Book ~ "Far From True" (2016) Linwood Barclay

From Goodreads ~ After the screen of a run-down drive-in movie theater collapses and kills four people, 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 - as well as evidence of missing DVDs. But his investigation soon becomes more complicated when he realizes it may not be discs the thief was actually interested in.

Meanwhile, Detective Barry Duckworth is still trying to solve two murders - one of which is three years old - he believes are connected, since each featured a similar distinctive wound.

As the lies begin to unravel, Cal is headed straight into the heart of a dark secret as his search uncovers more startling truths about Promise Falls. And when yet another murder happens, Cal and Barry are both driven to pursue their investigations, no matter where they lead. Evil deeds long thought buried are about to haunt the residents of this town - as the sins of the past and present collide with terrifying results.

It's the drive-in's last night in operation and the drive-in is packed.  There is an explosion and the screen tumbles down, landing on two cars killing four people.  Of one those killed is Adam, an author.  Adam's daughter, Lucy, hires Cal, a private detective, to investigate a break-in in her father's house right after his death.  They discover that Adam and his wife, Miriam, had a "playhouse" in their basement where they would film their fun with other couples ... but the DVDs have disappeared so they assume that's what the thief was looking for and had taken.

Sam, who runs the town's laundramat, is in a custody battle for her son with her ex-in-laws (her ex-husband is in prison) and her ex-in-laws will do anything to get Carl.

David, a former journalist, is working for the sleazy ex-mayor, Randy, in his bid to run for mayor again.  It's going against David's better judgement to work for Randy but he needs the job.

This is the second in the Promise Falls series .  I'd read the first one, Broken Promise, in November.  Far From True could work as a stand alone but I think you'd be better off reading the first one before you read this one.  There was a lot going on in the first one and a lot of the things are still continuing in this one.  There are references to the stuff that happened in the first one but if I picked this one up without reading the first one, I would find it a bit confusing and overwhelming.

I've read many books by this author over the years ... some I've liked a lot and some not so much.  I like his writing style in this one and was okay with the switching of perspectives ... sometimes it's third person perspective and sometimes it's first person perspective (when it's Cal's voice).   As a head's up, there is swearing (lots of F-bombs).

By the end of the book, two of the major plot lines are still not solved (the author pulled this stunt in the first book too).  As a writer, he probably did this to build the suspense to entice readers to buy the final book in the series.  As a reader, I found this extremely annoying and after devoting so much time to reading this book (at 480 pages, it's not a short read), he's making me buy the next one if I want to find out the "whodunnits" bad enough.