Customer Reviews

Hallowed Ground (Julie Collins Series #2)

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I read Blood Ties months ago and couldn't wait for HALLOWED GROUND to come out. Boy was it worth the wait! The relationship between Julie and Tony totally made the book for me, but the action and adventure kept me glued to the book when I should have been feeding my kids. The mystery had me guessing right until the very end, which is how it should be. This was a fantastically exciting read and I can't wait for the next book in the series!

No kidding, this book kept me sitting in a chair all day and into the night. I've been waiting for the sequel to Blood Ties and I wasn't disappointed. It was a great read! I can't wait for the next book.

I had been awaiting Ms. Armstrong's second book in the Julie series, and I wasn't disappointed!! "On Hallowed Ground" is filled with excitement and action with every turn of the page -- I had a difficult time putting it down. I loved it. How soon is book #3 coming out???

I enjoyed this story as much as the first book (blood ties). Julie gets beaten several times by bad guys again which seems like she should have been more hurt than she was. However, the quick bounce back does not take away from the story and allows it to move forward. Her friend Tony seems to be there for her when it matters most. I must admit I am not a fan of Kevin, but he was there as much as he could be. He was dealing with Lily's illness/death which would take a toll on any person. I do feel he gives Julie mixed signals and was happy he was not always there to save her like in Blood Ties. The way I saw it, Keven was taken off the pedestal Julie placed him on, but not in such a bad way that they lost their friendship or partnership. I still do no like Julie's father but this book seemed to humanize him which gave an interesting twist and I hope to see how things unfold between Julie and her dad in the sequential books. The biggest complaint I have about this book is that my Kindle version seemed to have many type errors. Throughout the book 2-3 words would be clumped together. For example He seemed would be like Heseemed or, to go to would be like togoto. Sometimes I had to reread the sentence to see I had to separate the words. It was not too hard to read past and I still really enjoyed reading it.

Character is key. This is what Lori Armstrong seems to understand perfectly. Julie Collins, already such a strong character in Blood Ties returns even more full-fleshed. Julie is cranky, smokes and drinks a lot, engages in shallow sex, enjoys rock music and is one tough woman.
The convoluted plot starts out with a missing persons case. Looking for this Native American kid the dead bodies start to turn up quickly when the mob gets involved and rival casinos take on each other. Also love blooms for Julie in the person of the shady owner of a biker bar.
Although the book is a bit too long (almost 500 pages) there's enough action and surprises to keep you entertained.
I loved the characters, the action and writing. What could make this book even more perfect was maybe cut it down in size somewhat and trim a few plot elements.

I'm glad I read this novel. I read it several months ago, and I'm still glad, so that's a good review from me right there. I didn't read the first novel in this series, but that didn't hurt my enjoyment of Hallowed Ground. Great pace, great characters, satisfying ending, and the writing shone throughout. The main character, Julie, is an interesting blend of traits and a complex balance of hard and soft. I thought it would be difficult to keep her consistent for the entire novel, especially with all she was dealing with, but the author pulled it off.

In Bear Butte County, South Dakota, Julie "Jules" Collins worries about her private investigator partner and mentor Kevin Wells as he is oo preoccupied with the imminent death from cancer of his beloved Lilly to train her at the moment. when Tony Martinez, owner of a couple of bars and other questionable dealings, wants to hire her for a sizable fee, Jules has to decide on her own. She thinks they could use the money so agrees to find the missing five years old niece Chloe Back Dog of Tony's friend and number one man Harvey.

Jules assumes that Chloe's father Donovan kept the child instead of returning her to her mother, his ex-wife Rondelle Eagle Trail. She easily tracks down Donovan at a Brush Creek Construction Company site, which makes her wonder why Martinez could not have done this. Donovan and Jules talk at remote Bear Butte where her brother died years ago. He denies having kidnapped his daughter, telling her to talk to Rondelle and the Smart Start School just before someone shoots Donovan. As the truth begins to surface involving the Carlucci gang, Native American casinos, and the safety of a little girl, a killer targets Jules.

This exciting private investigative tale stars a likable rookie struggling with a case that seemed simple but with each new revelation spins further out of control. Jules is a strong protagonist who holds the tale together whether it is a sleuthing subplot or her attraction to Martinez, who reciprocates as he wants "Blondie". Readers will enjoy this superb thriller in which the politics of casinos are right out of Abramoff headlines.

Harriet Klausner

Hallowed Ground continues the adventures of private investigator Julie Collins as she does what she does best: talk a whole lot of trash and kicking butt! As I've stated in the first book, if you're not into the whole loud mouth, beer drinking and cigarette smoking feminine protagonist thing, stay away from this series. I personally love the Julie Collins character because she's just so fun to read about! The story and mystery itself is definitely better this time around but there is still one thing the author can do to really make things stand out. However, the positives most certainly outweighs the negatives here and I find myself once again recommending this book to just about anyone who wants to enjoy a good fun read.

Story wise, I'm a lot happier this time around. However, one thing I would love to see the author do more is dedicate a few more chapters to the villains. I believe there's a total of two mini chapters altogether in the book that gives us a chance to see how the bad guy behaves and thinks. The reason for doing so is obvious. In order for the readers to feel more involved with the story, we have to at least get a feel for who the villain actually is, character wise. I absolutely hate it when action heroes in video games and story books just ups and kills the bad guy at the end when we don't even know much about the bad guy in the first place! Other than that, I'm quite satisfied with how everything else turned out. I'm praying the next book in the series will fulfill my request!

The characters this time around pits Julie Collins with Tony Martinez. Kevin does make a couple of appearances but for the most part, Martinez has taken over. This makes things interesting because Kevin was a bit too boring for a character such as Julie. Martinez is the president/leader of the Hombres bike gang and has a much more interesting persona. I do have a feeling that while Julie hooks up with Martinez here, she'll eventually get back with Kevin in the later books. Julie is the same alcohol, cigarette smoking junkie and wise comment spewing girl we all fell in love with from the first book. Yes, she still manages to get into all sorts of trouble and gets her butt kicked a couple of times but that's the Julie we love. The book just wouldn't feel the same if she didn't fell flat on her butt a couple of times throughout the story. However, she always picks herself up and gets the job done afterwards. The book I have to admit is pretty darn hilarious. Again, this is attributed to Julie's persona. Even if you have a slight sense of humor, I'm sure you'll read parts that will just make you laugh out loud. If not, you'll at least give a snicker here and there due to Julie's wits.

I'm going ahead right now and say that I find myself in love with the Julie Collins series and hope the author continues with it. However, I'm seeing on Amazon that there is only 4 books in the series so far (Blood Ties started in 2005). Not a good sign indeed. That just means I'll have to slowly savor the next two books because there might not be another one in the future. With that being said, I can give nothing but high praises for this excellent sophomore effort by Lori Armstrong.