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A review by willrefuge
Hemlock Island by Kelley Armstrong
3.0
6 / 10 ✪
https://arefugefromlife.wordpress.com/2023/09/05/hemlock-island-by-kelley-armstrong-review/
Hemlock Island is Laney’s baby. It’s her happy place, her home away from home, the place she goes for quiet, solitude, and inspiration. It’s the perfect place to jog her imagination, and as an author, it’s this that fuels her creativity. It’s also the only good bit of her marriage left after the divorce—and now, to make ends’ meat, she’s forced to rent it out.
Only things have been happening on Hemlock Island. Strange things. Fires, supposed hauntings, hex circles—all of which have put the renters off their vacation. Now it’s up to Laney, and her niece Madison, to check things out.
Only when they prepare the boat to leave, who’s to show up than Laney’s ex and his sister, Laney’s former best friend. And then two more crash the party—another childhood friend (and rival), and her brother. With the party assembled, the crew embarks to check out Hemlock Island. But they’re about to get more than they bargained for.
—
People are never that simple.
—
At its heart, Hemlock Island is a mystery or supernatural thriller masquerading as horror. The creepiness is upstaged by the squabbling, the mystery, the romance for so long that when it finally takes center stage it fails to capture the imagination, the attention it desires. Now, it’s not a bad mystery or thriller, but in trying to cover too many genres, the plot somewhat fails to do any of them too well.
The first (and arguably biggest plot-hole) is Sadie. If I dropped in on one of my childhood friends (someone I really never talk to anymore) and offered to help with that one big problem that they had that I should in no way know about—there would be some questions. That’s what Sadie does here. She and her brother just show up, “to help” after being estranged for many years—and no one bats an eye. It’s not explained any further, nor even questioned afterwards, and it bugged the heck out of me.
One of the more disappointing aspects I discovered was the divorce (and/or romance). See, I generally disparage add-on romances in fiction, but this one—a pandemic-fueled divorce—is quite essential to the plot. Or it would be if it made any sense. Now, how to explain this without spoilers?
Obviously we can’t get into the actual plot, but I’ll give you the crux of it. The pandemic was taxing on so many relationships because it forced people to confront how little they understood their partner, how little they actually had in common, or how far apart they’d grown without noticing. Now I realize this is an oversimplification, but bear with me. That’s not the issue in Hemlock Island. Instead it’s… they didn’t talk about it. That’s it. And to have that presented as a pandemic-fueled divorce seems like a lie, not to mention a tremendous disappointment.
Don’t get me wrong—this was an interesting read. Immersive, if not captivating, fast-paced and thrilling, mysterious in most good ways. The plot of Hemlock Island is… sufficient. In that I mean it’s immersive enough when you’re reading it, but don’t expect to ruminate over its complexities upon completion. It’s more the kind that you’ll forget the story within days of its passing. But that’s okay. Grab this for a long commute, a layover, a travel-day. It’s not going to blow you away—but should be sufficient to entertain (and even thrill) no matter how many distractions you have to put up with.
https://arefugefromlife.wordpress.com/2023/09/05/hemlock-island-by-kelley-armstrong-review/
Hemlock Island is Laney’s baby. It’s her happy place, her home away from home, the place she goes for quiet, solitude, and inspiration. It’s the perfect place to jog her imagination, and as an author, it’s this that fuels her creativity. It’s also the only good bit of her marriage left after the divorce—and now, to make ends’ meat, she’s forced to rent it out.
Only things have been happening on Hemlock Island. Strange things. Fires, supposed hauntings, hex circles—all of which have put the renters off their vacation. Now it’s up to Laney, and her niece Madison, to check things out.
Only when they prepare the boat to leave, who’s to show up than Laney’s ex and his sister, Laney’s former best friend. And then two more crash the party—another childhood friend (and rival), and her brother. With the party assembled, the crew embarks to check out Hemlock Island. But they’re about to get more than they bargained for.
—
People are never that simple.
—
At its heart, Hemlock Island is a mystery or supernatural thriller masquerading as horror. The creepiness is upstaged by the squabbling, the mystery, the romance for so long that when it finally takes center stage it fails to capture the imagination, the attention it desires. Now, it’s not a bad mystery or thriller, but in trying to cover too many genres, the plot somewhat fails to do any of them too well.
The first (and arguably biggest plot-hole) is Sadie. If I dropped in on one of my childhood friends (someone I really never talk to anymore) and offered to help with that one big problem that they had that I should in no way know about—there would be some questions. That’s what Sadie does here. She and her brother just show up, “to help” after being estranged for many years—and no one bats an eye. It’s not explained any further, nor even questioned afterwards, and it bugged the heck out of me.
One of the more disappointing aspects I discovered was the divorce (and/or romance). See, I generally disparage add-on romances in fiction, but this one—a pandemic-fueled divorce—is quite essential to the plot. Or it would be if it made any sense. Now, how to explain this without spoilers?
Obviously we can’t get into the actual plot, but I’ll give you the crux of it. The pandemic was taxing on so many relationships because it forced people to confront how little they understood their partner, how little they actually had in common, or how far apart they’d grown without noticing. Now I realize this is an oversimplification, but bear with me. That’s not the issue in Hemlock Island. Instead it’s… they didn’t talk about it. That’s it. And to have that presented as a pandemic-fueled divorce seems like a lie, not to mention a tremendous disappointment.
Don’t get me wrong—this was an interesting read. Immersive, if not captivating, fast-paced and thrilling, mysterious in most good ways. The plot of Hemlock Island is… sufficient. In that I mean it’s immersive enough when you’re reading it, but don’t expect to ruminate over its complexities upon completion. It’s more the kind that you’ll forget the story within days of its passing. But that’s okay. Grab this for a long commute, a layover, a travel-day. It’s not going to blow you away—but should be sufficient to entertain (and even thrill) no matter how many distractions you have to put up with.