I really enjoyed this book by Kelley Armstrong. Isolated on an island, mystery, great characters, and great pacing/story. Will definitely read more from Kelley Armstrong.

A horror story where the occult meet a scary home on a small, remote island.

When she and her husband split, Laney has to rent out the house for financial reasons. Her renters begin to speak of supernatural goings on so she and her ex-husband (and niece) venture forth to determine just what is really going on.

As the book proceeds the sense of fore-boding begins to make things more and more claustrophobic. The search for the reasons, and culprit, drive this book forward.

I enjoyed this book. Read it with the lights on!

OMG Kelley Armstrong does it again! Genre breaking fiction seems to be her speciality and this is NO different. Didn't feel like I was reading a horror novel til 3/4 of the way through. Didn't see THAT coming - and no I'm not telling you! NO SPOILERS HERE!

Laney Kilpatrick is a writer struggling to come up with her next book while looking after her niece, dealing with a divorce that came out of nowhere, and renting her vacation home on a gorgeous island to strangers. Laney hates that she has to rent out her home on Hemlock Island, but its the only way she can keep it. She’s stressed, tired, and sad. Her husband suddenly just left her after the pandemic and when she gets a phone call in the middle of the night saying her renters want a return because the guest room is covered in blood and nail marks... like something was trying to get out. Then her ex, her best friend, and two uninvited guests also arrive.... but then they find that they are being taken out one by one and that there is something out there hunting them. Can Laney figure it all out before everyone she cares about is taken? This one definitely leaned into the murder mystery and having a narrator who is second guessing everything they are seeing. Laney is dealing with her ex best friend and her brother who had both done something unspeakable severing the friendship between them and also having to come face to face with her ex who broke her heart and his sister, a best friend whom she hadn’t talked to since the divorce. Theres a monster out there watching them, tensions are high, and the island is proving to be very very difficult to leave. The overall ending was okay and the story really deals with all the trauma and past hurts that Laney has gone through. I thought it was interesting having an unreliable narrator and questioning whether or not it was a monster or a person who was causing the chaos. Everything works out in the end and there is a bit of paranormal element in this horror story. If you like horror stories where the characters are trapped in a location and can’t trust each other but don’t know if theres a killer outside, then give this one a go.

*Thanks Netgalley and St. Martin's Press for sending me an arc in exchange for an honest review*

This was fun but went in a direction I did not entirely expect. Good writing but the storyline got a bit too crazy for me.

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/65214434

Hemlock Island by Kelley Armstrong

304 Pages
Publisher: St. Martin’s Press
Release Date: September 12, 2023

Fiction (Adult), General Fiction (Adult), Horror, Sci Fi, Fantasy, Mystical, Elemental

Laney Kilpatrick owns an isolated house on Hemlock Island, a private island in Lake Superior. She gets a telephone call at 4 a.m. from her current renters. They found blood and claw marks on the inside of a guest closet. It is more than disturbing considering the other weird occurrences. There have been hex marks and bones found. Now people start going missing. Who or what is behind the disappearances and bizarre acts.

The book is fast paced, the characters are developed, and it is written in the first-person point of view. This is a departure from Ms. Armstrong’s other books. It is more like a book by Stephen King. If you like horror book set on deserted islands, you will enjoy this book.

This book was so interesting. On one hand I couldn’t put it down but it did take a bit to get into. On the other hand, the book became so unbelievable that it took away from the storyline which is ultimately why I gave it a 3 star rating.

It’s always a good time when Ms. Armstrong releases a story!

Laney is determined to keep Hemlock Island. Her parting gift from her divorce. She has always loved the island but after the divorce and the death of her sister which has her niece living with her, she is strapped and looking for ways to make ends meet. One way is renting out her island home. While she has dealt with fires, drunks, and broken equipment she is now dealing with hex circles and bones. When she finds scratch marks and blood on a closet door, she isn’t sure at all what is going on.

When Laney and her niece show up to check things out they are met with some not-so-welcome guests who invited themselves. Her ex is here with his sister and another friend who seems to want the ex, and she brought her cop brother.

There is so much tension between these people. Secrets, body parts, and when the only means of getting off of the island is destroyed, they realize they are trapped here. With a killer or killers. And it looks like no one is getting out alive.

Well, that ending was so satisfying. I was definitely looking at all the wrong people which I only found out when they died! Always a thrill ride with Kelley.

NetGalley/ St. Martin’s Press, September 12, 2023

Hemlock Island
Kelley Armstrong
Pub Date Sept, 12 2023
St. Martins press
Thanks to the author, publisher and NetGalley for the ARC of this book in exchange for my honest opinion.
* mystery * thriller
Lots to say on this one.,. First of all the dialogue seemed more like YA than adult.
2. I quickly got engrossed in the book ..,. But
3. I didn’t expect how the book wrapped up.
4. I thought it was far fetched
Overall not a satisfactory read for me.
3 stars

For some reason I was expecting a closed room mystery (maybe because I've read so many lately) so the whole paranormal piece of this kind of threw me for a loop initially. I did like that there were some additional twists/drama with the group not related to the island. I'm not sure I particularly liked/was satisfied with the ending but I can see how it was fitting.

3.5 stars, rounded up.

Kindly received an ARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Disclaimer: I received an ARC of this book. I chose to review it and this in no way impacts my opinion of it.

I was lucky enough to win an ARC of Hemlock Island from a contest held on Kelley Armstrong’s Facebook page and no one will understand just how excited I was to win a copy. For those that don’t know me, I am a huge lover of horror and frequently watch horror movies and am always on the look out for good horror novels. When I learned that Kelley Armstrong, my favourite author, was releasing her first horror novel, I was ecstatic.

The story begins with Laney being awoken by her niece, Madison, in the middle of the night. Four missed calls greet her on her cellphone, all from the campground near her vacation home on Hemlock Island. Upon answering the next call she learns that the couple who have rented out Hemlock House have vacated the isolated island due to finding a closet covered in blood and nail scratches. Deciding that an animal must have gotten trapped in the house, Laney gets ready to head to the island to investigate.

When she arrives at the boat launch to head to the island with Madison in tow, she finds her ex-husband Kit, and his sister, Jayla. The last thing Laney wants is to spend time with her former best friend and her ex husband but she can hardly tell them to leave. It only gets worse when upon arriving at the island, another of her former best friends and her brother arrive.

I found this novel to be deliciously spooky, and creepy and I loved every minute of it. I could not put it down. I felt so terrible for the situation Laney was going through, not only with the pranks that seemed to be happening at her favourite place on Earth, but also because of the awkward situation she was finding herself in and having to deal with her ex-husband and ex-best friend.

This novel kept me guessing from the start until the very end and I loved the ending. It was totally not what I was expecting and totally different from how I thought Armstrong’s first horror novel to go.

If you love spooky reads and being scared to turn out the lights, this novel is for you!

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for the ARC! I flew through this book! A horror novel with a cast of characters stuck on a remote island. What fun! Lots of secrets between the friends, some drama, and then a… satanic force? A group of evil real estate developers? Is it people or a supernatural force creating chaos? My favorite part of Armstrong’s writing is how logical everyone is. The main characters always talk out their problems and are very self aware. I love it. This is a horror novel with a supernatural twist, so suspend your disbelief and just roll with it!

I received this from netgalley in exchange for a review.

I am a huge scaredy-cat. I usually avoid horror, but I love Kelley Armstrong’s writing so I had to read this and I’m glad I did because I really liked it!

I loved Laney, and her Madison, and Kit and Jayla, and really didn’t like the characters I wasn’t supposed to like. There was a lot of spookiness in it which meant I had to put it down before bed to read something lighter so I didn’t have nightmares, but I got really into the story. I’m not quite a huge of of the twist in Laney’s personal life, but you did get the feeling it was coming, well…. At least part of it I guessed from early on lol.

The cause of the horror definitely kept me anxious, and I don’t think I’ll be going to any private islands anytime soon - probably a good thing that wasn’t really an option.

I liked the handling of the pandemic and how it changed relationships and people during it too.

Hemlock Island is a horror novel that kept the pages turning late into the night for a book I had to finish in one sitting. Laney Kilpatrick got to keep her dream home after her divorce but the only way she could afford it was to rent it out to tourists. Lately increasingly odd things have been happening on the island from hex circles to bloody wind chimes and finally bloody gouges in the back of a closet door. Laney and her niece go to investigate the island where they meet up with Laney’s ex (who she is still in love with) and his sister. Throw in frenemy Sadie and Sadie’s brother the cop and the group begin a twisted, shocking horror filled night on an island full of supernatural scares and gruesome discoveries. Unexpected and shocking, the story is an adrenaline filled fright fest that kept me up passed bedtime for just the right amount of suspense and scares. My voluntary, unbiased review is based upon a review copy from NetGalley.

Hemlock Island was just...weird.

I've been a fan of Kelley Armstrong since her Otherworld series, and I've recently been enjoying her new A Rip Through Time series. I knew Hemlock Island was a different genre, but I like horror well enough and thought I'd enjoy it because Armstrong wrote it.

I was wrong.

From the start, I felt like I was missing something important in the story. Yes, Armstrong was going for "there's a secret being hinted at, and it's important, but now isn't the right time to share it," but the way in which it was hinted and talked around was confusing. It wasn't that the character refused to speak about it--they did--but all readers got was a general "I told her what so-and-so had said." I think I would've preferred no one to speak about the big dark secret until it was finally revealed just to avoid the confusion.

Working around that, I was mostly enjoying the story for a good while. I could've done without so much repetition about the hex circles and wind chimes and other pranks on the island, but I was intrigued by the mystery. I was less intrigued with the awkward relationships between the characters, but I figured some of that would work itself out as they had to depend on one another to survive...except it really didn't. Some of the characters worked things out, but it felt forced, and the secret, once it was finally revealed, made me think that the relationships actually should've been more awkward or at least contentious. Also, for a horror story, the romance and in-depth discussions of past relationships seemed to slow the story down.

I also was expecting more of a typical slasher story out of this one, and while I liked the idea of the supernatural/dark magic element, I thought it was executed clunkily. The ending was a bit shocking, and at least the shock of it made me not hate it, but things seemed to wrap up quickly and without tying up all the threads in a way that I wanted.

All in all, Hemlock Island had some good things, but it wasn't the horror story I was expecting, and not in a good way.

Dang! This book had me guessing a majority of the read. While the supernatural is not my cup of tea, Kelley Armstrong really keeps you on your toes with character and plot development, only revealing bits to keep you off balance. The wrap up felt a little rushed but all in all, an expected outcome considering who (or what) is behind all the chaos. Still not sure about these characters… I would not have been so willing to accept the events as everything began to come to light. BUT would this make a great movie? Heck yes! …even tho I’d be too chicken to watch.
Great read if you like suspense-filled thrillers mixed with the supernatural.

I’ve been a Kelley Armstrong fan since her first novel, Bitten, and I was excited to see her release her first horror novel.  I really enjoyed Hemlock Island.  It combined Armstrong’s strengths with character and witty dialogue with some seriously creepy imagery.  (Those windchimes…yikes.)

This is a great book to go into blind. I was surprised that it involved one of my favourite subgenres of horror, but that’s a revelation that comes about halfway through.

I can at least talk about the setting, which is a house on an isolated island in the middle of Lake Superior. I’m a sucker for wilderness and isolation horror.

I did find that the second act focus on relationship and family/friendship secrets took away from the horror a bit.  I appreciated those elements but would have liked a slightly different ratio — maybe one less secret exposed, and more creepy buildup on the island?  

I also didn’t find Kit to be an interesting enough character for the amount of focus on him, but I loved the protagonist, Laney, and her niece, Madison — Madison is a wonderfully smart and snarky teen girl who captured my heart immediately.

Overall I really enjoyed the novel and I would love to see Armstrong continue to write horror.  There’s some wonderful gruesomeness and terror here, and thematically it was right in my sweet spot. It gave me series Darcy Coates vibes with the combination of cozy horror, creepy buildup, character work, and the “what the heck is going on??” factor.

Thank you to Netgalley and St. Martin’s Press for my review copy of this book.

This book was a 4-star for me.

When I saw this book on Netgalley I was so excited and had to try my luck to get an ARC copy. Kelley Armstrong has been one of my auto-buy authors since Bitten in 2001. She wrote one of my top 3 series Cainsville. She handles paranormal romance, thriller, suspense, and now with a foray into horror, amazingly. If she writes it I will read it.

After a series of creepy pranks take place on her island rental home, Laney goes home to investigate. When she is joined by her ex-husband, his sister, and then her ex-best friend and her brother she expects it to be a quick but awkward visit to find out what is going on and who is to blame. They quickly realize everything is not as it seems and it becomes a fight for their lives.

I did struggle a little bit with the beginning of this book as I felt the author was trying to be “modern” and it just didn’t flow right for me. After we got past that part and into the meat of the story it got so much better. I couldn’t put it down. I found some of the twists fairly predictable but the ending shocked me and was not what I was expecting at all.

For me, you know it is a good thriller/horror if you have moments when your heart is pumping and you feel chills - this did not disappoint. I was sufficiently stressed at the end thinking OMG what is happening! I fully admit I was actively muttering at my kindle!

Spice: NA
Plot 4/5
Pace 4/5
Character Personality 4/5
Character Growth 4/5
Writing Style 5/5
World Building 5/5

After a devastating divorce from her wealthy husband Kit, Laney Kilpatrick has had to rent out the remote island vacation home she got in the divorce to strangers. As much as she hates the way the visitors mistreat her home, she needs the money especially now that she is the sole guardian of her teenage niece. When she receives a late night call from the current renters about bloody fingerprints in the closet she rushes to the island to get to the bottom of it...especially since this isn't the first "strange occurrence" at the home. When she arrives she discovers her ex Kit and his sister Jayla have already been contacted and have come to help...and then two others from her past arrive. While searching the island for the people responsible, they discover a hand and then the body it belonged to. Now they are trapped with someone or something that doesn't want them to leave the island alive.

Hemlock Island is a fast paced bloody thrill ride that I couldn't put down. Similar to her other works, this novel has a supernatural twist that you probably won't see coming. A great cast of characters with lots of past history and untold secrets leave you scrambling to figure out what each one is capable of. Warning...this read is pretty violent and gory in some chapters and also discusses a topic, nonconsensual sex that might be difficult for some readers. If mysterious hex circles, mutilated bodies, and what appear to be zombies spark your interest then this is definitely the read for you. My only complaint is that I didn't read it in the Fall which would have added to the spooky vibe...two thumbs up!

My Thoughts

Laney Kilpatrick fell in love with Hemlock Island, an earthly paradise that she found to be a dream come true.

However, what happened on the island proved once and for all that this particular paradise comes with a steep price.

Shortly after her marriage to her ex ended she faced the fact that her meager salary would never meet the finances needed to afford keeping such a large investment.

Despite her misgivings and personal discomfort the only viable solution for Laney was to rent out the luxurious home to strangers on a rotating basis.

This came with its own set of problems for Laney, problems that proved to be the tip of a proverbial iceberg once she is physically investigating the latest report for herself.

Accompanied by her ex husband Kit, his sister Jayla, her niece Madison along with Sadie and her brother Garrett the six find something on Hemlock Island they never expected, something dangerous and deadly as well.

As this rather macabre story unfolds it morphs into an unexpected journey of survival and terrorizing truths for the entire group.

A story that for me proved to be more of a horrifying read than a straight horror, guess at my age I am jaded and able to accept this type of tale easier than some readers might.

Essentially this is a Twilight Zone episode on steroids sort of read.

A type of horror story that grabs you by the throat and never lets go.

At least that’s how it felt for me.
[EArc from Netgalley]