Hemlock Island: A Novel

Kelley Armstrong

Sept 2023 · Sold by St. Martin's Press

About this eBook

A standalone horror novel from #1 New York Times bestselling author Kelley Armstrong.

Laney Kilpatrick has been renting her vacation home to strangers. The invasion of privacy gives her panic attacks, but it’s the only way she can keep her beloved Hemlock Island, the only thing she owns after a pandemic-fueled divorce. But broken belongings and campfires that nearly burn down the house have escalated to bloody bones, hex circles, and now, terrified renters who've fled after finding blood and nail marks all over the guest room closet, as though someone tried to claw their way out...and failed.

When Laney shows up to investigate with her teenaged niece in tow, she discovers that her ex, Kit, has also been informed and is there with Jayla, his sister and her former best friend. Then Sadie, another old high school friend, charters over with her brother, who’s now a cop.

There are tensions and secrets, whispers in the woods, and before long, the discovery of a hand poking up from the earth. Then the body that goes with it... But by that time, someone has taken off with their one and only means off the island, and they’re trapped with someone—or something—that doesn’t want them leaving the island alive.

Ratings and reviews

This story is not at all what I expected. Oh I knew it was Horror but it totally blew me away. Just like watching one of those scary movies that make you jump at every tire this story is super creepy and shocking. When this author ventures into a new genre boy does she go all out. Laney owns Hemlock Island a remote secluded place with no internet or phone reception. The perfect getaway or is it. When she gets a call that something has happened she heads out there to check it out with her ex and

I just love it when a book reads so easily, I can see the movie in my head !! ( hello, Netflix !! come on down !) This book is so smoothly written,so well paced,that it was a delight to read. The premise is of creepy things happening on the island that is being rented out as an AirBnB-type situation. At first it's just bad tenants, setting fires and breaking things, but then it escalates to hex circles, weird wind chimes, and other peculiar things. I loved the twists and turns, the whole thing.

This was a new to me author, and I will definitely be looking for more of her stories. The author pulls you into the story and doesn’t let you go till the end. This is a fast paced, suspenseful and action packed adventure. I would recommend this to anybody who enjoys horror stories. I received an ARC of this book from NetGalley. This is my honest and voluntary review.

About the author

Kelley Armstrong graduated with a degree in psychology and then studied computer programming. Now she is a full-time writer and parent, and she lives with her husband and three children in rural Ontario, Canada. She is the author of the Rockton mystery series featuring Detective Casey Duncan, which begins with City of the Lost, and the novel Wherever She Goes. She is the editor of the young adult anthology Life Is Short and Then You Die.