It’s a real pleasure today to share my review of the latest book from Gail Aldwin, The Secret Life of Carolyn Russell. Published today (3rd July) by Bloodhound Books, it’s now available for kindle (just 99p, or free via Kindle Unlimited) and in paperback. My thanks to the author and publisher for my advance reading e-copy.
I’ll happily admit that this is a book that might not have usually caught my eye – had it not been for the author’s name on the cover. Gail first joined me as a guest back in 2018, to mark the publication of her excellent short fiction collection, Paisley Shirt: you’ll find my review here, together with our interview. Her debut novel, The String Games, followed – published in May 2019, it was an authentic and moving coming of age story, a wonderful portrayal of the impact of grief, loss and guilt, and an immensely engaging and well-told story (you’ll find my review here). A beautifully produced children’s book came next, Pandemonium – not read by me, but you can find out more from this post that Gail and I collaborated on. And then… well I suspect there are so many readers who loved Huxley as much as I did. Uplifting, funny, joyful, heartwarming, exceptionally poignant – This Much Huxley Knows was quite wonderful, life seen through the eyes of a child with his refreshingly simpler perspective on right and wrong (you can read my full review again here). And this time? Psychological suspense, an abduction, true crime podcasts – not at all my usual milieu, but I was looking forward to reading more from this exceptionally talented author…
A true-crime podcaster investigates a decades-old suspected abduction, in this powerful psychological suspense novel.
1979 Sixteen-year-old Carolyn Russell grows increasingly infatuated with her school mathematics teacher who is also giving her private lessons. Then she disappears.
2014 Struggling journalist Stephanie Brett creates a true-crime podcast focused on the disappearance of Carolyn Russell. By digging deep into this mysterious cold case, her confidence and flagging career are boosted. But after she confronts the suspects—and talks to a potential witness—the leads dry up. However, Stephanie refuses to let the story rest . . .
Can a small-time journalist with a shoestring podcast really hope to reconstruct the ultimate fate of Carolyn Russell after all these years, or are some secrets best left buried?
If, like me, you’re a touch uncertain about the prospect of “powerful psychological suspense”, I have to say that I found this book an absolute delight – a dual-time story so well told, wonderful characterisation, plenty of intrigue, and a mystery at its centre that really kept the pages turning.
In 2014, Stephanie finds herself unexpectedly made redundant from her job as features editor on the West Country Post – and little to look forward to in her rather empty life, where work has always been her anchor. She takes a lodger to help make ends meet – and when employment proves hard to find, remembers a case she reported on early in her career, the unresolved disappearance of teenager Carolyn Russell. Encouraged by her former boss, and after a meeting with Carolyn’s sister – a friend from her youth – she decides to reinvestigate the case, following leads, finding new witnesses and turning her interviews into a true-crime podcast with a focus on the impact on the community.
In 1979, Carolyn was sixteen – approaching exam time, short of friends, living with her mother, her father lost to suicide, her sister Janine (always the favourite child) having departed for university. Her weakest subject is maths, not helped by a succession of less than sympathetic teachers – but the new one, young and with a rather different approach, might just make a difference. He becomes the object of her teenage obsession, convinced that a relationship between them is meant to be – helped along by private tuition at his home that her mother is happy to pay for. But when she disappears on the day of her final maths exam, he becomes the prime suspect – other than the unknown driver of a yellow Cortina, a lead never followed up by the rather desultory police investigation.
Their stories alternate – Carolyn’s life, the 1970s so perfectly evoked through many small details, with its first-person insights into the mind of a lonely teenager, and Stephanie’s dogged pursuit of every new lead, however tentative, needing to resolve the mystery in time for the concluding episode of her podcast. The whole book is tremendously engaging, quite wonderfully immersing the reader in both their lives, and with a well-drawn supporting cast who add interest and texture – and the twists and turns of both stories, perfectly paced, never fail to keep your interest. Beautifully done, and with a conclusion and resolution that was everything I wanted it to be – and a book I’d very much recommend to others.
About the author
Novelist, poet and scriptwriter, Gail Aldwin has been writing for over a decade. Her first two coming-of-age novels were runners-up in the Dorchester Literary Festival Writing Prize 2020 and 2022. Gail was awarded a creative writing PhD in 2018 and still laughs whenever she’s called Doctor. She has appeared at Bridport Literary Festival, Stockholm Writers Festival and the Mani Lit Fest in Greece. Her psychological suspense mystery The Secret Life of Carolyn Russell is published by Bloodhound Books. Gail splits her time between a tiny flat in South West London and a home overlooking water meadows in Dorset.
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I loved this one, too!