Broken Promise – Linwood Barclay (Promise Falls #1)
In Broken Promise, the latest from Linwood Barclay, the author returns to the town of Promise Falls, New York and pens another terrific thriller. Promise Falls was the setting for two of Barclay’s previous books, Never Look Away and Too Close to Home. Many familiar character populate Broken Promise including: Police Detective Barry Duckworth, Landscaper Eddie Cutter and his son Derek and the main protagonist David Harwood. Harwood and his family wife Jan and son Ethan were the main characters in Never Look Away. Broken Promise picks up David’s life several years after Never Look Back, David and Ethan have returned to Promise Falls where David has returned to his former job as a reporter for the town newspaper, only to have the newspaper shut down on his first day of work! His only option is to move back in with mom and dad! One day his mom asks David to look in on his cousin Marla. Marla is having a hard time after losing a baby about ten months prior.When David arrives at Marla’s he notices a spot of blood on the front door and Marla is caring for a ten-month old baby, that she says an “Angel” delivered to her door!
When the mother of the baby is found brutally murdered, Marla becomes the prime suspect! Soon David is asked to find out anything he can to help prove that Marla is innocent. But as David digs deeper, solving the crime may rip his family apart!!
Typically, in a Linwood Barclay’s book one ordinary person is put in an extraordinary situation and that happens in Broken Promise as David sets out to discover how Marla ended up with the baby and who really killed the baby’s mother.But along with the mystery surrounding Marla and the murder there are other extraordinary events happening in Promise Falls; including the slaughter of 23 squirrels, attacks on the local college campus and a message painted on mannequins placed on the ferris wheel of an abandoned amusement park. All these events seem to indicate that maybe Promise Falls is a broken town!
At Goodreads Broken Promise is labeled as (Promise Falls #1) and certainly there were enough questions to be answered at the end of Broken Promise to provided a storyline for Promise Falls #2 Far From True, which will be released in March of 2016. I have enjoyed all of Barclay’s standalone books, but there is something special about a book series and I am certainly looking forward to spending more time with the residents of Promise Falls!! I have a pretty good idea of who may be responsible for several of the happenings, but as for the killer, I haven’t a clue!! I can’t wait until March!!
Bottom-Line: Broken Promise is a four and a half star book! I can certainly be enjoyed without reading the two other books mentioned, but each of those books were outstanding reads and certainly stand on their own!! So check them all out!!!!