We Don’t Talk About Carol (2025) is the debut domestic thriller by Kristen L. Berry. The novel follows 38-year-old Sydney Singleton, a former crime reporter who discovers a long-buried family secret while cleaning out her recently deceased grandmother’s house in Raleigh, North Carolina. After learning that she had an aunt, Carol, who disappeared in 1965 around the same time as five other local Black girls, Sydney begins an investigation that forces her to confront her own family’s traumatic past. The novel explores themes of how Silence Perpetuates Family Harm within families and How Systemic Racism Shapes Public Response to Hardship in the wider world.

Sydney’s external quest for justice for the “Raleigh Six” mirrors her internal journey to reclaim her own narrative from a past defined by abuse and secrecy. As she uncovers clues from her aunt’s diary and interviews reluctant sources, she must also navigate painful treatments for in vitro fertilization (IVF) and strained relationships with her mother and sister. The investigation becomes a mechanism through which she can finally break the cycle of repression that has damaged her family, demonstrating the novel’s central theme that Truth Telling Reclaims Personal Power. By using the framework of a cold-case mystery, the novel examines the psychological toll of intergenerational trauma and the systemic indifference that has long allowed the stories of missing Black girls to be forgotten.

This guide refers to the 2025 Bantam first edition.

Content Warning: The source material and guide feature depictions of illness, death, death by suicide, child death, graphic violence, sexual violence, physical abuse, emotional abuse, child abuse, racism, pregnancy loss, suicidal ideation, mental illness, addiction, and substance use.

Plot Summary

Sydney Singleton, a 38-year-old public-relations executive, is traveling with her husband, Malik, from Los Angeles, California, to Raleigh, North Carolina, for the funeral of her paternal grandmother, Effie. While helping her estranged mother, Grace Singleton, and younger sister, Sasha Singleton, clean out Effie’s house, Sydney finds a framed photograph of a teenage girl. She recalls finding the photo as a child and being told by Effie, “[W]e don’t talk about Carol” (5). Effie’s old friend Eloise Hall identifies the girl as Carol Singleton, Sydney’s aunt, who disappeared in 1965 at the age of 17. Eloise reveals that five other Black teenage girls from their South Park neighborhood also vanished between 1963 and 1965, sparking local rumors of a “Creek Killer” who targeted girls living near Walnut Creek. 

Haunted by this discovery, Sydney, a former crime reporter, begins to investigate. Her search intensifies when Sasha finds Carol’s diary hidden in a crawlspace. The diary details Carol’s secret romance with a college boy named Michael and their plan to run away together to escape her strict mother. Eloise provides Sydney with a 1965 high-school yearbook containing a memorial page for the six missing girls: Marian Bradbury, Bettie Brooks, Sally Dunn, Loretta Morgan, Geraldine Williams, and Carol Singleton. Malik worries about Sydney’s investigation, citing a past event where a case that paralleled her childhood trauma caused her to have a mental-health crisis. However, she assures him that this helps distract her from the pain and uncertainty of IVF, which they’re doing since she has struggled to become pregnant.

Sydney interviews Eloise’s daughter, Yvonne, a lawyer who babysat Carol and Larry Singleton, Sydney’s father. Yvonne downplays the disappearances and claims not to know any Michael whom Carol might have dated. Yvonne does, however, connect Sydney with Barbara and Stanley, the siblings of victims Geraldine and Sally. During their conversation, Barbara and Stanley reveal that Michael’s last name is Hall—he’s Yvonne’s brother. Stanley recounts seeing Michael and Yvonne in a heated public argument with Carol at a Shaw University party shortly before she vanished. Barbara shares digitized police files, though they contain no report for Carol. In Carol’s diary, Sydney finds mentions of a friend named Sally and a “creepy” acquaintance of Michael’s named Raymond “RayRay” Green. 

Sydney tracks down Michael Hall, now a professor, who admits that he was Carol’s boyfriend and claims that he filed a missing-person report for her. He invites Sydney to Detroit, Michigan, to see a trunk of Carol’s belongings that he has kept for decades. Sydney and Sasha travel to Detroit, where Michael gives them the trunk. In his study, Sydney spots a photograph of Michael’s friends, including Raymond Green, posing in front of a dark Chevy 210 sedan—the same type of car that witnesses reported seeing two of the victims enter. Back in Los Angeles, Sydney finds Sally Dunn’s silver charm bracelet hidden in a secret compartment of the trunk.

The investigation gains momentum after Sydney posts on true-crime forums and pitches a Raleigh reporter, leading to an article in The News & Observer and an episode on the popular podcast The Unforgotten. Sydney learns from Stanley that Raymond Green’s childhood home was on Branch Street, backing onto Walnut Creek. She speaks with Raymond’s former neighbor, Alvin, who recalls seeing a blood-spattered Raymond gardening near a large hydrangea bush late on the night of July 4, 1964, the day after Geraldine Williams went missing. Armed with this new testimony, Sydney convinces Raleigh detective Bruce Higgins to investigate. Higgins secures a warrant to excavate Raymond’s old property. 

Meanwhile, Sydney, who’s undergoing her third round of IVF, struggles with her complicated family history, especially the trauma caused by her late father, Larry, who had an alcohol addiction. Their mother never allowed them to speak about Larry’s abuse, preventing them from healing. Sasha resents Sydney for leaving for college while their father was alive, making Sasha feel abandoned; this resulted in Sasha clinging to their mother and never leaving home. Meanwhile, Sydney disdains Sasha’s lack of independence. When Sasha confronts Sydney over an extreme experience of abuse wherein their father threatened to drive them all off a cliff into the ocean, this catalyzes Sydney acknowledging and embracing her past, allowing her to understand her current fears about becoming a parent.

A DNA test that Sasha takes reveals that they have a first cousin named Wesley Jones. Sydney and Sasha connect with Wesley and learn that he’s Carol’s son. Carol is alive and living in Harlem, New York, under the name Mary Jones. Sydney and Sasha fly to New York and, with a reluctant Wesley, go to Carol’s home. Upon learning why they’re there, Carol panics and slams the door. Sydney sends an emotional email, revealing her knowledge of Michael and warning Carol that he’s now a suspect and may be looking for her. Carol agrees to meet and confesses what happened. 

Carol was an unwilling accomplice to Michael and Raymond. After witnessing them murder Loretta Morgan in the wetlands known as the “Snake Pit,” Michael blackmailed her into helping them lure other girls by threatening to frame her brother, Larry, whom she loved. Carol tearfully recounts convincing her friend Sally Dunn to get into Raymond’s car. During Sally’s burial in Raymond’s backyard, Carol secretly swapped Sally’s bracelet for Michael’s class ring in a box of victims’ “trophies” that Michael was burying, hoping to leave a clue for the police. A few months later, Raymond took Carol to the wetlands, forced her to dig her own grave, and tried to sexually assault her. She fought back, killed him in self-defense, buried his body there, and fled to New York, assuming a new identity. She confirms that Bettie Brooks is also buried in the wetlands.

Carol returns to Raleigh to give her testimony. Authorities excavate Raymond’s yard and find the remains of Marian, Geraldine, and Sally. Inside a box buried with Sally, they find trophies from the victims, including Michael’s class ring with the initials “MEH.” The police then search the wetlands, recovering the remains of Bettie, Loretta, and Raymond. With Carol’s testimony and the physical evidence, Michael Hall is arrested and found guilty on multiple counts of murder. For her part, Carol isn’t charged, as she was a minor acting under duress and killed Raymond in self-defense. 

Sydney’s IVF treatment is successful, and she and Malik welcome a baby girl, Nia. The intense investigation and the revelations about her family’s past trauma help Sydney heal her relationships with Sasha and her mother and give her the confidence to embrace motherhood. She and Sasha start a successful true-crime podcast titled Every Missing Black Girl, dedicated to telling the stories of other unsolved cases.

Fifteen months later, the city of Raleigh dedicates a memorial called “Angels’ Clearing” at the wetland burial site. Sydney, Malik, and Nia attend a celebration of life with the victims’ families. Sasha is there, recording audio for their podcast. Carol also attends but keeps her distance, respecting the families’ grief. She meets Nia for the first time on a bridge overlooking the clearing. Carol tells Sydney that by finding her, Sydney gave her the strength to tell the truth and begin forgiving herself.