“We Don’t Talk About Carol” addresses deep rooted family trauma and delves into the extremely underinvestigated and underreported cases of missing and murdered Black women.

It was poignant and thought provoking and it truly made me even more of a true crime advocate. Carol Singleton went ‘missing’ at 17 years old in 1965–the last of 6 girls to all go missing between 1963 and 1965.

Sydney Singleton, Carol’s niece, discovers Carol’s identity after her Grandmother dies. Sydney sets herself on a journey to find Carol while getting justice for all six missing Black girls in Raleigh, NC.

Their cases had been long forgotten and abandoned by detectives, so Sydney sort of takes it on herself (while also dealing with her own personal issues such as fertility, marriage, etc.) Sydney eventually unravels the mystery of her Aunt Carol and the other missing girls while also discovering loads of other family secrets long buried.

I loved the subplot of Sydney’s father Larry and her dynamic with her sister, Sasha, and mother, Grace. Seeing her work through her decades of familial trauma was refreshing since not many people talk about that. I also truly loved Sydney’s fertility journey and questioning her readiness to be a mom.

One thing I thought was left undone, though, was Michael’s sister Yvonne. Did she have something to do with the murders, too? Is that why she was so secretive and harsh with Sydney? Or was she truly just protecting her brother? Maybe that was the point—to get us thinking and leave us questioning Yvonne’s true intentions.

Overall just an enjoyable and thought provoking read that is valuable to anyone and everyone!

Well-written and well-paced, “We Don’t Talk About Carol” is a story that reflects the past and the present and how some family traditions don’t change without effort.

Sydney discovers she has an aunt, Carol, when cleaning out her Grammy’s house after her Grammy’s passing.
However, she didn’t realize Carol existed. She begins investigating Carol’s disappearance along with the disappearance of other teenage girls in the 1960s.

While investigating, Sydney must come to terms with her family’s past and her present as she tries to have a baby.
This story was layered and approached tough topics in a very thoughtful way. If I could give it 4.5 stars I would.

This is a very powerful, very sad book. It's a mix of generational trauma and true crime, with some regular current family problems too, with parents, siblings, and marriage.

When a child goes missing, it's no secret that if they're white, the news will be all over it. It will become a national story in no time. However if that child is Black, the chances of the news even showing up are slim. This is a story of 6 missing Black girls over 60 years ago. Our main character, the first person POV, is Sydney. She's cleaning up her recently passed grandmother's house with her mom and sister, both of who she has strained relationships with. On top of all of that stress, she's also going through IVF treatments with her husband, keeping it all a secret from her family. In the grandma's house, she finds a photograph she remembers finding as a teenager. When she showed the photo to her grandmother at the time, she was told, "Who don't talk about Carol." And that was that. Now, years later, she starts asking questions about Carol, who is actually her aunt, her father's sister that went missing 60+ years ago. Learning about her aunt, Sydney learns about five other girls that went missing around that same time. Girls that the police never looked for, the news never ran a story on, the families never got closure from. Sydney uses her background in journalism is learn about these missing girls and about her own family's past, changing its future along the way.

The book is written so well, always moving forward, throwing out more twists but never getting too complicated. The characters are all incredibly deep and it's so easy to relate to their struggles with each other in these rough situations. And while this isn't a true story, it definitely could have been. There are plenty of stories about girls and families like these, and that makes this story even more powerful and heartbreaking. No spoilers but the ending definitely had me in tears. This is a fantastic debut novel and I'll be happy to read more from this author in the future.

This is definitely a book I know I’ll hear a lot about. The plot was perfect with relatable characters. The ending was unexpected, but such a delight.

This book is SO! GOOD! I was hooked from the start. Beautifully written, absolute knockout of a debut from Kristen Berry.

When Sydney’s grandmother passes, she discovers an old photo of a woman who looks just like her. She learns this is her aunt Carol and that she went missing around the time 5 other black girls disappeared from their town as well. Sydney takes it upon herself to uncover the truth about what happened to those girls sixty years ago.

I can’t get over how well written this story is, and how seamlessly everything came together. My jaw was on the floor! I was so invested in trying to unravel the mystery I really thought I had it figured out but I didn’t see it coming!

Thank you so much Penguin Randomhouse/ Bantam books and NetGalley for the eARC!

Content warning: infertility journey

Two sisters cleaning out their grandmother’s house find an old photograph and learn that they had an aunt named Carol that they never knew about. As they seek to find answers to what happened to her, they discover a whole group of Black teenage girls that went missing around the same time period and were never found. The sisters then make it their mission to discover what happened to Carol and the other girls and who was responsible. At the same time, their own dysfunctional family issues resurface, causing tension.

This was my favorite book of the year so far and I can’t wait to introduce this to friends, colleagues and the library patrons I serve. The writing is eloquent and engaging and the whole story is not only captivating, but incredibly moving. The characters are deep and authentic and their plight emotional and relatable. Fans of Diane Chamberlain and Tracey Lange will devour this. I look forward to reading more from this author!

I’m a sucker for stories laced with family secrets, love and healing so I was so excited to read this one.

In this we are following a family surrounded by grief as they attempt to address these issues and solve a decades old family mystery. Our main character, Sydney, is recovering from a psychotic break after previously working as a crime beat journalist, struggling to make amends with her mother and sister AND dealing with fertility issues. But after the death of her Grammy, Sydney uncovers a family secret and races to understand just why her family doesn’t talk about aunt Carol.

This was a decently paced thriller filled with family secrets, exploration of motherhood, and a great conversation about the lack of coverage for missing Black girls.

I’m looking forward to reading more from Kristen!
Pick this one up if you’re interested in understanding more about the ways trauma permeates the roots of family trees and how this family healed.

Thanks to NetGalley, the author and Random House for an eARC in exchange for my review.

Thank you Netgalley & Bantam for an eARC ♥️

*We Don’t Talk About Carol* isn’t just a book—it’s an open wound. A scream into the void of generational silence. A love letter and a reckoning, all wrapped in a mystery so personal it feels like picking at a scab that never fully healed. 💔
Sydney Singleton is breaking—piece by fragile piece. Between the hollow ache of her grandmother’s death, the sterile cruelty of fertility treatments, and a marriage crumbling under the weight of unsaid things, she’s already hanging by a thread. Then she finds *her*—the little girl in the photograph. A face too familiar, a ghost with Sydney’s eyes. Carol .A name no one ever uttered. A life erased. One of six Black girls swallowed by the shadows of 1960s North Carolina, their disappearances met with the world’s deafening indifference.

And just like that, Sydney is lost all over again.

Because this isn’t just about Carol. It’s about the way Black girls vanish—first from the streets, then from memory. It’s about the way families swallow their grief like poison rather than risk choking on the truth. It’s about Sydney’s own unraveling years ago, when she chased another missing girl’s story straight into a psychiatric ward. The scars are still there. But this time, the missing girl is *her blood.* Her flesh. Her legacy.
The writing doesn’t just pull you in—it *haunts* you. Every page feels like walking through a house where the walls whisper. You’ll clutch the book tighter as Sydney digs deeper, unearthing rot beneath the family tree, because *oh God, what if the roots are rotten too?* What if the people she loves—the ones who tucked her in at night, who kissed her scraped knees—what if they’re the monsters?
And the most devastating question of all: *Does she want the truth, or just the pain of chasing it?*
There’s no neat bow here. No easy answers. Just like real life, the revelations cut deep and leave scars. Some readers might rage at the ending—not because it’s unsatisfying, but because it’s *real.* It hurts. It lingers. It forces you to sit with the uncomfortable truth that some doors, once opened, can never be closed again.
A masterpiece of heartbreak and defiance. This book will carve itself into your bones.
5/5 ★ – but only if you’re ready to bleed a little while reading it.😔💔

Kristen L. Berry’s We Don’t Talk About Carol is a beautifully layered debut that blends mystery, historical fiction, and literary fiction in a way that feels seamless and completely fresh. The story follows Sydney, a woman grappling with the emotional weight of her past while being drawn into a decades-old family mystery. When her Aunt Carol, who vanished years ago, resurfaces in the form of unanswered questions and painful memories, Sydney finds herself on a path of discovery that forces her to confront long-buried family secrets and societal truths that are still all too relevant today.

This isn’t a thriller, so adjust expectations going in. What you’ll find instead is a methodically paced, slow burn mystery that takes its time unfolding, allowing space for real emotional depth and reflection. The heart of the novel lies in Sydney’s personal struggles. Her mental health challenges, the pain of infertility, the lingering trauma of her father’s alcoholism, and the complicated dynamic with a mother who fails to acknowledge that trauma all make her a deeply human and relatable character. Berry handles these themes with care and authenticity.

At the same time, the mystery surrounding Carol’s disappearance drives the narrative with a quiet but persistent urgency. As Sydney starts digging into the past, she begins to uncover truths that some would rather keep buried. And just as compelling is the social commentary that runs through the novel. Berry boldly calls attention to the disparity in media and law enforcement responses when Black women go missing versus their white counterparts. It’s a theme that hits hard and sticks with you long after the final page.

It’s hard to believe this is Berry’s debut. Her writing is confident and thoughtful, with a clear voice and a talent for crafting characters who feel fully lived-in. She’s a writer I’ll be watching closely. I hope she continues to use her storytelling skills to explore complex social issues in such an accessible and emotionally resonant way.

Thank you to NetGalley and Random House Publishing Group for the advanced copy. All opinions are my own.

Thank you to NetGalley and Penguin Random House Publishing Group Ballantine Bantam for the opportunity to read this excellent and thought-provoking mystery and multi-generational family drama. There were so many complex layers to this book. The primary focus shines light on the disproportionate number of missing Black children dating back decades due to systemic racism and patriarchal issues.
The book begins when the main character Sydney is helping her mother and sister clean and sell their paternal grandmother's home, and she discovers a photo of a secret aunt she knew nothing about named Carol, who presumably ran away as a teenager. Sydney's deceased father and grandmother never discussed her, and as Sydney tries to discover more information, she learns that around the same time as Carol's disappearance, there were multiple other young Black teenager girls who disappeared. Sydney, who used to be a reporter, starts to uncover over sixty years of this family mystery and hopefully help discover what happened to the young women.
There was excellent tension between the characters, and it represented several different difficult family dynamics, primarily motherhood and sisterhood.
While Sydney is deeply invested in solving this case, she is also going through IVF with her husband Malik, which adds much more pressure on Sydney.
Sydney travels to multiple cities around the county, meeting with family and friends of the missing young women, while trying to discover just what happened to them and her aunt. In her journey, she brings much-needed attention to the injustice of how less likely Black childrens' disappearances and murders are fully reported on, investigated, and solved.
I would consider this book much more of a mystery than a thriller. I really enjoyed how invested Sydney was. I loved her relationships with her supportive husband Malik and her younger sister, who also helped Sydney in her investigation.
There were lots of great characters and tension. I wasn't quite sure how it was going to end, and it was an interesting surprise with good closure, I think. The book was evenly-paced, vivid, creative, and well-thought-out. I really enjoyed this one and can't wait to read more by this author!

This was a #jnsbuddyreads book and it did not disappoint!

Kristen has written such a standout debut with WE DON’T TALK ABOUT CAROL. This was such an amazing book! I love books that address different topics and this one addressed so many. Family secrets, trauma, missing women, infertility, mental health and so much more!

I couldn’t wait to see where this book would go and where it ended up was SO unexpected which was amazing. The writing was beautiful, the plot was well developed with no dry spots, and the mystery and twist were on point. I don’t know why I’m not seeing this book around more but it should be on EVERYONE’S radar. It literally has something for everyone in it. Such an amazing debut!

Thank you such much to NetGalley, Bantam, and Kristen L. Berry for my gifted copies!

When Sydney, a young woman struggling with fertility issues and family dysfunction, finds out that she had an aunt that she never knew existed, her investigative skills kick into play, and a decades-old mystery unfolds. Carol, her aunt, was among other young black females missing in the deep South, but never found. Why would her own family not report her missing? And why is her family strained with silence about many things? Is Sydney's own mental health a problem in trying to solve this crime?
This was surprisingly well written for your run-of-the -mill mystery. It had realistic family drama, and some historical fiction that points to real social justice issues prevalent in the 1960s. This was close to a 5 star read for me.

~Thank you to NetGalley and Publisher

“What happens in this house stays in this house” is the family’s unofficial motto in the book We Don’t Talk About Carol by Kristen L. Berry. It is the author’s debut novel.

The story is about several young black girls who went missing 60 years earlier. The story was never investigated because the young girls were black. Why doesn’t anyone talk about Carol and what happened to her is what the reader is determined to find out. When Sydney learns that her aunt went missing she decides to investigate what happened. She is determined to find answers. The lack of attention to the case just because the girls were black really disturbed me. It is important to write about these realities and bring it to people’s attention so that we don’t forget and prevent theseevents from happening again.

I had a hard time relating to or having sympathy for one of the characters and was glad to see even the charachters in the book felt the same. I am trying to be discreet on this point so that I don’t ruin the book for anyone who hasn’t read it.

While I enjoyed this book at times I found it slow due to some of the side stories the author included. Some of the side stories seemed forced and I don’t feel like they added anything to the plot of the story.

I give 5 stars for the main topic of the story but 3 stars for the other two points listed above, giving this book a rating of 3.75 stars. I look forward to reading another book by this author and if you like true crime books you will enjoy this one.

Kristen if you read this review I must say I too loved Mr. Sleete! He came to my house in August as promised to give me a ride on his Harley motorcycle for my birthday. He was one of my favorite teachers too!

Thank you NetGalley and Random House Publishing Group-Ballantine / Bantam for an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

3.5 ⭐️ rounded

This book was good and engaging. The main character, Sydney, discovers an aunt named Carol she never knew about, mysteriously disappeared around the time same several other young women of color disappeared in Raleigh NC in the 60s. The police never figured out what happened. The book takes us on an investigative adventure as Sydney tries to figure out what really happened to these young ladies 60 years ago. In addition to solving the murders, Sydney’s personal life is on verge of shambles.

The story sheds light on real life issues and has several powerful messages.

A few things that bummed me out about it were lack of twists and turns. Carol being alive was kind of a shock and her involvement wasn’t expected. But from the very beginning Raymond was the obvious choice and was in fact the bad guy. And when we discover Michael is also bad, it’s like there was no moment of denial or questioning on her part. She went and visited him and read in journals how much Carol loved him and first time someone speaks about something maybe being off, she assumes it’s about Michael and is like yep he’s got to be in on it. That was kinda weird. Also the whole thing with Michael’s sister just kind of went nowhere. She lied, was threatening, and then just disappeared. Seemed strange. I was also hoping for more answers around their dad. I guess his purpose was to show the trauma they went through. I thought we’d learn how or why he became the alcoholic he did. Some tie in with Carol.

A really wonderful thriller that touches on some sensitive topics (like racism, abuse, and infertility) while also managing to be engaging and exciting. I was so invested in Sydney's investigation, and while I did guess some things I was still surprised by several reveals. A great story and start of summer read!

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for this ARC!

I really enjoyed this book and the fact that it's Kristen L. Berry’s debut novel makes it even more impressive.

What initially pulled me in was the mystery surrounding the missing girls— I needed to know what happened but I didn’t expect the richness of the subplots and emotional depth that followed.

The way Berry weaves together themes of infertility, generational trauma, mental health, and the mystery of the six missing Black girls from the 60s is nothing short of incredible. Each layer felt intentional, impactful and held its purpose.

The ending was definitely shocking— while some of Sydney’s discoveries made it seem possible, I still didn’t want to believe it.

There were so many secrets revealed, layered moments that hit close to home and plots that definitely twisted.

Kristen L. Berry, you definitely have us talking about Carol.

Huge thanks to NetGalley for the opportunity to read this powerful debut.

When Sydney returns to Raleigh to clean out her grandmother’s house, she discovers a photo of a girl no one in the family has ever mentioned—her long-lost aunt Carol, who vanished in the 1960s along When Sydney returns to Raleigh to clean out her grandmother’s house, she discovers a photo of a girl no one in the family has ever mentioned. It turns out that the girl (who looks like Sydney) is her long-lost aunt Carol, who vanished in the 1960s. While some in the family assumed that Carol ran away to make it as a singer, five other neighborhood girls went missing at around the same time as Carol. As a former journalist, Sydney can’t resist investigating, even if that comes at a personal cost. Digging into the past means facing some painful truths—both in her family and within herself.

This was a great debut. The writing is tight, and it is a gripping mystery with emotional depth. It dares to tackle tough issues like family trauma and the disparities in how missing women are treated based on race. It's thoughtful, powerful, and full of twists. And it makes you think after you've put it down.

We Don’t Talk About Carol is an absolutely stunning debut and easily my favorite book of 2025. Kristen Berry delivers a tightly crafted, emotionally layered novel that blends the intimacy of a family drama with the tension of a slow-burning psychological mystery.

At the heart of the story is Sydney, a deeply relatable protagonist navigating the murky waters of grief, resentment, and long-held family secrets. Berry captures Sydney’s inner voice with remarkable clarity—her confusion, her quiet rage, her desire to move forward without fully understanding where she comes from. She feels real, flawed, and achingly human.

What begins as a death in the family quickly becomes a subtle but gripping unraveling of generational trauma. The silence around Carol—an aunt no one talks about—becomes a mystery in itself, and Berry handles the reveals with restraint and emotional intelligence. Each layer of the story peels back pain, history, and the damage caused by what families refuse to say out loud.

Berry’s writing is sharp, compassionate, and darkly funny at times. Her sense of pacing is impeccable, and her insight into the complexity of family dynamics is both brutal and beautiful.

This debut is not only impressive—it’s important. Kristen Berry is a powerful new voice in fiction, and I will eagerly read anything she writes next.

First, this was a beautiful debut. Second, this book hooked me from the very beginning. The book highlights family in two ways: bonds and dysfunction. I loved following the protagonist's journey through family discovery, her motherhood journey, and her solving of a decades-long mystery with the help of her sister.

I also appreciate that while this book is a fiction story, it speaks to a real issue—the stories of missing black women and people are not being told.

All in all, this was a GREAT read, and I will recommend it and think about it for a while.

It's amazing that this was a debut novel. It was well written and did a great job of going deep on some systemic race issues in America. The characters were well developed, and the mystery was interesting and engaging. The story evolves when Sydney's grandmother dies and she is cleaning out her house with her mother and sister Sasha and stumbles upon some pictures of Carol. Who is Carol? She soon finds out that Carol was her father's sister that disappeared 60 years ago. As a journalist and a true crime podcast fanatic, Sydney starts digging into Carol's disappearance even though she is told "we don't talk about Carol" in this house.

The story also touches on Sydney and her husband's battle with infertility, as well as dysfunction within her immediate family. I felt pulled into this story and although I had a good idea about what happened to Carol, there were still some good reveals at the end that I didn't expect. I look forward to reading another book by this author in the future!