Broken Promise by Linwood Barclay
This book brings back characters from his previous book Never Look Away, and is the start of a new trilogy set in Promise Falls, in upstate New York. David Harwood is back in Promise Falls with his son Ethan, now 9, living with his parents until he gets a place of his own. Following the events from the previous book, David had moved to Boston to make a new start, but his job there required a lot of evening work, and he wasn't spending the time with Ethan that he wanted. So he left Boston to take a job back on the local paper, the Standard. Unfortunately for him, the paper decided to shut down, and now he has no job.
Ethan also seems to have trouble adjusting to his new situation and David is worried about some of his behaviour. As the book opens, a crisis is beginning for the extended family.
David visits his younger cousin Marla to drop off some food from his mother, and finds her with a baby. As he tries to figure out where the baby came from, he follows clues to a nearby home where the situation gets worse.
Local police detective Barry Duckworth is trying to follow his diet, and he almost welcomes the distraction of a call from the ex-mayor to come to the scene of a supposed crime. What he finds is disturbing and when more disturbing events follow, he starts to wonder if they are connected. Duckworth is a good, seasoned detective and his insight brings a lot to the situations unfolding in this novel. I liked him.
The ex-mayor Randall Finley is a real piece of work, but it is hard to tell whether he's a bad guy, or just a jerk. He definitely has bad attitudes towards women, and is not against collusion, bribery, and blackmail when it serves his own ends. He's an interesting character, but not a likeable one.
There is lots going on here, and the ending makes me want to go out and get the next book in the series.
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