I really did enjoy this book. It was so mysterious and spooky! The ending was so good and not what I had predicted. I highly recommend this to Horror/Thriller fans.


Many thanks to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for my ARC!

Lane and her niece go to her isolated rental property/island to investigate sinister events that have been happening there. Some friends join in the search for answers. Mayhem ensues!! This is a horror/thriller but nothing too scary, maybe a little bit gory.

Easy to read and get through, this was an exciting ride and enjoyable. This novel felt like YA to me instead of adult fiction, the dialogue and some logistics were a bit juvenile. Unless, this was supposed to be YA, in which case, well done!

Thank you to Netgalley for the opportunity to read and review this book.

I'm a Kelley Armstrong fan. I love her writing style and have read all of her books. HEMLOCK ISLAND is definitely different from her other books. It starts as the MC gets a call in the middle of the night.....never a good sign. Since her divorce, Laney has been renting her summer home. Located on an island in the middle of Lake Superior, this home was a wedding present, but to afford the costs now, she must let strangers come into her home. The caller is the current renter and she's extremely upset. There have been "incidents" on the island and now there is bloody markings in a closet. Laney refunds the renter's money and must now investigate what is going on.

Many of Kelley Armstrong's book revolve around paranormal communities and the lives of the inhabitants. These books are excellent reading. This book.......well, it hits the paranormal scale and then quickly, and unexpectantly, rachets into a horror story with a twist. Armstrong's writing style is unmistakable. She develops communities and characters that you find familiar after the first few chapters. Then she starts chipping away at "normal" while taking readers deep into the hearts of these characters who now must figure out what is going on, who is doing all this, and how do we make it STOP! She throws in some different twists, you feel like you KNOW what's going on, then "oh no you didn't" hits.

This book is excellent. There is no other descriptive needed. Settle in, turn the light on and be prepared.....

This was a wild ride that pulls you in right away. Laney rents out her private home on Hemlock Island. On a teacher’s salary it’s the only way she can afford to maintain the property, which was given to her by her ex-husband after their divorce. As she starts receiving complaints from renters about strange things happening on the property, she decides to head to the island with her niece to investigate. On the way she runs into her ex-husband and old friends who come with her to help investigate. As things slowly unravel it just gets creepier and creepier. I must have said OMG at least a dozen times while reading. I loved all the characters, and the atmospheric setting really drew me into the story. A very enjoyable thriller / horror read. 4 stars.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC.

Thank you NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for this early copy!

I really enjoyed this book! It started off a bit slow, building into the creepy parts letting you develop your own theories on what was really happening on Hemlock Island. Within the whole storyline of being trapped on the island, you start to learn that this group of family and friends have a completely unrelated secret adding more tension and conflict to the already scary and stressful situation. I loved the dynamics of this group brought together, and honestly would love a follow up book, or maybe even a prequel about the island.

Hemlock Island is riveting from page one all the way through. Hands down one of the most gripping nail biters I’ve seen recently. I was mesmerized by the intricacies of the plot and the well sprinkled elements of the supernatural. Absolutely fantastic read that had me blown away at the end. Utterly gobsmacked by the way things turned out. I would have never guessed it in a million years. I highly recommend it!

This is the horror story I needed this year. I love Kelley Armstrong and every time she ventures into another genre I love her just a little bit more. This book would make a great movie and I hope that happens sometime. Laney Kilpatrick kept her vacation home on it’s own private island after her divorce. Unfortunately on her teacher’s salary she needs to rent it out when she’s not there to be able to afford the fees and taxes. When several renters complain of occult type pranks she decides to go to the island to figure out what is happening. She brings her niece who is she guardian for when she refuses to stay behind. When she gets there her ex-husband and an old friend there to help the investigation. Their party is completed when another old friend who has drifted away from Laney also comes and brings her brother who was just made a detective. As they discover more and more on the island the sense of dread and doom rises. A creep-tastic read that is perfect for a fall read.

Whew! Just finished Kelley Armstrong’s new novel, “Hemlock Island.” Ms. Armstrong’s novels have been a relatively recent find for me, but I have been totally awed by her ability to grab the reader from the very start. This is the first standalone of hers I have read and I was not disappointed. Hemlock Island is a remote island in the middle of Lake Superior accessible by only boat, helicopter, or seaplane. It was gifted to Lainey Hayes by her ex-husband, Kit who left their marriage following the pandemic. To say what the story is about would give away spoilers, which I hate, so suffice it to say that the reader can be prepared to be shocked, terrified, gob-smacked, and finally, able to breathe again when the final page is done. The twists and turns are masterful and the characters are as well drawn as the are in the Armstrong series I’ve read. Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin’s press for the advance copy in return for my unbiased review. If you have not yet read any Kelley Armstrong, this is a good one to start with since it is a standalone. However, feel free to pick up a series as each on has it’s own identity and if you didn’t know in advance that it was all the same author, you would swear it was not. They are that different and that fun to read. Now back to book five of the Cainesville series I’m reading….

This book had me hooked from the very beginning. I love me a creepy island, especially one with a name like Hemlock Island.

Weird and unexplainable things start happening on the island which unfortunately forces the owner, her niece, and several other people to come investigate. What first seems like pranks turn out to be way more sinister.

Hemlock Island will definitely keep you guessing all throughout the story. You think you have figured out what's going on? You haven't. You have no idea.

Laney Kilpatrick has a vacation home on Hemlock Island, gifted to her by her husband Kit after their divorce. She can’t actually afford it though, but loves it enough to rent it out part of the year (which she hates doing) so she can keep it. Lately though, some scary developments have been turning renters away. She and her teenaged niece Madison - now her ward since her sister’s death from cancer - go to the island to investigate. They assume that prospective buyers (of which there have been a number) are trying to scare her off the property so she will sell, and sell at a reduced price.

Madison calls Kit to let him know what is going on, and he shows up on the island too, along with his sister (and former best friend) Jayla, and another old friend, Sadie, who brought her brother Garrett. Garrett is now a cop, and Sadie thought he could help, but Laney has some bad history with Garrett.

They all end up spending the night on the property, and find out there are more horrible things going on out there than they ever imagined. Tension picks up as a storm comes and they all get in mortal danger. And no one can be sure if one of their number isn’t responsible.

Evaluation: Paranormal is far from my favorite genre, and horror even less, but with one of my favorite authors writing the book, it didn’t matter. She always keeps me turning the pages, and provides an entertaining way to pass the time no matter the genre.

Trapped on an island in the middle of Lake Superior, creepy things happening, gruesome finds, a group of people who can't quite trust each other....this book had everything I want in a thriller! I made the mistake of starting this book in the evening and lost half a nights sleep because I had to find out what was going on. It was worth it! My one con is the dialogue. At times it seemed immature, the 16 year old sometimes came across as smarter than the adults and the dropped threads in conversations was frustrating. I wanted everyone to take some time and properly communicate!

This isn't your normal closed room mystery. This is spooky horror stuff.

Oh I love this. So our girl owns this massive and creepy private island. Her ex-husband bought it for her and built her an amazing modern home on the island. They're still friends but it is awkward. But she can't afford to own an island now that they are divorced, because she is a teacher/writer and is raising her niece, so she rents it out to rich people who trash it and do weird things.
She gets a call from the latest renter about blood on the property so she gathers her niece and they head out to check on the island. When they arrive to get on the boat her ex-husband and his sister are there.
They insist on coming and she relents. The rest of the horror occurs on the island, which is completely isolated with no cell service or anything else.
There are a lot of gorey and terrifying moments here. our protagonist is flawed and relatable. Yu really do feel her.
She doubts herself at every turn but not in a weak and annoying way. She just wants to be certain before she panics. It is the most relatable thing.
With all the incredibly strange things happening here on this island it is a good thing.
AND as someone who owns a not even special piece of property I know how incredibly annoying people are about wanting to buy your property. I can't even go a day without some jerk contacting me about buying my house.

This is the scariest book I have ever read and I am so glad I read it on a sunny day.
Thanks for the nightmares.

I didn't expect to get sucked into this book like I did, but there was so much going on that I finished in one sitting. The mystery was twisting and immersive and I loved trying to figure out who the culprit was.

This book totally caught me off guard. It was easy to get into the story, become engrossed in the twisty mystery, and make guesses about the culprit while trying to gather the pieces to answer the questions that kept piling up in each chapter. The claustrophobic sensation of being trapped on an island with a killer lurking around and the entire connection between characters who keep secrets from each other, along with surprising revelations, kept me on my toes.

What I didn't expect was how things wrapped up. It was twisty, but it was also incredibly awkward! I found myself screaming "What the hell?" several times. When the paranormal vibes were thrown into the mystery meets horror equation, I felt a little confused about my feelings. The revelations honestly sucker-punched me because they were a little far-fetched. I had second thoughts about how the story concluded in the most logical way. At least the author found a way to patch the loopholes up by giving us less eye-popping and more earth-shattering and satisfying ending!

The only thing that bothered me was that the dialogues' tone resembled more young adults than mature adult conversations.

The story revolves around 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. She is raising her 16-year-old niece, Madison, and reluctantly renting a vacation home on a remote island to strangers. The house was a marriage gift from her ex, Kit, who signed the place over after their split. Laney rejected his request for alimony but cannot afford the expenses of such a grandiose place: a two-thousand-square-foot custom-built home on a five-acre private island in Lake Superior.

By renting the house to strangers, she's not only letting them invade her privacy, but she is also allowing them to move chairs from her secret spots, burn down her gazebo with a bonfire, and destroy her grandmother's coffee table with what are clearly canine teeth marks, despite promising that their dog would stay outside.

Things get out of control when the renters call her in the middle of the night to inform her that there are blood and nail marks all over the green/guest room's closet. When Laney drives to 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.

Laney still harbors resentment towards her ex-husband, suspecting he's having an affair with Sadie, trying to soothe things with her estranged friend Jayla, and gets irritated by Garrett's existence for some unknown reason.

When they decide to spend the night together at the house, things get out of control. A hand of someone they found in the backyard is only the beginning of the escalating situation. The whispers raise. The pressure trembles. The secrets they keep are about to come out and change the course of their lives. Somebody is playing a deadly game with them, but who?

Overall, I went back and forth between giving the book three and four stars and ultimately decided to round up 3.5 stars to 4 for the riveting writing style and great blend of paranormal meets horror elements.

Many thanks to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for sharing this digital reviewer copy with me in exchange for my honest thoughts.

Reviewed for NetGalley:

Laney, becoming the recent guardian of her teenage niece after her sister's passing, still reeling from her divorce, travels to her vacation home to investigate the strange, bloody complaint from her Airbnb guests.

However, this is not the first complaint, and once she heads to the rural, Lake Superior island, her ex and old friends are also there to investigate.

A wild, thriller/horror read that kept me guessing until the end.

Really enjoyable.

Many thanks to Kelley Armstrong, the publisher, and netgalley for this ARC. I have read Kelley Armstrong before, I was not expecting to be reading horror from her and I loved every minute. This book had me jumping at random, but normal noises in my house, and I am not mad at it. I am very hard to scare but my heart was pounding. Overall, holy crap this was great. Read it, trust me.

What if the place you always dreamed of became your worst nightmare? This is exactly what happens to Laney Kilpatrick in Kelley Armstrong’s new horror novel, Hemlock Island.
When Laney’s husband, Kit, bought her the private island as a wedding present, it was a dream come true. Then the pandemic hits and Laney and Kit’s marriage doesn’t survive. Now she is forced to rent out her treasured island in order to keep it. When strange and mysterious things begin appearing on the island, Laney decides to make a quick trip out to look for a cause. Unbeknownst to her she’s not the only one.
I really enjoyed this book. It was full of surprises, and kept me constantly guessing. Every time I thought things could not get any worse, they did! This book actually gave me nightmares! I have always loved Kelley Armstrong’s writing, and she did not disappoint me with this one. I would definitely recommend this book to anyone who enjoys horror or thriller genres.
(Trigger warnings- This is a horror novel so there are descriptions of violence and gore, but I should also warn readers of mentions of SA and the victims aftermath in case anyone is trying to avoid such topics.)

I am wrecked today as I stayed up basically all night reading Hemlock Island!

I started it yesterday afternoon, and I picked it up again when I went to bed & read until 11:30pm. I had to go to sleep with the lights on because I was so creeped out. I was at 78% complete at that point. But I was dying to know what happened next, so I got up again at 3:30am to finish reading it.

In my opinion, that's the hallmark of an excellent book!

This is Kelley Armstrong’s first full length horror novel—and, I’d have to say, it’s a home run. She’s struck the ball out of the park with this one. So, so, so good!

Thank you to Netgalley for the ARC.

Holy forking shirt-balls. What a wild ride this was.

I'm not a horror fan. When I'm forced to watch scary movies, my hands are suddenly glued to my eyes. But I've read everything Kelley has ever written and thought, "It won't be that bad." Boy, I was so wrong... but so right.

Right off the bat, you meet Laney, her niece Madison, and Laney's getaway, Hemlock Island. I loved these characters, and the island from the very beginning was a major character.

This started so tame, and then it was absolutely nuts. Again, keep in mind, I'm not a horror fan, and reading this at night while attempting to sleep was very, very dumb, but I loved every second of this book. I could not have seen that ending in a thousand years.

If you're looking for a stand-alone thriller/horror, get this. You're welcome.

Absolutely amazing! Kelley Armstrong is one of my favorite authors. I’ve been reading her work since the Darkest Powers series. Hemlock Island was a very unique mystery/thriller. The setting was so beautiful and the characters were fantastic. I really loved Laney. She was complex but very real. Thank you so much for the opportunity to read this book. Can’t wait to purchase it and at it to my collection!