The Top Rated Thriller From The Read With Jenna Book Club, According To Reviews

Since its founding in 2019, Read With Jenna — the book club curated by Jenna Bush Hager on TODAY — has blossomed from a daytime TV segment into one of the most influential literary trendsetters in the publishing industry. Her selections regularly climb the ranks of the New York Times bestseller list, but the appeal goes beyond mere numbers. Read With Jenna has positioned itself as a reliable barometer of rich and riveting literary fiction.

Though typically her focus tends to stay rooted in literary terrain, Bush Hager has shown a discerning eye when she does venture into genre fiction. Read With Jenna's thriller and mystery picks, though few and far between, reveal a clear preference for novels where atmosphere and character are as important as plot twists. Donna Tartt's legendary collegiate noir "The Secret History" was one such pick. Michelle Min Sterling's "Camp Zero," a speculative eco-thriller set in a climate-ravaged future, was another. Bush Hager clearly gravitates towards stylish, cerebral selections — far from conventional page-turners — that you can count on to spark thoughtful book club discussion.

But one thriller stands apart. "All the Colors of the Dark" by Chris Whitaker has secured its place as the top rated thriller from Read With Jenna. With a Goodreads score of 4.30 across more than 278,000 ratings (and over half of those five stars), it's become a word-of-mouth phenomenon. "Best book I've read this year and in quite some time," wrote one reader on Reddit. "What an amazing story. This will be a classic someday," said another.

After penning popular titles like "Tall Oaks" and "All the Wicked Girls," "All the Colors of the Dark" is Chris Whitaker's most ambitious novel to date — and the rare thriller to be chosen as Read With Jenna's July 2024 pick. The story opens in a small Missouri town in 1975, where a girl named Misty narrowly escapes abduction. Her would-be rescuer, a boy named Patch, isn't so lucky.

From there, the story spans across decades and lives, returning to the people pulled into that act of violence. Misty must live with its echo, and Saint, Patch's best friend, never stops searching. For almost 600 pages, the story teeters on the edges of genre, folding together elements of mystery, crime, literary fiction, historical drama, and romance. As one Goodreads fan put it: "The author's masterful storytelling, evocative prose and the emotional depth and insight with which he touches upon themes of love and friendship, sacrifice, resilience, trauma and healing, guilt and redemption render this an incredibly moving story."

The novel left such an impression on Bush Hager that she's now producing a screen adaptation through "Thousand Voices" — her media company founded to champion emerging storytellers. The project is being developed in partnership with Universal Content Productions and Dinner Party Productions. "Together, their vision, passion, and creativity is staggering," Whitaker said of the team." For a book that begins in the dark, its future sure looks bright.