Such a great read !!! The intimate stories from Promise Falls makes the read and the town all that more believable. The key ? — The characters, their stories and the way it’s told. Linwood Barclay delivers an impressive thriller that left me wanting more !
In the opening chapter we meet David and he tells us how circumstances in his life brought him to Promise Falls, not long after that we are thrown into a murder, a kidnapping of a baby, attempted rapes on campus, murdered squirrels and the goings on of a small town slowly crumbling. I loved following David as he did his sleuthing as well as Detective Barry Duckworth and his own story line. Since this is a “who done it” mystery/crime novel…. I’m not going to go too much into the plot and spoil it for you.
However, I have a treat for you… Linwood Barclay has been publishing Broken Promise podcasts and you can listen to part one HERE. You can hear him read the first chapters and it is brilliant. This was such a treat !! Living in Quebec, there are rarely any autograph signings or readings from authors and something as simple as a podcast gives that sense of connectivity.
I read the book in about a day and a half… I didn’t want to put it down. There are some sub-stories that I loved more than others, some characters that I just want more of and some questions that are obviously unanswered. Yes, we are talking about the hanging off a cliff type of unanswered questions !!
As Barclay says in the beginning of his podcast, he has written other novels set in Promise Falls with recurring characters… I’ll have to seek those out !! Broken Promise is my first novel by Barclay but it won’t be my last. He not only hooked me with the story but with the characters. And see, I’m not a crime/mystery person in general BUT there is just something about the whole of this novel that tugs at me and wants more.
The advanced reader copy I received had bonus material such as a description of the cast of characters as well as a map of Promise Falls. I loved that added touch very much. I’m a very visual person and just like that little attention to detail gives the book an even richer feel.
The book resonated with me at first because I felt very strongly for David and his predicament, then for the town of Promise Falls itself. I come from a small northern mining town where the mines closed and there was a mass exodus and the result was a crumbling economy. Barklay got it spot on when describing how the town and the community can deteriorate.
If you are wondering what to pick up next, discover Broken Promise by Linwood Barclay. You’ll find that it is a faced paced read (even for 512 pages) and perfect to get lost in while on vacation.
Broken Promise by Linwood Barclay
Published by Doubleday Canada, a division of Penguin Random House
pages 512
Available for purchase July 28th 2015