Four Stars for Linwood Barclay‘s
Four Stars for “Promise Falls” series.
Although it was a great read, and kept me well-glued to my couch, chair – wherever I might have been able to grab a few minutes to read – it still left me with a few loose ends. As a writer, I know how difficult it can be to tie up so many loose ends, and the Promise Falls series has many. I assume, because of this, Mr. Barclay might have another book in mind to do just that. I also think it might have been better had the author created some of these plots in stand-alone books, which would have eliminated a lot of the rehashing of many of the details – just a thought, though, as I know, having written a series myself, how difficult it can be to not keep going!
Having said all this, though, the books were interesting enough to keep me speed reading through them. Small towns don’t have such disasters, especially sleepy ones that have not seen any major crimes for a while. But things begin to heat up as a woman is found murdered, another woman claims an angel handed her a baby, animals are found slaughtered, warnings are written in a strange place, people hide their salacious activities, a devastated fiance who can’t recover from his bride-to-be’s death, a father who mourns, a man who feels burdens of guilt, individuals running away from the disasters in their lives and thinking the small town would be the best place to hide out from the world…the list goes on. I am glad I was able to take a week or so and finish all three books together, so I could keep track of all the characters.
In the end, can I say all has been solved? Will all be well for the massive list of characters that raced through this book? Not sure. I agree with one of the other reviewers: an epilogue might have helped with some closure and given me the indication there really was more to come, although how many more disasters in such a short period of time could possibly happen is debatable.
I don’t wish to be critical of Mr. Linwood. I still think he is a great writer, and I have always enjoyed his other stand-alone books. The Promise Falls series is a good read, and if there is more to come, I probably will read the next book just so I can tie up the loose ends I am wondering about.
