Book Notices | Broken Promise by Linwood Barclay

Linwood Barclay, Broken Promise

Amazon   Broken Promise is the first book in Linwood Barclay’s trilogy set in Promise Falls, New York. There’s a lot going on in it: dead squirrels, murder, kidnapping, more murder, a series of sexual assaults, and a creepy tableau of mannequins on a carnival attraction. And there are a lot of characters to watch: David Harwood, an out of work reporter whose cousin is implicated in one or two of the crimes mentioned above; David's mother and father and aunt; a bully and his gun-toting mom; a donut-loving detective; a disgraced former mayor; a very busy doctor. The story is interesting, but it felt as if there was too much going on for one book. And that turned out to be true, because not all of these storylines are resolved by the end. They spill over into book two, at least. I like Barclay’s novels in general, and this one was good, but I’m not sure it was good enough to keep me reading the series for another 1000-plus pages.