We Are All the Same in the Dark by Julia Heaberlin @juliathrillers @MJBooks

Source: Review copy
Publication: 6^th August 2020 from Michael Joseph
PP: 352
ISBN-13: 978-0241385494

It’s been a decade since the town’s sweetheart Trumanell Branson disappeared, leaving only a bloody handprint behind.

Since her disappearance, Tru’s brother, Wyatt, has lived as an outcast, desperate to know what happened to his sister.

So when Wyatt finds a lost girl, he believes she is a sign.

But for new cop, Odette Tucker, this girl’s appearance reopens old wounds.

Determined to solve both cases, Odette fights to save a lost girl in the present and in doing so digs up a shocking truth about that fateful night in the past . . .

I love Julia Heaberlin’s ability to tell a cracking story. She writes beautifully, giving weight to her characters and crafting them so that they feel authentic and when they hurt, the reader hurts right along with them. She has the ability to at once create tough but vulnerable women, to give them personality, depth and flaws so that they stand out in the mind. All of this in a setting that is rich, vivid and deeply atmospheric.

Rural Texas is the location and this story will be told from three perspectives. Odette Tucker is a cop in a small Texas town. Her father Marshall Tucker was a cop too. Odette is a little unusual in that she is an amputee and has a range of legs that she can put on as she goes about her daily business, including one that allows her to understand what Oscar Pistorius had to go through to get out of bed on any given day.

She has history with the town recluse, Wyatt whose sister, Trumanelle and father disappeared ten years ago and were never seen again. Most people think Wyatt was responsible and give him a wide berth, but nothing has ever been proved.

Odette and Wyatt were close once and there’s still something of a spark between them, and Odette mostly doesn’t believe Wyatt is guilty of anything. Odette’s partner Rusty is less sure of that, but then he’s the kind of cop that Odette’s daddy would have liked. The kind that’s prepared to deliver justice first and ask questions later.

The book opens with Wyatt finding a young girl lying on a patch of deserted ground by the road, injured and not speaking. He takes her home to look after her, but he’s hardly on the road before a concerned citizen calls it in to the police and so Odette is once more at Wyatt’s door wanting to know what’s going on.

Haeaberlin takes Angel’s (the girl’s) story and the disappearance of Wyatt’s father and sister as Odette and Wyatt together seek to find out just what Angel’s story is and as they do we see how it impacts on Wyatt’s history.

Heaberlin creates a deep Southern mystery here, slowly peeling back layers of secrecy, contempt for the law and shocking betrayals to reveal a picture of lies and secrets. Heritage and history play their part in hiding all the secrets and lies that are buried in a shallow grave covered by a thin veneer of dust.

The novel takes place over a course of years but it never feels long or slow, just rich and redolent like a slow cooked casserole where every morsel is rich and tender. Though disappearances and a murder are the mainstay of the story, it is the characters and relationships that make this a symphony rather than a good tune and we can hear the timbre of the music change as the time passes.

There are some genuinely surprising moments and times when you wonder what’s going on but this just adds to the dark, unsettling feeling that being immersed in this book is already giving you.

Verdict: Beautifully written, emotionally charged, full of richness and depth, this is a fabulous, evocative read and one I highly recommend.

HIVE BOOKS                     WATERSTONES                AMAZON