A review by readundancies
Hemlock Island by Kelley Armstrong

3.25

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.