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Promise Falls

Book review: Parting Shot by Linwood Barclay

Book review: Parting Shot by Linwood Barclay

3 min read

Fans of Linwood Barclay may remember his recent trilogy, set in Promise Falls. I loved the first instalment (Broken Promise) struggled just a little with the second (Far From True), but enjoyed the third (The Twenty-Three) more.

It did however, end with a cliffhanger. My mother later read it… “It can’t end there!” she wailed. Okay, so she may not have wailed…. thatĀ just sounded better. šŸ™‚ #alternativefacts

Well, the trilogy* did end. Officially. Ā Until this – featuring some of the characters we came to know and loveĀ – was released… in some circles as a standalone, but also billed as Promise Falls #4!

four-stars

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Book review: The Twenty-Three by Linwood Barclay

Book review: The Twenty-Three by Linwood Barclay

I love love LOVED the first book in the Promise Falls series – Broken Promise – by Linwood Barclay. I loved our protagonist and struggling hero, David Harwood and the slightly-strange hometown he returned to.

I eagerly opened the second book (Far From True) on its arrival and was disappointed. Our lead character was relegated to a minor character and there was a new lead (PI Cal Weaver).

Other characters (police detective Barry Duckworth and dodgy businessman and former Mayor Randall Finley) reappearedĀ and the underlying menace remained in the background… taunting us with something we weren’t yet seeing; but the crimes under investigation didn’t really grab my attention. Don’t get me wrong, I still enjoyed the novel but was a tad confused. Barclay had introduced so many supposed protagonists and threads that IĀ no longer knew who and what IĀ needed to care about.

And finally, we get to the final and third book in the series,Ā The Twenty-Three.

four-stars

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Book review: Far from True by Linwood Barclay

Book review: Far from True by Linwood Barclay

3 min read

I really enjoyed Linwood Barclay’s first Promise Falls novel, Broken Promise. I loved the protagonist David Harwood and the myriad of players Barclay introduced.

There were a lot of them, as I mentioned in that review, but that was okay as obviously Barclay was setting the scene for future books in the series. The inclusion of a crime which wasn’t ‘quite’ solved in the first series also made way for an overarching and continuingĀ story arc.

Far From True, is the second instalment in the Promise Falls series.

three-half-stars

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Book review: Broken Promise by Linwood Barclay

Book review: Broken Promise by Linwood Barclay

3 min read

After starting a few series part-way through (some more successfully than others), I’m excited to have been able to read the first in a new series. Of course I hadn’t realised that when I requested Broken Promise. I love Linwood Barclay and the plot sounded interesting so it wasn’t until it arrived and I checked Goodreads, I discovered it referred to as Promise Falls #1.

And what a fabulous first-in-a-series it is! Like David Baldacci’s (recent) Memory Man, I enjoyed this so much I’m eagerly awaiting more in the series.

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