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3.47 AVERAGE
3.47 AVERAGE
3.5. I loved everything except how it turned out. Great pacing, great atmosphere. But then… that was a real let down for me.
I struggled with how to rate this book. It grabbed my attention quickly and had a "And then there were none" vibe which I loved. The action got a bit convoluted at times making it hard for the reader to follow and then when the scary bit is revealed, it doesn't have its full effect because you're not quite sure how we got there. I liked the zombies, and the idea of an island spirit who destroys people who pollute it but it took a little too long for that theme to emerge. The biggest reason I gave it three stars is that there was so much drama! So much talking, talkin, talking, it drove me nuts. If there are zombies in the woods and finger windchimes, you're not trying to work out your issues with your ex, I'm sorry.
Laney rents out a house on an island as a vacation cottage, but weird things have been happening so she's got to go and check it out, along with her niece, her ex husband, ex sister in law, ex best friend, and ex best friend's brother who is a cop.
CW: other than general horror/gore stuff, past rape mentioned (not graphic) but handled not great.
Pros: The horror elements of it were fun, and there was quite a bit of that. It was descriptive and spooky, that part certainly worked. The remote, forested setting of the book did add to the story.
Cons: There were a couple twists that just didn't make sense and came out of left field, a lot of interpersonal drama I didn't really care about, and the ending was not satisfying in my personal opinion for the build up that the horror scenes had been giving.
So first of all, girl, why are you letting all these people on your property just because they say they want to go? Ex husband and his sister, maybe I get it. He once co-owned the house, MC's still in love with him, sister used to be her best friend. They want to help solve the mystery. That's somewhat understandable. His whole reason for divorce could have been solved by communication at its core (as always is most romance plotlines), but that's all still more believable than the ex best friend and the cop.
Why the hell is the MC letting letting her ex best friend on the island? Or ex-bff's cop brother, especially where it's revealed that he raped her in the past? And that her niece is their daughter? Absolutely wild (derogatory). This guy has no jurisdiction as a cop to come onto her property if she doesn't want him to, let alone the fact that he raped her. And his sister is not her friend anymore and betrayed her in the past and they had very little, if any contact since said betrayal. Why didn't the MC just tell them to eff off, seriously.
The rape plotline is just is not handled well in the "present" of the book when it's revealed. At all. It kind of starts to frame it as a bad thing, but then as an "it's okay, it happened way back in the past" thing? Then she is justifying to herself that she should be okay with her underage daughter forming a relationship with her rapist father because he's demanding one. I wasn't personally impressed with how it was dealt with. Honestly, this whole "twist"/"plotline" didn't add really anything to the story besides interpersonal drama, and there was enough of that already.
Then the ending with the island spirit or whatever? It basically acted like a child throwing a temper tantrum, and I guess I just have a personal grievance against the idea of letting something that acts like a child tell me what to do, ability to make zombies or not. It felt like such a let down of an explanation and a resolution after all the actually spooky stuff that had happened.
CW: other than general horror/gore stuff, past rape mentioned (not graphic) but handled not great.
Pros: The horror elements of it were fun, and there was quite a bit of that. It was descriptive and spooky, that part certainly worked. The remote, forested setting of the book did add to the story.
Cons: There were a couple twists that just didn't make sense and came out of left field, a lot of interpersonal drama I didn't really care about, and the ending was not satisfying in my personal opinion for the build up that the horror scenes had been giving.
Why the hell is the MC letting letting her ex best friend on the island? Or ex-bff's cop brother, especially where it's revealed that he raped her in the past? And that her niece is their daughter? Absolutely wild (derogatory). This guy has no jurisdiction as a cop to come onto her property if she doesn't want him to, let alone the fact that he raped her. And his sister is not her friend anymore and betrayed her in the past and they had very little, if any contact since said betrayal. Why didn't the MC just tell them to eff off, seriously.
The rape plotline is just is not handled well in the "present" of the book when it's revealed. At all. It kind of starts to frame it as a bad thing, but then as an "it's okay, it happened way back in the past" thing? Then she is justifying to herself that she should be okay with her underage daughter forming a relationship with her rapist father because he's demanding one. I wasn't personally impressed with how it was dealt with. Honestly, this whole "twist"/"plotline" didn't add really anything to the story besides interpersonal drama, and there was enough of that already.
Then the ending with the island spirit or whatever? It basically acted like a child throwing a temper tantrum, and I guess I just have a personal grievance against the idea of letting something that acts like a child tell me what to do, ability to make zombies or not. It felt like such a let down of an explanation and a resolution after all the actually spooky stuff that had happened.
Listening to this was a good choice. I’m writing this review a few weeks later and I genuinely don’t remember a lot of this book. But I remember enjoying myself.
Have a vomit of thoughts that I have no interest in jazzing up for anyone's reading pleasure:
- Pacing was on point.
- The dichotomy of relationships in this story was extreme but still compelling.
- I liked the characters but wanted to spend a bit more time with them in a character driven kinda way. Not sure how this would’ve been balanced with the pace being what it is and so effective at propelling the story forward, but it’s how I feel.
- There were a handful of moments where I got the heebie-jeebies and I commend Kelley Armstrong for her strong writing abilities. I got excited to the point where I had to physically put the story down more than once - just for a couple seconds to really absorb what I was reading and how unnerving it was making me feel. It was more to relish in the sensation and settle my heart rate rather than to try and make sense of things that were occurring or because I was actually frightened.
- The drama was entirely too much for me when it came to the reveals though. Which is not to say that I saw it all coming, but I also kinda anticipated that the explanations I was receiving weren’t exactly going to be top-tier in my books. And sadly, I was correct in my suppositions.
- Plot driven >> character driven
- Spook factor is moderate, somewhere central or mid on the scare scale
- I think the biggest fault I have is how Garrett and Sadie are depicted as characters, because they are true villains in terms of how they had acted in the past and the choices they made and yet Laney still manages to find the humanity in herself and them in her inner monologue when it comes to Madison.
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
N/A
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Well that took a very strange turn.. haha. It was good though, there were some really creepy parts. It wasn't the best thriller I've ever read, there were some plot points that didn't really feel needed, but as a whole it was enjoyable!
Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the chance to read and review this book. Hemlock Island by Kelley Armstrong releases September 12th, 2023.
Horror mixed with thriller. Perfect Spooky Read, and Kelley Armstrong never fails to disappoint! If you don’t have this book on your TBR, you will be missing out on something great.
Imagine having your own island. Sounds cool, right? Now imagine bad things happening on your island. Not so cool. Now imagine death and dismemberment and being stranded with no way to escape.
That’s it. That’s the plot. And it is G O O D. I was captivated from the very first page, even when I wasn’t reading I was thinking about this book. It made my skin crawl and I found myself wanting to look over my shoulder as I read.
I almost gave this book a perfect 5 star rating, but I ended up going down to a 4 start based on the ending. It didn’t feel satisfying to me, but I would still 100% recommend this book to everyome!
Horror mixed with thriller. Perfect Spooky Read, and Kelley Armstrong never fails to disappoint! If you don’t have this book on your TBR, you will be missing out on something great.
Imagine having your own island. Sounds cool, right? Now imagine bad things happening on your island. Not so cool. Now imagine death and dismemberment and being stranded with no way to escape.
That’s it. That’s the plot. And it is G O O D. I was captivated from the very first page, even when I wasn’t reading I was thinking about this book. It made my skin crawl and I found myself wanting to look over my shoulder as I read.
I almost gave this book a perfect 5 star rating, but I ended up going down to a 4 start based on the ending. It didn’t feel satisfying to me, but I would still 100% recommend this book to everyome!
Thought I’d figured out the ending but no the ending just wasn’t as good as mine.
dark
mysterious
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
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