Customer Reviews

Blood Lines

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

If you loved Singularity your going to love Bloodlines!!! Sarah Armstrong is a character you can relate too and kind of wish you were! Can't wait for the next chapter in the life of Sarah Armstrong and maybe even David Garrity?? Hint Hint. Good plots and great characters make this book a must read. So keep them coming KC!!!

Kathryn Casey writes books you can't put down. I have read and LOVE everyone of her non-fiction books and I am thrilled she has decided to write fiction as well.

Sarah Armstrong is a character I hope to be following for a long time to come. She is a woman we can all relate to and someone we want to know more about. KC does a wonderful job of juggling multiple story lines keeping each one interesting and just when you think you have things figured out... she throws in a new twist to the plot.

My only complaint.... she can't write them fast enough.

Kathryn Casey's follow-up to Singularity is a must read. For all who enjoyed Sarah Armstrong in Casey's first book - you will truely enjoy this one! Sarah is struggling with returning to work only to find herself overwheled with two very different and difficult caes.
Cassidy Collins is a spoiled superstar stalked by someone who knows her and Billie Cox is a Texas business woman murdered not suicide.
As you follow both investigations you feel for the characters and their pains and fears!
Casey did a super job leading us through the investigations and brining us closer to Sarah and her rebirth as a Texas Ranger.

I just finished Blood Lines by Kathryn Casey. Not bad. A pretty good read. I give it four stars out of five.
Texas Ranger Sarah Armstrong has her hands full with two high profile cases. A potentialy lethal stalker is pursuing a young pop megastar and a Houston businesswoman has been found dead, an apparent suicide that just doesn't look right.
This is Casey's second novel. Her first, SINGULARITY (2009) was picked as one of the best crime debuts that year by Booklist, the American Library Association's publication. Kathryn Casey resides in Houston, Texas and her website is KathrynCasey.com


James A. Anderson, Author

DEADLINE

I absolutely love this enthralling mystery series! "Blood Lines" is the second installment (following "Singularity") chronicling the intriguing cases of Texas Ranger criminal profiler Lieutenant Sarah Armstrong.

The death of Houston oil company executive Billie Cox appears to be a suicide, but her sister insists that Billie was murdered. When Sarah investigates the crime scene, her gut feeling is the victim's sister is right. At the same time, teenage recording star Cassidy Collins is being threatened by a menacing stalker. With upcoming concerts in Dallas and Houston, Sarah is teamed up with FBI profiler David Garrity to protect the superstar and capture the dangerous culprit. Meanwhile, Sarah is striving to balance her investigative duties with caring for her daughter's critically ill horse at her ranch. What follows is a suspenseful story marked by danger and intrigue. A surprise ending leaves me eagerly looking forward to the next book in the series, due out in fall 2010.

Ms. Casey has brilliantly crafted a thrilling storyline with a compelling cast of characters. Sarah Armstrong is a remarkable heroine...smart, tough, yet vulnerable. A widowed, single mother...she is a character we can relate to and care about. Her touching, loving relationship with her daughter is incredibly poignant. Exceptionally well-written, Ms. Casey masterfully creates a sense of urgency that grabbed me in the opening pages and never let go. I could feel myself in each scene, right there with the characters, watching the story unfold. The many dramatic plot twists continually kept me guessing. Also, it was enlightening to find out what goes on during a crime investigation. I thoroughly enjoyed this truly captivating mystery and I very highly recommend it!

Yes, I loved reading Ms. Casey's "Blood Lines". I couldn't believe her first novel, "Singularity", could be out done, but it's true. "Blood Lines" held my attention from the start. I found myself still up reading at midnight because I just couldn't put it down. The characters are three-dimensional, and the plot and sub-plots are riveting. I would highly recommend both books to anyone looking for a good read that's not full of four letter words.

It has been nearly a year since the events depicted in "Singularity" and only now is Lieutenant Sarah Armstrong somewhat ready to return to work as a criminal profiler for the legendary law enforcement organization Texas Rangers. Her time at the ranch outside of Houston, Texas with her Mom, her daughter Maggie and the horses has helped her a lot and she is ready to work again if Mom and Maggie are okay with it.

She certainly is needed at work. Not only is there a case of a suicide that is just too perfect, teenage pop star Cassidy Collins is coming to Texas to do some shows. Coming with her and very much unwanted is the stalker who is terrorizing her and threatening to kill her. Known as "Argus" he seems to always know what she is doing on stage and off and has inserted himself into her life at every turn. He seems determined to end the harassment by killing her and appears unstoppable as he has, among other things, taken over her communications systems at concerts.

Fortunately for Cassidy, Sarah is back on the job and has help from FBI agent David Garrity. A former romantic love interest, he provides a compelling back story as does life on the ranch in another storyline with a medical crisis for one of their beloved horses.

"Blood Lines: A Mystery" is a much stronger second novel than the first book. Author Kathryn Casey made family and characters alive in the first novel and builds on those in this second book. In this series, people change and grow over time unlike the characters in some other series. In that way, the novel mirrors real life and the continuing characters easily come alive for the reader.

Believability regarding Sarah being a Texas Ranger was an issue with the first book which failed to deliver real behind the scenes details or sense that Sarah was an actual Texas Ranger. Billed as a "police procedural" by some reviewers, it really wasn't and it never rang authentic in that area. While the Texas Rangers and law enforcement in general remains a key theme in the book, which some reviewers are also insisting it is a police procedural when it clearly isn't, that area is secondary to the relationships between characters and understanding why folks act the way they do. Character development and interaction is clearly the author's forte and when she focuses on that the novel rolls forward at a steady enjoyable pace.

Despite being predictable in a couple of spots for seasoned mystery readers, overall, the read is a good book with two compelling mystery cases that provide plenty of action, investigation and drama. While it can be read as a stand alone, reading the first novel will allow readers to experience both the growth of the characters as well as the fiction skills of the author.

Kevin R. Tipple (copyright) 2009

I am not a big fan of mystery type books,but I love Kathryn Casey's True Crime, so when she came out with Singularity I had to read it.I loved it and eagerly awaited Bloodlines..I am a big fan of Sarah Armstrong now and hope Ms. Casey keeps them coming.

The book was really good.What you thought was going to be predictable was anything but, She creates great characters
She has several stories going at once in the book but it runs smoothly together.I think people are going to be pleasantly surprised at this book.Kathryn Casey is really a talented author and her books need to be read.She has a great writing style.

Just when you think Sarah Armstrong is ready to throw in her badge and become a stay at home pie baker...think again! She's back and just as savvy as ever in how to solve a crime.

KC is a writer who can keep you glued to the pages from start to finish, and make you glad you laid down the price of a book!

The protagonist is a Texas Ranger but the book is not a Western. The Texas Ranger here is a female, with a kid, with a Mom living in, with a dead husband, with an estranged lover, with an eager boss and her own haunting past. Sarah Armstrong is a good character; flawed, fighting and fearless. She loves her family but wants to keep her occupation which sometimes brings trouble too close to home.

We have 2 unsolved crimes in here. An elusive stalker and an unsolved murder. The characters are realistic though the caricature of the teen pop star Cassidy Collins and her staff is very cliched and stereotyped. The tension and action in the novel are there to keep you reading till the end. Apart from her investigation and profiling for these 2 cases, she also has to deal with a birthing horse and a reunion with a 'distant' lover.

The book first disappointed me with its dual perspective. Casey first writes in third person perspective and then switches to first person narrative of Texas Ranger Sarah Armstrong for most of the book and in between we again get third person perspective. This is distracting and to me as an editor it is very irritating. The first person view brings us close to Sarah and this is a well-written perspective, making us feel and sympathise with Sarah. The third person view is needed to deal with all the places/ instances Sarah is not present, so that's really frustrating.

Casey also uses a lot of I'd, we'd, he'd and doesn't differentiate between "had" and "would" while using - 'd - though both are interchangeable. This was a constant hiccup for me.

Casey came to write fiction after writing true crime for 20 years, covering crime in news, magazines and non-fiction novels. So its not surprising that she chose her fiction foray in crime. She seems comfortable and natural at writing since the book is an easy smooth sailing till the end. But the plot relating to the murder and the stalking seemed average to me. I don't want to post any spoilers so I will leave it at saying that I expected much more intrigue and realism from a book written by a lady with 20 years of true crime writing.

Overall, the book is entertaining. I haven't read the first one in the series but don't mind reading more from Casey's impressive catalogue of books.