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A review by jacki_f
Broken Promise by Linwood Barclay
3.0
David Harwood is the widowed father of a nine year old son who has moved home to the small town of Promise Falls, New York. Having lost his job as a journalist, he has time on his hands to step in and help when his cousin Marla is accused of murdering a local mother and abducting her baby. He gradually learns that almost everyone in this town has a secret of one kind or another and that his own life may be in danger.
This is a readable enough thriller and it has some killer twists that you don't see coming at ALL, but there are way too many strands and quite a few of them remain frustratingly unresolved. It's clearly set up for there to be a sequel and if you are the kind of person who hated the end of Lee Child's "61 Hours" because we didn't know if Reacher was alive or dead, you will probablyl dislike the end of this book too (although the ending is very different and that is in no way a spoiler). There are a number of little mysteries along the way which we spend a lot of time on and then they are unresolved. It's annoying!
The main plot is quite intriguing and David Harwood is a likeable character. The chapters when he narrates his investigations are the most enjoyable parts of the book. However like many books in this genre, the story gets increasingly unbelievable as the bad guys start acting in ways that are less and less credible. Also, I had to roll my eyes when Marla conveniently had a condition which meant that she was unable to remember people's faces and cars.
A final minor complaint: at over 500 pages, this is a heavy book that is hard to hold. The line spacing and margins are huge - in would have been nice to reduce both slightly and bring the book down to a more manageable size.
This feels like a very whiney review! Overall I didn't mind this book, but nor did I particularly like it. It took a long time to get exciting. The final 100 pages flew past but it was a bit sluggish getting to that point. What saves it is Linwood Barclay's engaging writing style and the strength of his main character. Plus, as I mentioned earlier, there are a couple of excellent twists.
This is a readable enough thriller and it has some killer twists that you don't see coming at ALL, but there are way too many strands and quite a few of them remain frustratingly unresolved. It's clearly set up for there to be a sequel and if you are the kind of person who hated the end of Lee Child's "61 Hours" because we didn't know if Reacher was alive or dead, you will probablyl dislike the end of this book too (although the ending is very different and that is in no way a spoiler). There are a number of little mysteries along the way which we spend a lot of time on and then they are unresolved. It's annoying!
The main plot is quite intriguing and David Harwood is a likeable character. The chapters when he narrates his investigations are the most enjoyable parts of the book. However like many books in this genre, the story gets increasingly unbelievable as the bad guys start acting in ways that are less and less credible. Also, I had to roll my eyes when Marla conveniently had a condition which meant that she was unable to remember people's faces and cars.
A final minor complaint: at over 500 pages, this is a heavy book that is hard to hold. The line spacing and margins are huge - in would have been nice to reduce both slightly and bring the book down to a more manageable size.
This feels like a very whiney review! Overall I didn't mind this book, but nor did I particularly like it. It took a long time to get exciting. The final 100 pages flew past but it was a bit sluggish getting to that point. What saves it is Linwood Barclay's engaging writing style and the strength of his main character. Plus, as I mentioned earlier, there are a couple of excellent twists.