[REVIEW] Hemlock – Kathleen Peacock

Kathleen Peacock
Hemlock [also published as Deadly Hemlock]
HarperCollins Katherine Tegen (CA: 27th April 2012; US: 8th May 2012); Simon & Schuster (UK & AU: 5th July 2012)
Buy (US) Buy (UK) Buy (CA) Buy (Worldwide)

A senator’s granddaughter has been killed, but a werewolf may be framed to cover up a murder.

The story starts slow, setting up the factions, but halfway through the action kicks in. Kathleen Peacock has crafted a winningly claustrophobic setting, with uncertain alliances and an abundance of shady characters (though the bad guys don’t have enough complexity). Mac recognises the ridiculousness of her romantic situation, likening it to a CW show. I’d love to learn more about Serena, Trey, Henry, and the interment camps.

P.S. Team Trey.

May 2012 Releases

Done with April 2012 Releases? Here are May 2012 Release. For future titles, check Reading Wishlist.

8 New Covers (Black, Dane, Despain, Duncan, Held, Mead, Peacock, Woolston)

5 New Deals

Jennifer Lynn Barnes‘s romantic thriller Nobody to Egmont. About 2 supernaturally unnoticeable teens: 1 uses the skill to kill, while the other uses it to hide.

Sarah Crossan’s Breathe in a 3-book deal to Greenwillow (US/CA). About a world where oxygen is a precious commodity & only the rich breathe easily in the glass pod that is now home, from which 3 teens venture into the dangerous outlands beyond the pod with only 2 days of oxygen in their tanks. For publication in 2012.

Sophie Littlefield‘s The Museum of Eyes in a 2-book deal to Mira (World English). A family’s legacy of murder & abuse are but the 1st things a mother is determined to keep from her daughter.

Melissa Marr & Kelley Armstrong‘s The Blackwell Pages middle grade trilogy to Little, Brown (NA). The story of 2 12-year-old boys & 1 girl, all distant descendants of the Norse gods, who must journey to prevent the impending Ragnarok (the apocalypse). Book 1, Loki’s Wolves, is slated for publication in 2013.

Rachel Vincent: Books 6 (Before I Wake) & 7 in the Soul Screamers series to Harlequin Teen. 3rd Unbound novel & additional adult novel to Mira.

*****
TV RIGHTS OPTIONED

Holly Black‘s White Cat to Vertigo Pictures. A family of con artists has dangerous magical powers & 1 son refuses to take part in their schemes.

Carolyn Crane‘s The Disillusionist Trilogy to FishBowl Media. About a psychological hit squad of misfits & neurotics who reform criminals by pumping them full of their negative energy, pitched as Heroes meets Inception.

Melissa Marr‘s Graveminder to Ken Olin, the same man responsible for Alias & Brothers & Sisters.

*****
FILM RIGHTS OPTIONED

Kathleen Peacock‘s Hemlock to Lane Shefter Bishop of Vast Entertainment. A small town is under siege by a werewolf virus.

8 New Deals

Added to my wishlist this month:

Jessica Anthony & Rodrigo Corral‘s multimedia young adult novel CHOPSTICKS to Ben Schrank at Razorbill (World Rights). Print publication in 2011, but will unfolkd in a variety of digital formats beforehand (website, Twitter, app, etc). The relationship between a piano prodigy & a boy from her past. The heroine, who is in a Bronx mental hospital after suffering a breakdown, begins corresponding with her former neighbour, an Argentinean boy who lived next door to her when she was 6. She then escapes the institution to reunite with him.

Cassandra Clare‘s CITY OF LOST SOULS & CITY OF HEAVENLY FIRE to Karen Wojtyla at Margaret McElderry Books (US). They’re books 5 & 6 in the Mortal Instruments series, scheduled for May 2012 & September 2013 respectively.

Sara Wilson Etienne‘s THE HARBINGER in a 2-book deal to Stacey Barner at Putnam. A paranormal set in a near-future world in which a diminishing oil supply has led to chaos as cities have fallen prey to mass rioting. The 16-year-old heroine begins the novel trapped in a prisonlike school called Holbrook Academy, where she’s tormented by strange visions. These visions lead her to the Harbinger, who has been sent to destroy the world in order to save it. As fate would have it, our heroine is the only one who can stop the titular being. To be published in 2012.

Melissa Marr‘s untitled trilogy to Anne Hoppe at HarperCollins (World Rights) in the upper 6-figure range. A young female assassin lives in a world where “myth meets science”. Book 1 is tentatively scheduled for 2013.

Saundra Mitchell‘s THE SPRINGSWEET (a companion to THE VESPERTINE) to Julie Tibbott at Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Children’s, for publication in 2012. A woman mourning the passing of her fiancé heads to Oklahoma to start a new life in the Victorian-era wild west.

Kathleen Peacock‘s HEMLOCK in a 3-book significant deal for publication in 2011 to Claudia Gabel at Katherine Tegen Books (NA). A small town is under siege by a werewolf virus. A girl must track down her best friend’s killer while trying to choose between the human boy who loves her & the troubled werewolf who saves her life.

Amy Kathleen Ryan‘s THE CHILDREN OF NEW HOPE in a 3-book deal to Jennifer Weis at St. Martin’s in a major deal. (Rights also sold to Pan Macmillan Australia, Pan Macmillan UK & Droemer in Germany.) 2 young lovers en route to colonise a distant planet are attacked by their supposed allies and separated, & now must find a way back to each other to save their ship, their mission & the future of the human race.

Kristen Simmons’s ARTICLE 5 in a 3-book deal for publication in 2011 to Melissa Frain at Tor. YA dystopian thriller series set in a world where religious zealotry governs, but true love still prevails & led by a strong-willed heroine who is more Katniss than Bella.