I feel that I should have liked this book more than I actually did. It has all the elements in a novel that should make it good: "normal" humans being controlled by powerful mysterious strangers, supernatural elements and creatures, characters that are more gray than black and white. However, for whatever reason, I wasn't pulled into it as much as I could have been.

The story starts with a young couple who are in love but being kept apart by some of those powerful strangers. The action then moves to The Deacon, a preacher who brings his group of misfits to the town of Rookwood. While the Deacon does have nefarious plans for the fate of Rookwood, we don't see the true crux of his intent until late in the novel.

At times the book reminded me of the HBO series Carnivàle, except not as complex; however, the background for all the characters in the book was very rich and probably just as complex. HALLOWED GROUND is based in the Wild West so maybe that was why I didn't like it a bunch. When it comes down to it, the book is entertaining and enjoyable. All my doubts and hesitations are vague and not rooted in anything that I can identify as solidly wrong. The best thing to do would be to read it yourself and see if you agree with me or not. ( )