‘Far From True’ by Linwood Barclay (Promise Falls # 2)

⭐⭐⭐

Rating: 3 out of 5.

We’ve just been on the road for a month in our camper van, travelling from Toronto to Texas and back. There’s enough travelogue tales from the trip to fill another blog, but for that I would have needed a better US data package! 🙂

What makes the miles fly by while driving is listening to audio books. This trilogy, set in a small town, has kept us going on this trip. Each instalment in this series ends with a cliffhanger so if you do get into Promise Falls, it will involve reading all three.

There is quite a bit of bad language in these books, so beware if that is bothersome for you. It’s not a literary work of art by any stretch of the imagination, but Barclay is a good storyteller and the pace is engaging. He really sets up the characters in the town well and creates intrigue typical of a good thriller, while still keeping the ‘small town’ feeling.

There have been a lot of strange things happening in Promise Falls lately. In the first book called Broken Promise, some of the mysteries were solved, but some were left unsolved to be continued in the series. Far From True starts with a horrific event where the screen explodes at a drive-in theatre. Four people are killed and the daughter of one of the victims asks private investigator Cal Weaver to look into a recent break-in at her father’s house. Cal discovers a hidden basement room where it’s clear that salacious activities have taken place.

The most endearing character in these books is detective Barry Duckworth. In this second book, the poor guy is still trying to avoid the donut shop because he has to lose weight somehow! He is now joined by a new investigator Cal Weaver. Barry Duckworth has been on the case trying to solve two murders he believes are connected, since each featured a similar distinctive wound. And there’s a weird connection to the number ’23’ that has everyone stumped! Happily we have one more day’s drive ahead of us before we reach home, so I hope we can finish the finale called The Twenty-Three.

Broken Promise # 1

Far From True # 2

The Twenty-Three # 3