Book Review ~ Broken Promise

Recently I had a hankering for a good suspense read ~ the kind that you can lose yourself in the plot and characters and have a little edge of your seat action.

Linwood Barclay’s latest book, Broken Promise, hit the spot.   I’ve read a couple of his novels and have loved the gripping suspense, ruthless killers and unexpected twists. The plot of Broken Promise sounded interesting so it wasn’t until it arrived, I discovered it referred to as Promise Falls #1 and I was excited to read the first in a new series.

From the Back Cover
After his wife’s death and the collapse of his newspaper, David Harwood has no choice but to uproot his nine-year-old son and move back into his childhood home in Promise Falls, New York. David believes his life is in free fall, and he can’t find a way to stop his descent.

Then he comes across a family secret of epic proportions. A year after a devastating miscarriage, David’s cousin Marla has continued to struggle. But when David’s mother asks him to check on her, he’s horrified to discover that she’s been secretly raising a child who is not her own—a baby she claims was a gift from an “angel” left on her porch.

When the baby’s real mother is found murdered, David can’t help wanting to piece together what happened—even if it means proving his own cousin’s guilt. But as he uncovers each piece of evidence, David realizes that Marla’s mysterious child is just the tip of the iceberg.

Other strange things are happening. Animals are found ritually slaughtered. An ominous abandoned Ferris wheel seems to stand as a warning that something dark has infected Promise Falls. And someone has decided that the entire town must pay for the sins of its past…in blood. 

Broken Promise has all the elements {a good mystery, a multitude of characters harbouring dark secrets and chequered pasts and of course family drama} but the delivery is a bit slow. It wasn’t a bad read, quite the opposite, with multiple plot lines and diverse cast of characters; it was intricate and well written.  There was a lot of other stuff happening in the background but it added a lot of flavour, rather than be too confusing. I had a hard time putting it down.  I enjoyed seeing how these plots weaved around each other and were resolved in the end ... well, for the most part.

At the end of Broken Promise, we’re left hanging just a bit with some unfinished business… but Barclay’s obviously setting the scene for future novels in this series. Not so much to be frustrating but just enough to have us coming back for more. And you can bet that I will be.  And that's a promise!

What a fabulous first-in-a-series read it is! I enjoyed this so much I’m eagerly awaiting the next book in the series.

Take Care