Keystone Cops meets Twin Peaks!

This is an enjoyable, light, frivolous summer read, somewhere between the Keystone Cops and Twin Peaks. David Harwood is back in Promise Falls, a quirky little small town on the east coast of America somewhere south of Boston. There are some very odd inhabitants in PF as David encounters when he visits his cousin Marla. She is overjoyed to see him and takes great pleasure in introducing him to her new baby, little Mathew. Is Mathew really the child of a somewhat disturbed Marla? Is there a connection between her baby and the murder of Rosemary Gaynor together with the disappearance of Rosemary's  newborn child? This is all the reader really needs to know as the absurd story develops he will be introduced to a bizarre and motley crew of local residents each with their own hidden agenda.

Linwood Barclay writes books of great enjoyment and he is loved and read worldwide. Most of his output is idle entertainment and instantly forgettable and having said that I expected no more or less from "Broken Promise" and I was certainly not disappointed. The chapters in the book are short (thankfully!) very easy to read the 484 page count easily consumed in two sittings. There is the odd quirky throw away phrase...."Sturgess looked at the high-tech chair in its elevated position. On the small table next to it, a remote, a book of crossword puzzles, an open box of chocolates, a Denielle Steel novel. That was her whole world there, a command center, sitting in front of the television."... There are two further books in the Promise Falls trilogy and followers of this internationally renowned author will devour with elation, I shall not be amongst them as one visit to this odd little township is possibly one visit too many.