Review : Hemlock by Kathleen Peacock

Summary (from Goodreads)

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.

Kathleen Peacock’s thrilling novel is the first in the Hemlock trilogy, a spellbinding urban fantasy series filled with provocative questions about prejudice, trust, lies, and love.

Personal Thoughts

I was a little wary to start reading Hemlock when I heard that it was a book based on werewolves. I have only read a couple of werewolf stories, but none of them appealed to me. What pushed me towards reading the book was the numerous positive reviews that praise it. Indeed, Hemlock did manage to surprise me in a very good way.

Mackenzie, Amy, Jason and Kyle are very close friends until Amy is brutally murdered by a werewolf. In Hemlock, the city where they live, werewolves are out in the open and people are aware of them. Because Amy's grandfather is the senator, he takes up the assistance of The Trackers, a group of people who track and 'rehabilitate' those people who are infected with Lupine Syndrome in order to find the white werewolf who heartlessly ripped Amy. Because of the constant nightmares that she has on Amy, Mac also decides to find out the truth about Amy's death. Soon, secrets are unraveled and Mac and her friends find themselves in the midst of danger.

Mac was a somewhat broken main character. Amy's death had left her devastated and lonesome. Moreover, her friends ,Jason and Kyle, were also wrecked after Amy died. Initially, Mac was very confused and befuddled as to what to do with her nightmares. They all seemed very real to her and they only made her feel upset. At the same time, Mac somehow felt guilty since she held herself responsible in part for Amy's death. I really felt for Mac. She was an orphan and on top of that her best friend had just died. There was so much going on in her life that I couldn't help, but feel sympathy for her. Towards the middle of the book, Mac gathered herself and wanting to put an end to the nightmares haunting her, she decided to unearth what had truly happened to Amy. From that point onwards, Mac displayed a really positive and headstrong attitude to everything. She becomes wholly involved in her investigation and the love that she felt for Amy was truly palpable. Amiable, bighearted and helpful, Mac tried her best to also bring together Jason and Kyle who had grown apart. Her willingness to do this showed how sweet she really was. I felt in synch with Mac. All her emotions became my emotions. When she felt scared, I felt scared too. When she was happy, I felt happy too. When she felt betrayed, I felt betrayed too. What I mostly approved in Mac was that she didn't crumble to pieces whenever something was going wrong. Instead, with a determined attitude, she tried to fix everything up by herself. Although Mac has a fairly sorrowful and perplexed tone throughout the book, I found her to be an enjoyable character.

Reading the blurb makes you think that there might be a love triangle in the book. However, I didn't really see it as a love triangle. I think maybe the next book will contain more crucial one. Anyways, out of the two boys, Jason and Kyle, Kyle was definitely my favorite only because Jason's behavior was sometimes difficult to grasp. Kyle was a sweet and considerate guy. He was very protective of Mac. It was clear that he had feelings for Mac from the start, but because of the secret he was harboring, it was difficult for him to express his feelings for her. He did, however, constantly show that he cared for her a lot. He was always there to help her out and his goodhearted nature was really cute, according to me. It was his sincere and gracious attitude that made him unique and undeniably attractive. He too felt some guilt after the death of Amy and it took him quite a long time to overcome that guilt of his.
Jason, on the other hand, was a complete mystery to me initially. Before Amy died, he was her boyfriend. Because of this he was completely shattered by Amy's death. To escape reality, he constantly got drunk. He was probably the one who was hit the most by her death for a reason explained later in the book. He went to extremes to cope with his guilt. He even joined The Trackers. At first, he bothered me a little and his character didn't appeal to me. However, when I found out the legit reason behind his behavior, I wanted to cry because it broke my heart and I would have gone through the same turmoil as him if I had been in his place.

The romance in the story wasn't the insta-love kind. Mac and Kyle have known each other since a long time. Although it took them some time to admit how they really felt for each other, I thought the romance was really sweet. The couple went through some very tough moments in the book and at times it was heart breaking. Their relationship was simply not an easy one. Nevertheless, I found myself really enjoying it because it felt real and unmistakable. Up until the end, I didn't realize that Jason had feelings for Mac too because he was too lost and isolated. I thought for sure that Mac would start doubting her feelings for Kyle, but fortunately I was proved wrong. The love triangle in the book was an intriguing but excellent one.

The plot was very interesting. The mystery behind Amy's death kept me constantly on my toes. Along with Mac and her friends, I too wanted to know the truth behind it. Although the romance was a crucial part of the story, not once did I think that the romance swamped the plot. The author threw in a few twists and turns that I wasn't expecting at all and that only heightened my enjoyment. The whole story behind the werewolves was well-proportioned. In my opinion, the author did a great job at explaining in detail the world that she has created. Her characters were all distinct and well-developed. I admit that initially the pace was quite slow, but things picked up quite fast. The suspense, mystery and politics kept me intrigued, but interested. I was dying to know more about Hemlock and the characters living there.
For a debut novel, this was fantastic. Kathleen Peacock excelled at her world-building, character growth, heart-warming romance and writing in general. It easily entered my list of favorite reads.

Hemlock isn't your typical werewolf story. It was a wonderfully consuming, complex and compulsive story that involved an outburst of emotions with its outstanding characters, commendable world-building and gripping writing. Hemlock is definitely not a book that you want to miss if you are a fan of YA paranormal. 

Rating

Cover : 4/5
Plot : 5/5
Characters : 5/5
Writing : 5/5

Big Thanks To HarperCollins for providing me with an ARC of this book.