Format: Hardcover, 304 pages
Release Date: September 12, 2023
Publisher: St. Martin's Press
Source: Publisher
Genre: Fiction / Horror
A standalone horror novel from #1 New York Times bestselling author Kelley Armstrong.
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.
Kelley Armstrong's Hemlock Island is a standalone story that takes place mostly on a place called Hemlock Island which is apparently located on Lake Superior. Laney Kilpatrick, an English teacher and debut thriller author who is recently divorced during the pandemic and grieving her sister who lost her battle to cancer no raising a 16-year old, has been renting her vacation home on Hemlock Island 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 arrives at the house with her niece Madison, she finds her ex-husband, Kit (a tech company CEO), Kit's sister (a counselor and Laney's ex-best friend, Jayla), their mutual friend, Sadie, and Sadie's cop brother, Garrett, who Laney has some unexplained irritation towards.
There are tensions and secrets,
whispers in the woods, and before long, the discovery of a hand poking
up from the earth. Laney believes her ex has formed a relationship with Sadie who later disappears and returns looking like a model from the Walking Dead. Then Laney discovers the body of one of her caretakers who has been around before Kit bought if as a wedding present for Laney. To make matters worse, the tension between the friends get even more sharper for something that happened when Laney was 15. Something that tore apart best friends.
Just imagine that you are stuck on an Island in the middle of a large lake and all of your transportation off the island has gone up in smoke. Was it intentional? Then imagine that someone on the island doesn't want anyone to leave so they create even more tension where nobody can trust anyone else. Secrets are revealed. People will die. The question is who will survive, who was responsible for up to 5 murders, and why Laney is being targeted for breaking some kind of oath.
*Thoughts* I flipped a coin between 3.5 and 4 for my rating. The story isn't bad. In fact, I think most horror aficionados will flip through the book quickly until they discover the secrets of Hemlock Island and Laney's past. Seriously though, this story quickly becomes a convoluted whodunit when old friends become trapped, and their only way out is just to survive
and figure out the island’s secret, as well as digging through the crap of broken relationships based on each.
No comments:
Post a Comment