Hemlock

Werewolves, I love me some werewolves. I love them more than vampires but strangely enough if you compare how much werewolf books I actually love to the number of vampire books I actually love then you would be quite confused because the ratio or pie chart you are looking at would not support the first sentence of this review and you would then ask me to explain myself. My explanation to why I love more vampire novels than werewolf novels is that I am extremely picky when it comes to reading about werewolves, but only in YA. When it comes to adult books I love my Kelley Armstrong and Patricia Briggs but when it comes to YA the werewolf books I come across most of the time are too tame or saturated with romance for my blood thirsty and cynical heart. I voiced some of these thoughts while standing in one of the many lines at BEA this year and someone (I think it was Kristen [you don't who Kristen is dear reader]) asked me if I had read Hemlock, I said no and she recommended it. So I picked up Hemlock or downloaded it from amazon to be precise and quickly began reading.

In the world of Hemlock it is public knowledge that werewolves exist and the world has adjusted to this knowledge the way it always does when confronted with something it does not understand and fear – with hate and prejudice. If you are a werewolf you have no human rights. If you are a werewolf you are no longer allowed to live in normal society because you are a threat to normal people. If you are a werewolf you are taken from everything you know and are forced to live in a “camp” with others of your kind for the rest of your life; that is if you aren't killed during the transfer or before the authorities can get to you by your neighbours. Hell, if you are suspected of being a werewolf you have no rights until it's proven you are not a werewolf.

In the small town of Hemlock Mackenzie's best friend Amy has been killed by a werewolf and she was not the only victim. However, she was the victim who gained the most media attention because she was the granddaughter of a politician. Unfortunately the white werewolf in question was never captured and after months of peace it seems the white werewolf is back and killing again or is this one completely new? What could be more dangerous than a werewolf roaming around, however, are the group of Trackers who have been invited to the town. The Trackers are a radical group of extremists who have been given free rein by the local police to do pretty much whatever it takes to find the killer werewolf no matter who gets in the way.

Hemlock was a mystery filled with high-stakes action scenes, compelling drama and a whole cast of unique and diverse characters. Mackenzie is a strong MC who is determined to find out the identity of Amy's murderer, keep her friend Jason from falling to the wayside, and figure out the mix signals she keeps getting from her long time best friend Kyle. Unfortunately for Mackenzie the more she discovers about the night Amy died the more dangerous her life becomes and the more she realizes how little she knows about those closest to her.

I didn't fall irrevocably in love with Hemlock but I did enjoy myself as I read it. There was romance but it wasn't painted throughout all the pages and had me choking on sentiment, there was danger, drama, and many different levels of conflict. There were also twists popping up at every turn and if there is something I love more than werewolves it's a good twist.

For being a new author, Kathleen Peacock didn't do too bad of a job, but this story did have cliché moments like the love triangle. Almost rolled my eyes at that one, but kept reading. The plot was a little shallow at times as well, Jason was a bit over dramatic for my liking. Granted his character was going through a lot of emotional turmoil, but it didn't feel real enough. Also The plot twist didn't seem as dramatic as it should have been either. I think more hints were needed to make the readers begin to puzzle it out for themselves, draw out the suspense so readers are more involved and the big reveal hits them just as hard as it does the characters. Like I said, not a bad debut, but I'm not sure I would continue to read the series as this book didn't draw me in so well.