Review: Hemlock by Kathleen Peacock

Title: Hemlock
Author: Kathleen Peacock
Genre: Paranormal YA
Series: Hemlock #1


Hardcover, 416 pages 
Published May 8th 2012 by Katherine Tegen Books


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||Summary||
Mackenzie and Amy were best friends. Until Amy was brutally murdered.

Since then, Mac’s life has been turned upside down. She is being haunted by Amy in her dreams, and an extremist group called the Trackers has come to Mac’s hometown of Hemlock to hunt down Amy’s killer: A white werewolf.

Lupine syndrome—also known as the werewolf virus—is on the rise across the country. Many of the infected try to hide their symptoms, but bloodlust is not easy to control.

Wanting desperately to put an end to her nightmares, Mac decides to investigate Amy’s murder herself. She discovers secrets lurking in the shadows of Hemlock, secrets about Amy’s boyfriend, Jason, her good pal Kyle, and especially her late best friend. Mac is thrown into a maelstrom of violence and betrayal that puts her life at risk.

||Review||

Mackenzie a.k.a Mac Dobson lost her best friend Amy to a werewolf attack five months ago, a white werewolf to be exact. After Amy’s murder, the string of attacks disappeared, but then it begun again. Senator John Walsh, Amy’s grandfather wants to find Amy’s killer so he brought in the trackers. The trackers is an anti-werewolf group, who doesn’t care whether you’re actually infected or a werewolf sympathizer…it’s one in the same to them. Anyone who is infected either bitten or scratched is supposed to turn themselves into the Lupine Syndrome Registration Bureau. Amy been plaguing Mac’s dreams, and Mac thinks the only way to stop the dreams is to find Amy’s killer. With the help of Jason, Amy’s ex-boyfriend, her best friend Kyle, and some unlikely allies, Mac sets out to find this ‘white wolf’.  As Mac starts to unravel the truth behind Amy’s murder, she discovers that everyone around her been keeping secrets of their own; even her best friend Amy.

I love anything werewolf, so I was really excited for Ms. Peacock’s debut novel Hemlock. This book was more of a murder mystery with the addition of werewolves, rather than a paranormal book about werewolves. When I first read the synopsis, I thought it was going to be one of those cookie cutter types of YA that have been floating around….but I was wrong! This book is more than just werewolves, it’s about friendship, loyalty, betrayal, prejudice and love all wrapped up a well-written and well-plotted novel. The characters were all very life-like, and the emotions that they experienced leaped off the pages. I remember getting teary-eyed a couple times throughout the novel. I like Mac, our main heroine right off the bat. She’s so devoted to her friends and family, strong-willed, and does everything in her power to protect the people she cares about. Other readers talked about a love-triangle in this book, but I didn’t really see it as a love-triangle. Mac has feeling for one of her guy friend, and her other guy friend likes her (although she didn’t even know). There was never a moment in the book where Mac was conflicted on who she wanted to be with.

I loved everything about Hemlock, the characters, the world-building, the writing style and the eye-catching cover. The pacing was good; I was sucked into the story and the emotionally charged dialogue. There was a lot of twist and turns as new information were revealed. When I found out who the killer was I was flabbergasted. I never once suspected that (BLANK) was killer; the author did a good job at keeping the suspense.  I finished this book in less than 3 days; it usually takes me longer with other books. I highly recommend this book to EVERYONE. Even if you’re not a werewolf fan, you definitely should still pick this book up because it will not disappoint. The book ends on a cliff hanger, so I am dying to read the next book!

**Thank you HarperCollins for sending me this book**