhat complex book that takes you in a few different directions. It’s told from three different POVs and has four parts. The story is told in very great detail and you will find that interesting. The way this author choose her words. To me it was a bit wordy and went into to much detail but it was also a very good book. I honestly loved the storyline. From Odette to Angel. To who did what and why. It’s like maybe a few stories in one yet they all intertwine to make for one long book that will keep you wanting more. You will want to know what happened on that fateful night. You will find out. You may or may not understand why this person did what they did, but it was very important to this story. Without it there would be no story.
Thank you #NetGalley, #JuliaHeaberlin, #RandomHousePublishing for this ARC. My own words and thoughts of this book.
I gave it 4/5 stars. I do highly recommend you read this one. It is very good.
female cop who only has one leg, her high school sweetheart accused of a horrible murder female cop dad Grandpa and great-grandpa were all cops she is married to a lawyer and someone finds a little girl with one eye almost dead on the side of the road.
This is my favorite book of the year so far.. the hype is real!
This is an amazing book. The writing is beautifully lyrical, fascinating and un-put-downable. If you’re looking for a thrill a minute, this is not it. It more or less moves at a snail’s pace, the snail’s one foot continually bogged down in flashback after flashback of backstory. So you may feel tempted, about halfway through, to skim to the end just to see who killed Trumanell after all. Take my advice—don’t. You’ll be glad you didn’t.
4.5 stars, rounded up!!! We Are All the Same in the Dark is a wild ride. I read the majority of this book with no idea who committed the crimes and ending was out of left field leaving me totally blindsided. Trumanell Branson was a small town hero who up and disappeared over a decade ago on the same night that now cop, Odette Tucker lost her leg in an automobile accident. Odette now doggedly pursues the case even though everyone in town believes her old beau and Trumanell’s brother Wyatt committed murder. Even though, she is not a hundred percent sure Wyatt is innocent, Odette cannot seem to stay away. When Wyatt brings home a one-eyed girl found in a field of dandelions, Odette steps in to save the girl, Angel. Just when Odette seems to have figured everything out, the perspective in the book changes to Angel telling the story. Heart pounding and a little heart breaking, the story twists and turns enough to keep your head spinning and a little breathless. What another great book from Julia Heaberlin with strong and complicated female protagonists. My voluntary, unbiased review is based upon a review copy from Netgalley.
I received a free electronic ARC of this novel from Netgalley, Julia Heaberlin, and Random House Publishing – Ballantine Books. Thank you all for sharing your hard work with me. I have read this novel of my own volition, and this review reflects my honest opinion of this work. Julia Heaberlin is a novelist I will follow and am pleased to recommend to friends and family. She writes an intricate mystery, well concealed, and her protagonists are beautifully written and interestingly flawed.
We Are All the Same in the Dark is set in a small town verging into the Hill Country of Central Texas, and peopled with folks we all know and usually understand, or think we do. At the end of this novel, I am having trouble trusting my perception of anyone I know, so Julia Heaberlin does good work. Told from three points of view, this work is compelling and relentless. You have to find the answers before the laundry gets done of supper started. And before it is over, you will, like me, be afraid of entering the Blue House.
pub date Aug 11, 2020
Wyatt, a long-haul trucker, is on his way home and sees what he thinks is an animal at the side of the road. He stops to see if the animal is still alive and finds an abandoned 13-year-old girl lying in a circle of dandelions on the other side of the barbed wired fence. His sister’s voice in his head tells him to leave her and call the police. But when the girl stirs, he decides to take her with him knowing that his life will again explode, and his fellow townsmen will begin tormenting him all over again.
The author has written a remarkable book that is character driven and develops slowly. Each of the three narrators – Wyatt, Odette (the rookie police officer sent to Wyatt’s home to investigate whether an anonymous tip that Wyatt has a young girl at his ranch is true), and Angel, a one-eyed-girl (told from her point of view five years later). There are no information dumps here. The author slowly provides details as needed. For instance, we know Wyatt was accused, but not charged in the murder of his sister ten years earlier. We know Odette, Wyatt, and his sister were friends when his sister went missing and that Wyatt had called to warn Odette to flee his family home and there were dire consequences to her fleeing. We also find out tidbits about Angel, the name given to her by Wyatt when he found her, and how Odette changed her life even after Odette goes missing.
The author does rush her story, does not rush to the unexpected ending, does rush to tell us everything she knows about her characters and their town and its secrets. Instead, she expertly draws us in slowly and surely until, while the story makes us uncomfortable, she pulls all the loose ends together and ties them up at the end.
Don’t pick up this book if you like fast-paced mysteries/thrillers. However, do pick this book up if you like well-written mysteries with quirky characters, and a mystery with an ending that may even surprise you.
My thanks to Ballantine and NetGalley for an eARC.
Ms. Heaberlin is my new favorite author in thrillers. I can’t wait to watch this as a limited series.
Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for an advance copy of this book in return for an honest review.
The novel begins with Odette Tucker’s story and her narration. At 26, Odette has followed her father Marshall’s footsteps into law enforcement, and is the youngest person on the police force in a dusty Texas town. When Odette was 16, one night changed the lives of many, and the town has never been quite the same. On that night the popular prom queen Trumanell Branson disappeared. Trumanell was the older sister to Odette’s boyfriend, Wyatt. What happened at the Branson homestead that night is a mystery, as Trumanell and her father, Frank Branson, were never seen again. Marshall and Wyatt have no explanation for the disappearances, yet Marshall is convinced that Wyatt did not have a hand in the deed. The court of public opinion believes differently, and for the next 10 years Wyatt is shunned and harassed.
The novel begins with Wyatt’s narration. When he finds a young girl on the side of the road and brings her home, Odette is sure that no good is going to come out of the town hearing about this. Wyatt has named the girl Angel, and it is clear his mental health is suffering.
We then move to Odette’s narration. She does her best to help Angel, but the girl won’t talk. She also does her best to help Wyatt, but he won’t talk about the night of Tru’s disappearance.
Angel then takes over the narration, and at this point, I’ll leave the storytelling to the author. This is a slow-moving mystery, but does it ever hold your attention. The excellent character development really brings to life the quirkiness of characters in a small town that knows everyone else’s business. The writing is atmospheric, and you can breathe in the “roses and velvet” of a hot, dusty summer night in Texas, as well as feel the chills each of the characters experience along the twisty way.
This was a great read, and please don’t go into it with any more knowledge than this. Just let the story burn slowly, revealing its secrets gradually, and it will keep you engaged to the end.
https://candysplanet.wordpress.com/
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.
Uncommonly rare writing, character development, originality and readability After numerous Book Bub buds which never blossomed “We’re all the same” burst brightly with enjoyment.
One of the best standalone mysteries I’ve read in a while… thrilling and complex, with richly imagined characters who will break your heart even as they confront the monsters, real and imagined, that hide in the dark.
Unsettling and atmospheric… tense and edgy… Julia Heaberlin holds you spellbound all the way to the emotional and devastating conclusion.
This novel was described as atmospheric and with a gothic feel and I will agree with that. The prose is beautifully written and the story is a good one. I did, however, have some problems with it which I will outline later.
The novel is told from three points of view. The first is that of Wyatt, a young man who was involved in a horrific crime but was found innocent by the court. However this small town in Texas does not agree with those findings. They think that Wyatt is guilty in some way in the disappearance of his sister Trumanelle and his father. They have made him live as a recluse in the family home, certain that he is not only mentally ill but a murderer. He is spurned by everyone in the town except for the young police officer Odette.
As the book opens he is driving home and finds a young girl, injured, lying in a circle of dandelions. Dandelions have a special significance for Wyatt and he feels this is God’s way of telling him to help this girl. He takes her to his home and calls Odette, the only police officer that he trusts.
Second point of view is Odette’s .Odette was also involved in the incident ten years ago, in fact losing her leg in a terrible accident after fleeing Wyatt’s home on the night in question. She has returned, along with her Chicago lawyer husband to find out the truth of what happened that night. She and Trumanelle were friends when they were young. Unfortunately this determination to solve the case will come at a great cost to her.
Odette is then drawn into the case of who the young mute woman is because Wyatt reaches out to her for help. She is now determined to solve the mystery of who she is and whom she may be running from.
The last point of view is that of Angel, given this name by Wyatt when he found her and she was mute. He thought she looked like an angel lying in the dandelions.
This last viewpoint is 5 years later which makes for some very confusing reading. This is the part of the book that will reveal all and the ending was one I didn’t see coming. It was a strong ending although difficult to believe that some men can be so wicked.
I had significant problems with this book. I had to reread the first part of the book more than once to get a handle on what was exactly happening. Wyatt is an unreliable narrator with mental health issues and deep sorrow for his lost sister. He’s a confusing historian that’s for sure.
Odette’s point of view was interesting but she seemed to be going in so many directions. It was hard to believe she could even function on little sleep and not much support. She doesn’t trust anyone, not even her partner, Rusty.
By the third point of view I was beginning to tire of the repetition of the story. I did enjoy this section the most because it finally gives us hope of a satisfying conclusion. I was ready for the ending when it came and it was a good close.
This is definitely a very slow burn of a mystery and I lost patience with it at times. I think it’s a good story but be sure to set aside a good amount of time to stay focused on what is going on.
This was a buddy read with CeeCee and I thank her for helping me get through some confusing sections.
I received an ARC of this novel from the publisher through NetGalley.
The novel is set to publish on August 11, 2020
Wyatt Branson finds a young girl on the side of the road, lying in the grass, surrounded by dandelions. As he pulls his rig to the side of the highway, he worries that he is making a mistake. Afterall, he is living in a town that surreptitiously accuses him of his sister’s disappearance ten years before. Trumanell’s body has never been found. But he cannot leave the girl lying there! He brings her to his home where he calls Odette Tucker, the cop who has been trying to solve the mystery of his sister’s disappearance. Odette hurries over to help. Now, she is eager to solve the case of Wyatt’s foundling, as well. It doesn’t help that the mysterious girl does not talk.
I love Julia Heaberlin’s books, so my expectations were very high when I received this book to review. Nonetheless, it certainly lived up to my expectations. The moment I opened Ms. Heaberlin’s book, the mystery and excitement were there, and it didn’t stop! The characters are strong and realistic, and, I found it a very effective tool that the author changed the narrator throughout the progression of the story line. In that way, the reader got to know, more intimately, the main characters. This is another winner for Julia Heaberlin!
I was given a free copy of this book in exchange for an unbiased review.