3.5 stars rounded up - SLIGHT SPOILERS BELOW

Our main character, Laney, is renting out her vacation home to bring in extra money. She hates renting out her last escape, but she needs the money as she's taken in her niece after her sister's death, and her recent divorce has left her down and out.

When pranks start happening, she heads to the island home to investigate, along with her niece. Her ex shows up, along with his sister, and her former friend and her brother show up as well. Tensions rise as they start to realize that these aren't pranks after all.

This was a fast-paced horror thriller, and while I enjoyed the mystery and the big reveal, I thought the characters and atmosphere could be a bit better. The writing was great and kept you wondering what would happen next, but I wasn't happy with our characters. I found Laney to be too timid, Kit too perfect, and Sadie and Garrett too one-dimensional. The atmosphere on the island could have used more creepiness in my opinion, and the big reveal seemed slightly out of place. The beginning of the story wasn't frightening enough even though they dealt with the hex circles, blood smears, etc. This read more as a thriller than horror, and I would've liked more horror. The interpersonal subplot was unexpected, and I find it hard to believe that any of them could give a crap about Garrett after what he did.

Overall this is a fun thriller with lots of twists and turns.

Lainey and Kit along with some family members and close friends stumble into a speculative "Death Trap" situation that peels back the layers of their hearts' desires and their relationships. Connected events lead to dire consequences and hard choices in this super creepy read with a conclusion that lingers in readers thoughts.

I requested a digital copy in order to sample the prose on my phone (since I don't have a eReader) before requesting a physical copy for review. My review will be based on the physical ARC I read (if I qualify)

Special thanks to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for an e-arc of this novel. Publication date: Sept. 12, 2023

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.

This book was an all around fun horror read. It hooks you from page 1. Its a perfect fall read ~ twisty, occultish, paranormal, a little bit gory. A definite 5 star read.

First things first, if you don’t enjoy books with a supernatural element, this one isn’t for you. No judgment, just trying to help let you know in advance.

Trigger warnings- Rape, body gore

Hemlock Island sits on Lake Superior of the Great Lakes. It has history and it has mysteries. When Laney becomes its owner, she builds a new modern home in which she rents out AirBnb-style since circumstances have put her in a pinch for the extra cash to maintain the island. When her guests start reporting weird sightings-bloody closets with claw marks, hex circles, and wind chimes made of bones-she heads out there to check it out. Friends from her complex past end up meeting her out there. Laney herself, her ex-husband corporate CEO, her estranged lawyer best friend, a detective and his sister all take over investigating the island when they discover a severed hand in the lawn.

This becomes a convoluted whodunnit when these old friends become trapped, and their only way out is just to survive and figure out the island’s secret.

The author, Kelley Armstrong, does an amazing job at setting a brisk pace right from the start. The characters are written beautifully and their secrets will blindside you.

I thoroughly enjoyed this novel and give it 4 stars! Will recommend to others, and while it has a great ending, I wasn’t necessarily mind blown.

A great thank you goes out to Kelley Simon, St. Martin’s Press, and NetGalley for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I am a huge Kelley Armstrong fan. So when I received the ARC of Hemlock Island I couldn't wait to start reading. Once I started reading I couldn't wait to finish. This is a very difficult book to read. And until you do read it, you won't understand why I say timing is important. There are certain times when I could read the book and other times when I just had to put it down and walk away. Now my experience with Kelley Armstrong are her Rockton series and her Stitch in Time series. So I was kind of expecting that same storyline. That is not what I got! To not give away any spoilers I'm going to keep my review very generic. Let's just say the line "on a dark and stormy night" is accurate for this book. If you are a fan of Black magic and all the scary and horrifying things that go with it you will like the book. I did not like the book. I did not like the ending and I did not like the characters. Not because it is not well written. It's Kelley Armstrong. Of course it's well written! And that is one reason that I finished the book. She does write in a way that you become so involved in the story that, regardless of the plot, you have to find out what happens. So fair warning given, don't read the book at night and don't read the book when you're alone. I voluntarily received a copy of this book from Netgalley.

˚₊· ͟͟͞͞➳❥ 2/5 stars

➸ racked with nail-biting twists, hemlock island is a claustrophobic thriller scored by scenes ripped straight out of a nightmare.

➸ following a divorce with her now ex-husband, laney kilpatrick has been begrudgingly renting out her vacation home on hemlock island now that owning said island has become financially untenable on her own. as a result, laney finds herself at the mercy of countless panic attacks as she struggles to deal with this decision of allowing perfect strangers into her most jealously treasured home. not only that, but laney’s still reeling from the death of her sister which brought her teenaged niece to her door and under her care. much to her horror, she's also been having to field complaints from renters who report all manner of horrifying and almost ritualistic tableaus on the island. when laney receives a call from horror-stricken renters who’ve run for the hills after making a gruesome discovery in one of the guest rooms - she decides to head down there herself and investigate. with her niece insisting on sticking at her side, the two of them bump into some strained former friends and laney’s ex-husband kit. veiled in tension and secrets of their own, their motley crew arrive at the isolated island and things quickly take a dark turn from there.

➸ the plot itself is fairly simple - disregarding the many plot twists (the plausibility of which are another issue unto themselves). it’s an eerie atmospheric blend of horror and mystery which draws heavily on the innate ambience of an isolated island and occultist imagery. the relationships are underlined with furtive tension and for the most part appear to be pulled so taut they’re on the precipice of snapping. i'd even go so far as to posit that this fraught tenor percolating through these interpersonal connections contributes more substantive towards the ‘thrill’ of the novel. for while the atmosphere is effectively constructed by way of the ostensibly haunted island setting, there is nothing new or exciting in its presentation. having been inoculated by now to similar storylines, none of this held much interest to me and i zeroed in more so on the character relations.

➸ in saying this, however, the character themselves - beyond their veneers of secrecy and the more titillating plot twists - offered little in the way of depth. their secretive behaviour provided a sort of cosmetic interest to them, which, when the makeup remover of the plot barrelled onwards, revealed them to be rather shallow iterations of typical mystery characters. i’d level this accusation most particularly in laney’s direction as the flighty, anxious novelist who specialises in mystery herself. not only does her vocation do her a disservice in making her seem kind of derivative on the whole, but it also lends her an air of stupidity. for someone who is allegedly well-informed within the realm of what not to do when one finds oneself in the midst of a murder mystery, she seems to pride herself on doing just that. as an aside, i’d also argue against labelling this an adult work as the dialogue and the surface level scope is far more befitting of ya.

➸ conclusion :
taking into account that this is kelley armstrong’s first foray into horror, hemlock island succeeds in what it is - a gripping and compacted unraveling of tightly-spun secrets.

thank you netgalley for the arc !

I have just read Hemlock Island by Author Kelley Armstrong.

This is the first book that I have read by this author.

It really felt like a Young Adult themed book to me, and really missed the mark as to what I enjoy in a book.

I felt like everything was thrown into the storyline, with so much happening, almost like shock value and to me the storyline was quite over the top.

Laney Kilpatrick has a vacation home on a secluded island that was left to her from her husband after their divorce.

She finds that she needs to rent it out to keep up with the costs.

Then the story begins.

It honestly was not my type of venue in a book, however I am sure there will be an audience for it.

Thank You to NetGalley, Author Kelley Armstrong and St. Martin’s Press for my advanced copy to read and review.

#netgalley #stmartinspress #kelleyarmstrongauthor

Thank you to the publishers, the author and netgalley for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

This was a fantastic book and I devoured it in one sitting. It also made me really reconsider my wish of being in a remote cottage on a deserted island with nothing but books to fill my time.

I loved how nothing was predictable in the storyline and it kept me on my toes. It was one of those gems that while I was reading it played out like a movie in my head which made for a really fun time!

I recommend this to thriller/horror lovers who enjoy a face paced story with some entertaining twists and turns.

Excellent pacing and believable characters; I loved that the narrative did not rely on substance abuse or trauma to build the tension between characters and that the premise was so realistic

I love a good isolation story! A group of friends get stranded on a remote island where our lead owns a rental property. After reports of spooky happenings, she heads there to check it out and it’s a wild ride from there on! I’ve never read this author before but definitely will again. Thank you to NetGalley for an advanced copy of this book.

Interesting premise with an interesting twist…or at least it had that potential. There were so many holes, inconsistencies, contradictions and simply so many tangents. The relationships and personal interactions were implausible. Actions were ridiculously stupid. Internal monologue of the main character was wishy-washy and annoying. Overall, very amateurish.

Oh my goodness, this book. This book!! It was a take-off-as-fast-as-you-can, smash-you-in-the-mouth horror thriller that I read in less than 12 hours! A beautiful, private island. Old friends coming together. Weird, ritualistic setups around the island. And a twist that was pretty mind-blowing! Goretastic, creepy, and downright wtf is happening. I LOVED this book so much! I cannot wait to read more by Kelley Armstrong!

Laney, a writer, rents her vacation home on a private island to help her finances but her current renters find bloody closet and weird stuff at this rental and complain to Laney. Now Laney is at the island with her niece, Madison to investigate and clean up and little does she know what kind of craziness is waiting for her in this estranged island. Her ex-husband Kit also arrives with his sister to help them and more people arrive who are clearly not welcomed. Now we have 6 people stuck on an island without any contact with the outside world and weirder and weirder things keep occurring which reminded me of the scenes in “Evil dead” in the forest.

I definitely felt the need to stop reading it at night due to all the horror vibes but I expected an even more dramatic ending compared to the climax in this one. The whole intrigue was about someone or something that wasn't allowing these people to leave the island but what could it be? For squeamish readers, please consider it as a warning as there are corpses, gory stuff that would be absolutely squeamish without a doubt. Madison was my favorite character as a smart teenager, and she was really great. It also included some drama between these characters due to some scandalous incidents in their past which unraveled in front of Madison during terrible circumstances. I have never read this author before, but I would be interested to pick up one of her novels again.

This book was so different from what I expected but in the best way. Starts out like more of a mystery/thriller but quickly gets to the horror of the story. Both the main story and the side stories between characters had me captivated and I quickly got to a point where I couldn't put the book down.

Laney rentals out a remote home on a private island following her divorce. But when she gets repeated reports of dark and mysterious things happening on the island she decides to take a trip out to the island to investigate.

A creepy, atmospheric thriller that kept me interested all the way through!

Laney has been renting out her home in order to keep it, even though the idea of strangers coming and going leaves her unsettled. But as renters come and go, things start happening. Items go missing, bones are found, and stories aren’t adding up.

I couldn’t put it dow until I knew how it ended. A super quick read that I truly enjoyed!

This is an Agatha Christie meets Stephen King meets Alfred Hitchcock type of book. There's mystery, there's secrets, plant of supernatural, and there's lots of horror. It would make a great spooky movie. I'm guessing it will some day.

Soooo creepy. Not the story to read while in a condo in the woods. Good author and she continues to up her game with the changes in genre.

I was really excited by the premise of this story and it being a combination horror/thriller/mystery. As I started reading, I was instantly invested in the lead character dynamic and backstories involving love, loss, and heartbreak. Could this be that rare book that hits all my favorite genres? Sadly no. Things fell apart almost the moment that everyone stepped foot on the island.

There are a couple of !BIG SECRETS! between characters that are dangled in front of you repeatedly with no explanation during the first few chapters. I found that annoying rather than suspenseful, especially when things were finally revealed. But because we don’t understand the connection between characters right off the bat, it is totally unclear why some of these people would show up on the island at all other than to further the story. In fact, I still don’t understand why a couple of them did.

This dubious character connection and a couple of strange plot turns totally detracted from my favorite character in the story, the island itself. I thought that whole angle was great and enjoyed going back through earlier details to make sense of things once I knew more toward the end. I wish She had played more of a role earlier.

Thank you to Netgalley and St. Martin's Press for the ARC in exchange for my honest review.

Thank you to NetGalley for this fun and exciting horror/thriller!
This was such a great book! The story centers on Laney, who is renting her vacation home on a small island. After guests flee she goes to the home to investigate and discovers terror and secrets.
I loves how off-kilter the book was. It was very exciting and fun to read! There was supernatural elements and it was at times really creepy. It's the perfect horror to read this summer/fall! I can't wait to read more by the author! I highly recommend this book!