Monday, September 25, 2023

Review: Hemlock Island by Kelley Armstrong

 
 St. Martin's Press • Hardcover & eBook •
September 2023 • ISBN: 978-1250284198

Hemlock Island

Laney Kilpatrick has been renting her vacation home to strangers. The invasion of privacy gives her panic attacks, but it’s the only way she can keep her beloved Hemlock Island, the only thing she owns after a pandemic-fueled divorce. But broken belongings and campfires that nearly burn down the house have escalated to bloody bones, hex circles, and now, terrified renters who’ve fled after finding blood and nail marks all over the guest room closet, as though someone tried to claw their way out…and failed.

When Laney shows up to investigate with her teenaged niece in tow, she discovers that her ex, Kit, has also been informed and is there with Jayla, his sister and her former best friend. Then Sadie, another old high school friend, charters over with her brother, who’s now a cop.

There are tensions and secrets, whispers in the woods, and before long, the discovery of a hand poking up from the earth. Then the body that goes with it… But by that time, someone has taken off with their one and only means off the island, and they’re trapped with someone—or something—that doesn’t want them leaving the island alive.

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What I thought about Hemlock Island

In Hemlock Island by Kelley Armstrong, Laney Kilpatrick, the owner of a secluded island getaway, is called back to her island home when her rental tenants find some crazy stuff happening. By crazy, I mean blood-in-a-closet and other strange occurrences.

With her is her sister's daughter, who Laney is now raising, Laney's ex-husband Kit and his sister Jayla, and another former friend named Sadie and her brother Garrett. It's clear from the start that there are secrets among this group and I have to say I was surprised when the truth finally comes out.

As more strange things continue to happen, each incident escalating until it's clear they are stranded on the island and someone is after them all. And there's a chance that "someone" is actually not human, when some of the bodies react in ways they shouldn't. I'm not a big reader of the horror genre and I did like where this story took me as a reader, since it wasn't my typical read.

The truth of it all isn't revealed until the final pages, and I did like how this story wrapped up. I was engaged with these people on the island, even though they aren't all very likable and they did stupid stuff like walk around the island in the dark. I still wanted to know to know what was going on. Hemlock Island is a nice twist on the forced=proximity with a killer on the loose story. This is a quick and engaging read that might make you think twice about secluded vacation spots!  

 
 
 
About the Author

Kelley Armstrong believes experience is the best teacher, though she’s been told this shouldn’t apply to writing her murder scenes. To craft her books, she has studied aikido, archery and fencing. She sucks at all of them. She has also crawled through very shallow cave systems and climbed half a mountain before chickening out. She is however an expert coffee drinker and a true connoisseur of chocolate-chip cookies.

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