Review: Hemlock

Title - Hemlock 
Author - Kathleen Peacock
Genre - Young Adult Werewolves
Series of Standalone - Book 1 in the Hemlock Series. 
Published May 8th 2012
(Goodreads) & (Amazon)

Synopsis

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 blood lust 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.

Review

Mackenzie grew up in Hemlock with her best friend Amy. Life was anything but easy with the increase in cases of Lupine Syndrome the werewolf virus. Mackenzie's best friend is murdered by a werewolf yet her kill runs free. A team of Trackers comes to town to find the werewolf who killed Amy. The Trackers take those away and lock them in a caged facility for the rest of their lives if they have Lupine syndrome because they are unpredictable and it's not safe for the humans.

Mackenzie is haunted by Amy she sees her in her dreams so she decides the best thing to do is find Amy's killer to put the dreams to rest. Mackenzie learns a lot more than she ever expected on her quest to find her best friends killer. That the people she thought she knew aren't who she thought they were. The more she and her friends uncover about Amy the more twisted it gets, testing all of them to the brink. She will need to learn who she can trust, as well as do what it takes to protect those she loves even if it isn’t the best choice.

I loved Hemlock, but I am a huge shape shifter fan so maybe I'm a little biased. Hemlock takes an interesting twist instead of being a deep dark secret the werewolves are ousted by the government creating a unique story. I found Hemlock captivating it sucked me in right from the start and I didn't want to put it down. I love all the action and mystery woven into the book it creates a great story very intense yet with a lot of feeling. Mackenzie is such a great character she grows so much in the first book, the more she learns about the werewolves and the truth about Amy's murder. The book is well written it gives you everything you need, a great ending but gives you enough you want the next book.  Overall one of the better werewolf books I've read but it's not like your typical werewolf book so it stands alone.

5 stars out of 5