I wasn’t sure what to expect when I picked up Hemlock Island by Kelley Armstrong. The title was intriguing, the cover eerie, and the synopsis enticing. What I thought would be a strong horror, turned out to be something much more subtle as we follow the complexities of small town families and friendships that can never truly leave you.
What really drove me to devour this book as quickly as I did, what provided me with the most tension, was not the mystery of what was happening on the island. Instead, it was the tension between characters that had me on edge throughout the novel. I hemmed and hawed and begged my friends to find spoilers for me so I could read at a leisurely pace, knowing whether main character Laney and her ex-husband Kit would reunite at the end. I never really realized how important those Happily Ever Afters were to me in romances until I was faced with a relationship in a different, crueler genre.
If interpersonal conflict and dredging up the past doesn’t do it for you, I’m not sure this will be a horror for you to pick up. The tension comes mostly from the relationships between characters and the secrets they’re clinging to. Don’t get me wrong, there are definitely horror moments – dead bodies, weird happenings, etc. But that doesn’t really ramp up until the latter half of the book, and even then, I felt a bit let down. I had predicted it would be one thing, and that would’ve been cliche enough but very earned, very rewarding. However, what we actually find out is happening at the end feels disappointing, a letdown. It was enough of a letdown to knock what would’ve been a 5 star book down to 4.5. It just, it didn’t make sense to me and felt like such a boring climax compared to everything else that had happened.
After reading Hemlock Island by Kelley Armstrong, I think I will definitely pick up more by her as it was clear she could write a compelling thriller with plenty of tension. However, I’m not sure if I will necessarily go into it expecting horror the likes of Nick Cutter. This was a great read until a disappointing ending, but I definitely feel like readers who are new to the horror genre and are looking for something light to start with would love this. If you’re looking for something terrifying, maybe borrow this from the library.
