Linwood Barclay is ace at dreaming up disturbing scenarios and then letting them play out in increasingly creepy ways. This time, the author of No Time for Goodbye (a huge seller in 2008) gives us David Harwood, a newspaper reporter who's out of a job, and living back with his parents and his son Ethan in his hometown of Promise Falls.
In typical Barclay style, the author lets us know from the off that things are about to go horribly wrong: "A couple of hours before all hell broke loose, I was in bed, awake since five, pondering the circumstances that had returned me, at the age of forty-one, to my childhood home." When he visits his cousin Marla, who is still grieving the death of her baby, he finds her taking care of a little boy the same age her own son would have been, and claiming she was given him by an "angel".
But there's blood by her front door, and when David tracks down the baby's real home, he finds the body of a woman. The first in a new series to be set in Promise Falls, Broken Promise is fast-paced and fun, ramping up to a thoroughly unsettling, clever conclusion.
Books in The Promise Falls Trilogy:
1. Broken Promise
2. Far from True
3. The Twenty-Three

From New York Times bestselling author Linwood Barclay comes an explosive novel set in the peaceful small town of Promise Falls, where secrets can always be buried-but never forgotten… After his wife's death and the loss of his job, David Harwood moves back into his childhood home in Promise Falls, New York-where he comes across a shocking family secret.
| Primary Genre | Crime and Mystery |
| Other Genres: | |
| Recommendations: |
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From New York Times bestselling author Linwood Barclay comes an explosive novel set in the peaceful small town of Promise Falls, where secrets can always be buried-but never forgotten… After his wife's death and the loss of his job, David Harwood moves back into his childhood home in Promise Falls, New York-where he comes across a shocking family secret. David finds his cousin Marla, 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 figure out what happened-even if it means proving his cousin's guilt. Marla's mysterious child is just the tip of the iceberg.
Broken Promise features in the following genres: Crime and Mystery, Thriller and Suspense, Books with reviews by our Reader Review Panel, eBooks of the Month, Fiction, Recommendations
Paperback, Hardback, Ebook. Not Available.
Broken Promise was written by Linwood Barclay and published by Berkley an imprint of Penguin Publishing Group
Broken Promise has 528 pages
Yes it is part of Promise Falls Trilogy series