A Review for Deadly Hemlock by Kathleen Peacock

Posted by Donna

Expected Release Date: July 5th, 2012

Finished Date: May 23rd, 2012

Publishers: Simon & Schuster UK

Source: For Review

Format: Paperback

Pages: 416
Buy : Amazon UK / Amazon US / The Book Depo

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.

The Review: 4.5! Deadly Hemlock is one of them books that I went into with no expectations,  so I was thrilled that this book utterly surprised me. It threw me so many amazing surprises that overall, it was a fantastic read. 

In Deadly Hemlock werewolves are no longer in hiding after being discovered by the government. The werewolf gene called the ‘Lupine Syndrome’ is being spread to other people by bites or scratches.
Mackenzie lives in a town called Hemlock and she is trying to deal with the death of her best friend, Amy who was brutally murdered by a werewolf. However, Amy isn’t the first person to be killed, and a man hunt is starting to take place, to wipe all the werewolves out. Mackenzie however, believes there is more to Amy’s death than what she’s been told, and takes it upon herself to find out the truth. But what she isn’t prepared for are the secrets and lies that come out, and thing turn dangerous very quickly for her. Can Mackenzie solve Amy’s murder without getting herself killed? And can she protect the people she loves?

Finally – another werewolf story that is on par with Andrea Cremer’s Nightshade series. I love werewolf stories, but the one’s I’ve read recently all tend to have the same story line, so I’m so pleased that Deadly Hemlock is completely and utterly unique. In my opinion this story has quite a dystopian feel to it – especially with the werewolves being so out in the open, so I was shocked to find out it’s being classes as an urban fantasy, however dystopian or urban fantasy, it was fantastic nonetheless.

The characters were a joy to read about too. Mackenzie, Jason and Kyle have all lost their way since losing Amy – some more than others, but with Mackenzie’s strong personality trying to keep them all together, it was nice to see how tight their friendship was. Mackenzie really was a stand out character for me, I adored both her relationships with both boys and I think the author did a great job with the love triangle too.  I’m usually one that isn’t keen on love triangles, but the author didn’t make it the key point in the book; it was more a back-story and it was great. She really left me battling with who I wanted Mackenzie to end up with and overall, I’d be happy with either one of them.

Kathleen Peacock really has created a thrilling, suspenseful and captivating read with Deadly Hemlock. It's filled with secrets, lie’s, hope and love, and I loved every minute of it. Highly recommend to paranormal fans that are looking for a new and exciting series. 

A huge thank you to Simon & Schuster UK for giving me the opportunity to review this book.