Genre: Horror
Release Date: September 12th, 2023
Pages: 304 (9 Hours)
Publisher: St. Martin’s Press (Macmillan Audio)
My Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐
Publisher’s Synopsis:
“Laney Kilpatrick has been renting her vacation home to strangers. The invasion of privacy gives her panic attacks, but it’s the only way she can keep her beloved Hemlock Island, the only thing she owns after a pandemic-fueled divorce. But broken belongings and campfires that nearly burn down the house have escalated to bloody bones, hex circles, and now, terrified renters who’ve fled after finding blood and nail marks all over the guest room closet, as though someone tried to claw their way out…and failed.
When Laney shows up to investigate with her teenaged niece in tow, she discovers that her ex, Kit, has also been informed and is there with Jayla, his sister and her former best friend. Then Sadie, another old high school friend, charters over with her brother, who’s now a cop.
There are tensions and secrets, whispers in the woods, and before long, the discovery of a hand poking up from the earth. Then the body that goes with it… But by that time, someone has taken off with their one and only means off the island, and they’re trapped with someone—or something—that doesn’t want them leaving the island alive.”
My Review:
This book was wild! It definitely gave me The Blair Witch Project vibes and I absolutely loved that. It was dark, creepy, ominous, suspenseful, and overall just a harrowing read. There are supernatural/paranormal and occult elements. There’s drama, secrets, isolation, complex relationships between all the characters. It doesn’t take long to get to the crazy stuff and I love it when books put us right into the action.
I so appreciated that the characters actually made rational, smart decisions (instead of the cliché idiotic panic that happens a lot of times in horror), all the while coming up with theories and possibilities for what was happening. I never could guess where this mayhem was going to go. I loved the characters’ banter and personalities. The dialogue and monologues actually made me feel as though they were real people.
The audiobook is excellent! I will definitely be checking out what other books the narrator has done. Her voices for the different characters fit them perfectly, and the way she inflects the tone of the story really upped the suspense and kept me rapt.
Highly recommend this book! Can’t wait for everyone to read it just in time with spooky season!
Disclaimers:
Huge thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for gifting me an early copy of this amazing story! I voluntarily read and reviewed this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.
Have you read this book? Planning to add it to your TBR?
Let me know your thoughts in the comments below!
I love a good book discussion. 🙂
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