Review: Hemlock Island by Kelley Armstrong

 

Hemlock Island by Kelley Armstrong

Publication Date: September 12th 2023 by St. Martin's Press

Pages: 304

Source: Publisher 

Rating: ★★★★

Links: Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Kobo | Goodreads

My Thoughts:

Laney is still trying to get by after the heartbreak of her divorce. She’s hanging onto her wedding gift, Hemlock Island, by renting out the beautiful, secluded house and dealing with troublesome renters when she gets reports of strange hex circles and blood in the house. She’s about to investigate with her teenage niece, Madison in tow, when her ex-husband, Kit and his sister, Jayla insist on coming along. Unfortunately, Sadie and her brother Garrett, and ex-best friend and her brother also push their way into the investigation and it’s an uncomfortable gathering. 

With complicated relationships and old hurts swirling about, this group finds themselves stranded on the island without a way to communicate with the mainland. Grisly discoveries have everyone on high alert! Are these accidents or a plan to scare them off the island? One of their own taking revenge, or is something evil at work here?

There’s a history with Laney and the others that’s slowly revealed, the reasons for their falling out while they deal with the horrors that seem to keep coming. Laney and Kit also deal with the feelings that haven’t died between them despite the divorce.

Hemlock Island was not only a horror story with supernatural elements, but also Laney and her old friends reconciling a past that drove them apart.  A captivating story that gave me some chills and left me a little unsettled! The perfect kind of read for this time of year!

4 Stars

Book Description:

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.