Broken Promise: (Promise Falls Trilogy Book 1)

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When he stops by to check on his cousin, Marla, whose baby was stillborn some months ago and she’s still pretty fragile, David finds her with a baby boy she says was delivered to her by an “angel. The rest of the story is told from a variety of characters including Detective Duckworth, Agnes, David's father, and a man who has just lost his wife to name a few. The fictional town of Promise Falls situated in Upstate New York and just north of Albany is the setting for Broken Promise, the first novel in what is set to be a trilogy. A complete roller coaster, one thing after another for David who moves back to Promise Falls with his son, Ethan. The people you hear about on the news with their neighbors saying 'I'm so shocked, they were always so nice!

After losing his wife five years earlier, David Harwood has uprooted his son from Boston to his home town and the more manageable hours as a reporter on the Promise Falls Standard, temporarily living with his parents. Little does he know running this simple errand will land him in the middle of a murder investigation? Throw into this a shady politician wanting to get back in the game, a domineering mother who is also a hospital administrator, an un-documented worker who knows a little too much, and a re-occurrence of the number 23 (23 squirrels, car number 23, 23 on a sweatshirt), a dead mother, and parents on the verge of dementia and you get a book that you will not want to put down. There is real storytelling craft on display here, and if ever a book deserved the description 'page turner' it's this one.David’s character steers the ship, so to speak, but we also get the inner musings of several other characters. Barclay utlises a formula in his novels that fans know well: present many characters, use numerous storylines to keep them fresh, then tie off the main plot with a twist no one saw coming, even if you paid attention.

He and his son Ethan are now living with his parents until he can find a new job and get back on his feet. A murder, a missing Nanny, her boyfriend, a fatal shooting at Thackeray College, rapes, strange things in the night at Five Mountains, a deserted amusement park, with three mannequins on a Ferris Wheel, and twenty-three dead squirrels hanging, mixed with a message "YOU'LL BE SORRY".

Duckworth assigns his temporary assistant, uniformed cop Angus Carlson, to look into the squirrels, Ferris wheel, and assaults - but Carlson is less than enthusiastic about this. For further information about your statutory rights, contact your local authority Trading Standards department or consumer advice centre (for example the Citizen's Advice Bureau if you are in the UK). Something is not right, and David begins using his investigative reporting skills to do some digging to get to the bottom of his mystery.