HEMLOCK by Kathleen Peacock

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.

Right from the beginning, I was hit with plenty of shocking information that completely convinced me that this book would be nothing like what I thought it would be. Amy, the main character’s best friend has been killed. Her other friends, Jason and Kyle, have been overcome with guilt and feel entirely responsible for her death. In a town where werewolf attacks have been on the rise, everyone becomes a suspect. When Mac (short for Mackenzie) sets out to find the person (or werewolf) responsible for the death of her best friend, she uncovers a whole lot of secrets that everyone had been keeping from her.

I really liked Mac as the main character. Yes, she was emotional and “girly”, but it made her seem like a real girl. Her best friend had just died, her other friends were drawing away from her, so her emotions were definitely justified. I was impressed with the way that the story was told, it kept me guessing. Similarly to the book Envy by Gregg Olsen, every time that I thought I knew who had killed Amy, Mac discovered something new. It was great! It kept me intrigued and it held my undivided attention.

I was able to put myself in Mac’s place and live the story through her words. I came away from the book really understanding the characters and in the end, I just wanted to continue reading about them. I loved that the characters sounded like real people. Kathleen Peacock really succeeded in this aspect and the book as a whole was very entertaining!