Life since the pandemic has not been easy for Laney. Her sister died, she’s divorced from Kit, and now she is responsible for bringing up her niece, Madison. She took nothing from the divorce, except the house she and Kit had built on a private island in Lake Superior. Trouble is she can’t afford it, so she’s forced to rent it out to people who inevitably fail to appreciate it’s remote charm.
When her latest guest call, seriously upset about something that happened on the island,Laney and her niece head there to figure out what is going on. Kit and his sister, Jayla, along with another one of Laney‘s oldest friends, Sadie and her brother Garrett show up too. But things quickly spiral out of control. Sadie is missing, and their only means of leaving the island, the boat they arrived on, is gone too. With no way to call for help or to leave, they must figure out who else is on Hemlock Island, and try to survive until they can escape.
There was only one plot point that I really didn’t think made sense. I won’t mention which one, but after the reveal, I didn’t love this as much as I had.For the most part, I was drawn in trying to figure out what the heck was going on. I went back-and-forth between three and four stars, and finally settled on 3.5. The mystery of what was happening on the island was good enough to make me push my distaste for that certain plot point to the side.

This started out promising, and it is fast-paced. Laney was given an island by her now ex-husband, Kit. While it being remote and disconnected from the outside world except by boat is great for her writing, she’s a teacher, and she can’t maintain all the other fees that go with owning a home on an island, so she has no choice but to rent it out. When renters complain about weird occult stuff being found around the house and surrounding area, she doesn’t know what kind of prank people are playing. Presumably someone who wants to buy it from her is trying to scare her off so she’ll sell it for less. The latest prank is blood and scratches on the inside door of a closet. Laney takes teenage Madelyn, who she is now the caregiver for to check things out. Unexpectedly, her ex-husband and his sister also come, as well as a frenemy and her brother. When they get there, all of her boats have been destroyed—they are stuck there until they can be rescued by Kit’s wealthy parents.

The paranormal elements of this novel just didn’t work for me. I understand the message it was trying to tell us (it wasn’t subtle), but you have to get me to believe in the paranormal forces at work, and this just didn’t. Also, the end of Laney and Kit’s marriage didn’t seem plausible to me either—apparently they ended it without really having a conversation. There was no trial separation. Just: Things got difficult over the pandemic so let’s quickly divorce and be on our way.

NetGalley provided an advance copy of this novel, which RELEASES SEPTEMBER 12, 2023.

Thank you Netgalley and St. Martin's Press for the chance to read an advance copy of Hemlock Island by Kelley Armstrong. I was quickly hooked at the start of the book, loved the creepiness of the plot, and character interactions, especially Laney, Kit, and Laney's niece, Madison. I was constantly trying to figure out where the story was going, and While Hemlock Island seems to start out as a thriller, IT IS definitely horror. Don't read this at night!

I am a big fan of Kelley Armstrong’s Rockton series and have read and enjoyed a few of her other books as well. So I was excited to give her first horror novel a try and I was not disappointed! She builds the tension and the creep factor very effectively through the novel and waits a while to hit you with the gore but really goes for it when she gets there! The end is satisfying and I felt the final explanation for what was causing the events worked. I would definitely read another horror novel from her!

This book exhausted me, and what I mean by exhausted me is I stayed up till 4:30 in the morning reading it as I could not put it down. Not only did it exhaust me but it terrified me as well. I read a lot of books, especially those within the mystery, thriller or suspense realm and they didn't have the effect that this book did on me. Going into this book a very much thought it was going to be your typical murder mystery stuck in a remote place, but it was so much more than that. I don't want to give too many details because I want other readers to go in blind like I did, and to enjoy the ride. I definitely recommend this book 🙂

Ok so that creeped me out more than I’d like to admit. I took a chance reading horror because I’m a fan of Kelley Armstrong’s time travel stories. But this was not a time travel romance. This scared the poop out of me, and god, I hope I can sleep tonight! However, the story itself was so intriguing that I couldn’t put it down. I had to know what happened next, even though it was creepy AF.

This may be the perfect spooky fall thriller we all need!
Laney rents out her secluded yet modern cottage on Lake Superior, and renters complain about strange occurrences. Laney, her family and friends go to investigate what's going on and discover all sorts of creepy things and well as discovering themselves.
Kelley Armstrong consistently delivers, and Hemlock Island is an engaging read. The characters are well developed, and the story moves along quickly. I loved the setting of the cottage - modern yet isolated!
Thank you to Netgalley and St. Martin's Press for an ARC in exchange for review.

A great Binge Read!!!

Had me hooked right away....did not want to put down and wanted to know where the storyline was headed.
About 3/4 way thru is where I did not like the direction the novel. It started to head into a direction that was felt rushed and messy. It was all over the place, storylines were going into all different directions. Some of the novel started to become unbelievable. The ending seemed very unfinished.
The audience for the novel was a great for all ages but then the writing seems to take you into a YA type of way. Some of the book could of been left out for more an exciting storyline.

But overall I would still give this a read!!!


Thank you to St.Martins Press and NetGalley..... and to Kelley Armstrong, already on preorder for the shelf and to be reread.

Just not my favorite. Kelly Armstrong's Hemlock Island had a great premise. I loved the setting of the book - a remote island, people trapped, and something sinister happening. There was tension building when suddenly, we were in the middle of a subplot with characters talking for pages and pages through previous experiences. It was jarring and slowed the tension to a near crawl. It just never came together for me. I enjoy a good suspense/horror but unfortunately, this didn’t do it for me. Thanks to NetGalley, the author, and publisher for the advanced copy. All opinions are my own.

Recently divorced Laney has been renting out her second home called Hemlock House to vacationers. The house is located on a remote island on Lake Superior and it’s the only house on the island.

Laney gets a call in the middle of the night from some renters telling her that they found blood and scratches on the inside of a bedroom closet. In a panic, Laney along with her teenage niece Madison heads to the island to check it out.

When Laney and Madison arrive, they are surprised to see Laney's ex-husband Kit and Laney's former sister-in-law/best friend Jayla. After their arrival, Laney starts hearing her name whispering in the wind and seeing things that couldn’t be possible. Soon after, their only means of leaving the island is gone and they must find a way to flee before things get worse.

Hemlock Island is a locked room mystery with elements of supernatural horror. I'm not sure what I expected going into this one but I was very surprised at how much I ended up enjoying it. The suspense and creepiness factor is very high in this one (which I loved) along with the domestic and frenemy drama, it made for a highly entertaining read. I also thought that this book would make a great film! I will warn you though, there is a bit of gore in this one but nothing too extreme. Thriller and horror fans of the supernatural will absolutely love this one!

Hemlock Island by Kelley Armstrong will be available on September 12. Many thanks to St Martins Press and Netgalley for the gifted copies!

Name of Book: Hemlock Island
Author: Kelley Armstrong
Publisher: Saint Martin’s Press
Genre: Horror/Mystery
Pub Date: September 12, 2023
My Rating: 3.3 Stars!
Pages: 304


Laney Kilpatrick and her now ex-husband Christian “Kit” Hayes have a vacation home on a Hemlock Island (so named after ‘water hemlock’ the deadliest plant in North America).
The home was a wedding present to Laney from Kit. The vacation home is not an average little cottage but a two-thousand square foot custom-built home on five-acres of the private island. However now that they are divorced she cannot maintain the expense of such a large home on her teacher’s salary so rents it out.
The current renters have complained about some strange things including blood in the guest closet. The husband believes it is a prank ~ the wife wants no part of it and wants to leave.
Laney and her sixteen year niece Madison go to the island to figure out what is happening.

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.
When Kit finds out he and his sister Jayla (Laney’s former best friend) offers to help as well. Soon Kit’s new girlfriend Sadie Emerson who was a friend of Laney’s and her detective brother Garrett also shows up to help.

These six decide to spend the night at the house so they might experience what it happening; which, of course, turns out to be more than they bargained.
Since this is a horror story we readers know a lot more is in store for them.
Story kept me reading although I did say “Yikes” a lot!

This is my seventh Kelley Armstrong which is just a drop in the bucket as she has written so many!!! Of the six I read, I really liked "Wherever She Goes," and "Aftermath" thought both were great. The others were good. This story falls in with the second group.

Want to thank NetGalley and Saint Martin’s Press for this early eGalley.
Publishing Release Date scheduled for September 12, 2023.

Absolutely amazing read. Loved it from the first chapter... So many epic twists and turns, with a super creepy setting. Definitely a must read for thriller lovers!

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for my advanced copy in exchange for my honest opinion.

This was such a surprise of a book. I was fully annoyed by the protagonist like 80-90% of the novel and then I was on board. Despite that, I think Armstrong does such a great job with building tension and although the characters felt pretty two-dimensional and their relationships...also two-dimensional, I enjoyed the atmosphere that Armstrong created in their book. I just wish I could have cared about the characters more so that their deaths had more impact. That said, I loved the gore and the thrill in this one.

Although this wasn't my favorite, I appreciated it for being "out there" with the twist and for having a fun and creepy atmosphere.

Overall I liked this book and would recommend to anyone that likes thrillers and locked door mysteries.

I only had a few complaints. The first is really nit-picky but there were a lot of sections of the book where portions dialogue was repeated by multiple characters or the same character more than once. The one that drove me crazy was "badly injured" which the main character used a lot and other characters repeated after her a lot.

Next, the Madison character was a bit hard to believe. She's a teenager so I'd expect she'd have at least a few moments where she has really strong emotional reactions. She seemed to take everything in stride, even finding out that she was the product of a rape.

Finally, I would have leaned in to the paranormal stuff more. It felt like it was added in too late and the ending wrapped up really quickly and neatly. I like a happy ending, but the evil "entity" was too reasonable for me!

Mysterious happenings, murders, body parts and a haunted island—what more would one want from a spooky read. The story line unfolds cleverly with periodic spacing of body parts and creepy events. Gifted an island by an ex, we find the island has its own thoughts about what Laney, the island owner, should do. The book captures you, scares you and yet ends with words of wisdom, “Don’t focus on what I’ve lost but on what I’ve gained.” And also “what does my island need from me today.” I’ve been thinking of those two quotes since I read it. Quite a feat for a spooky book. A good, solid read!

Thanks to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for the Advanced Review Copy.

Kelley Armstrong’s Hemlock Island is a horror/suspense tale that just doesn’t work. This story feels like it was written for a YA audience, right down to the trite “reason” for the chaos, blood, and horror on the island. The characters are poorly drawn, the relationships and interactions are pretty improbable, and the “secret” plot element when it was finally revealed, felt overly dramatic. Laney’s inner dialogue was repetitive and clumsy. This is no ordinary slasher/horror tale, and in some ways that is just really what it needed to be, leaving the paranormal/morality lesson for a better written book.

Hemlock Island was horrifyingly good. This was my first book by the author and wow. It made me want to go back and read the author’s entire backlog. I understand. This was her first foray into her, but she did such an incredible job, that the hair on the back of my neck student, and for most of this book. So good.

I have read other books by this author so when I saw this I thought I'd give it a try even though horror is not my usual genre, my feelings on this book were mixed. Laney is single, divorced and raising her niece (her sister had passed), to make money she rents out a house she was given in her divorce settlement. The house is on its own island in Lake Superior, a very long distance from land, and the house is a dream, all glass on the front, lots of natural light and guaranteed isolation. Her current renters call her to say that there is blood/claw marks in a closet and they are leaving and want a refund. So Laney decides to check out what's going on, her ex and a few others join in. Things start to go bad very quickly, the boat and boat house are destroyed, they find a hand (missing the body), wind chimes made from the ribs of a person and on and on. That part was the good part, the parts that slowed the narrative was the almost non stop discussion on who was with who (Laney was convinced her ex was with one of the people that showed up, someone she wasn't real keen on). It does come to a satisfying if a tad out there resolution, didn't see that coming. I would recommend if you enjoy horror and some romance. Thanks to #Netgalley and #St Martin's Press for the ARC.

3.5 stars

Hemlock Island is an interesting book to review. It's one of those 'What did I just read?' books. I had been looking for a read to say that about.

Laney owns the house of her dreams on Hemlock Island. Built for her by her now ex-husband, it's a dream vacation home. However, she is unable to take care of the upkeep without renting it out. Dealing with renters and the damage they cause is hard and gets harder when she gets a call in the middle of the night. There has already been some evidence of pranks like hex circles and witchcraft. With her niece she heads out to the island to see what's going on.

This book has a lot of scary moments. Don't read when alone at night! It's hard to see where it's going though. The different things that are happening don't seem to go together and we get our ideas of what's happening from the characters' assumptions.

The book reads both as a thriller and horror. I also think it almost reads like a movie. There is a lot of talking about personal relationships between scary events which is what some movies do. I still felt it was too much especially since a lot of the relationships didn't make sense. There is too much going on there with the characters' backgrounds. I don't know why some of it is included.

Hemlock Island has some good jump scares and some wild scenes. That all entertained me. I would have rated this higher, if not for the end, because of all the action. The end though is too out there for me. The reason for everything wasn't strong enough. I also wasn't happy with the resolution. All that being said, Hemlock Island is a pretty unique read. It did scare me which is hard to do and if you think of it as a horror movie then you might really enjoy this!

Hemlock Island Publish Date September 12, 2023 3.5⭐ rounded up

I was so excited to have the opportunity to read another book by Kelley Armstrong. I really enjoyed Someone is Always Watching, and I always love a good horror story.

Laney was gifted her dream home on Hemlock Island from her husband Kit. But after their divorce, and her sister's death, her focus was on raising her niece Madison. She moves closer to Madison's school, and did everything she could to provide for her, including renting out her home on the island to vacationers. It was frustrating enough to have strangers living in her home ruining her things and her boat, but now someone is coming on the island and scaring off the guests
When she receives a strange call about a bloody closet door she takes Madison and heads to the island to try to get to the bottom of it.. Her ex-husband Kit, his sister, and some old friends surprise her by coming along to help her.
.
But no one was prepared for what they were about to walk into, and as the terror increases so does their need to leave, Only someone has taken off with the boat, and left them fighting to survive.

While I thought this story had good bones, it read more like a mystery to me. The character's in the book had an interesting story with it's own secrets and surprises, but I almost feel like it took away from the build up of the developing tension on the island. Towards the end of the book I was happy to get swept up in the creepy murderous island vibes, but the ending was a little bazaar and unsatisfying.
As a whole it was another entertaining book by Kelley Armstrong.

Thank you NetGalley for allowing me a copy of this book for an honest review.