Lead Review

• Book: Twelve Secrets
• Location: Putney
• Author: Robert Gold

Review Author: Tina Hartas

3.5*

The author was, he says, broadly inspired by the small community featured in the TV series Broadchurch, the intensity of its setting and how everyone somehow became involved in the central event. Haddley was further inspired by Putney in London, “..where the river and outside spaces play a big part in people’s lives..”

Ben Harper is back in Haddley where, as a youngster, he was witness to a tragic and traumatic scene. He discovered the gored bodies of his older brother and his friend, murdered by two teenage classmates. His father was no longer on the scene, a classic abandoner of family and children, and he and his mother went on to forge a strong bond. Then one day she headed for the train into London and apparently jumped in front of it and died.

It is now 20 years down the line since the double killing, the two people who murdered the boys have served their sentences, and have long since been discharged into different communities with new identities. But another death now, with a modus operandi that clearly harks back to the original murders, propels Ben into looking into the events all those years ago. He is, after all, a lauded true crime journalist and therefore knows his stuff. He is also being pressured to report in depth by his superior, who apparently has more than just a passing interest in the original case.

The author really lays out a well prepped opening scenario, which certainly hooked me in. He presents various credible developments. Then, he has Ben embarking on a jaunt to Yorkshire, just for the day and Ben invites a police officer, who is familiar with the latest murder, to accompany him. That was the point at which, for me, the story began to lose its early vibrancy. Would a police officer really make such an ‘off the record’ trip, go along for the ride, a witness to Ben blagging his way into a cordoned off murder scene? It just seemed so improbable. Anyway, clues appear there and Ben is off on his new trajectory.

To be honest, I got a little lost with all the characters who wander in and out of the pages. Ben is, of course, the main man, dealing with the loss of brother and mother, and his grit and determination to get to the bottom of the mystery are laudable. The chapters throughout are pretty short and generally, as each opens, there is a different character pushing the plot forward. On occasion it felt that there were just too many people – many of them not really sufficiently defined – crowding the pages, and it was hard to get to know them beyond their on-page personas.

The multiple themes that thread through the story do feel distracting, all working overtime to pump up what actually, at the heart, is a very good storyline, leaving the narrative crowded and the essence somewhat drowned.

This is hailed as “The Most Anticipated Debut of 2022” and the author is clearly a talented writer. The story and construct are indeed pacy but, for me, just didn’t work so effectively.

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