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Hemlock Grove: A Novel [Paperback]

Brian McGreevy
3.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (73 customer reviews)

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Book Description

March 27, 2012
An exhilarating reinvention of the gothic novel, inspired by the iconic characters of our greatest myths and nightmares.

The body of a young girl is found mangled and murdered in the woods of Hemlock Grove, Pennsylvania, in the shadow of the abandoned Godfrey Steel mill. A manhunt ensues—though the authorities aren’t sure if it’s a man they should be looking for.

Some suspect an escapee from the White Tower, a foreboding biotech facility owned by the Godfrey family—their personal fortune and the local economy having moved on from Pittsburgh steel—where, if rumors are true, biological experiments of the most unethical kind take place. Others turn to Peter Rumancek, a Gypsy trailer-trash kid who has told impressionable high school classmates that he’s a werewolf. Or perhaps it’s Roman, the son of the late JR Godfrey, who rules the adolescent social scene with the casual arrogance of a cold-blooded aristocrat, his superior status unquestioned despite his decidedly freakish sister, Shelley, whose monstrous medical conditions belie a sweet intelligence, and his otherworldly control freak of a mother, Olivia.
 
At once a riveting mystery and a fascinating revelation of the grotesque and the darkness in us all, Hemlock Grove has the architecture and energy to become a classic in its own right—and Brian McGreevy the talent and ambition to enthrall us for years to come.

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Editorial Reviews

Review

“It takes a rare stroke of genius to reconfigure the gothic novel within the postindustrial barrens of steel country, and another entirely to upstage this conceit with a mythic and ambitious story of adolescence and alienation. Like a collaboration between Edgar Allan Poe and J. D. Salinger, this is a real emerging talent.” Philipp Meyer, author of American Rust
 
"A wonderfully creative and twisted reinvention of classic monster archetypes, wrapped up in a mysterious thriller. I loved it. Brian McGreevy is a welcome new voice in horror literature, but be warned: it's not for the faint of heart, or stomach." Eli Roth, director of Hostel

“This is . . . horror with a respect for its literary antecedents.” —Yvonne Zipp, The Washington Post

About the Author

Brian McGreevy grew up near Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and received his MFA from the Michener Center for Writers at the University of Texas. Now a screenwriter who has had two screenplays featured on the best of the year Black List, he is working on an adaptation of Dracula for Leonardo DiCaprio’s production company. He lives in Los Angeles.

Product Details

  • Paperback: 336 pages
  • Publisher: FSG Originals; Original edition (March 27, 2012)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 0374532915
  • ISBN-13: 978-0374532918
  • Product Dimensions: 5 x 0.9 x 7.5 inches
  • Shipping Weight: 4.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
  • Average Customer Review: 3.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (73 customer reviews)
  • Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #7,841 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

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Customer Reviews

I really wanted to like this book but it is missing so much. Emeli  |  15 reviewers made a similar statement
The characters and plot were not explained well by the author. Kristine  |  21 reviewers made a similar statement
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
18 of 19 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars Post-modern genius or teen-romance hack? May 5, 2013
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
This book isn't part of one of my usual genres, and I generally wouldn't touch books with it's cover art/Amazon description with a 15 foot pole. It sounds and looks like the setup for some tragic, overly affected take on Twilight.

But it's not. The plot is shockingly not full of holes (though there are some questions left unanswered, they aren't *unanswerable*), the actions of the characters are actually justifiable, and there isn't any awful fixation on the romance elements - which are sparse, as they should be. It's a story that includes vampires and werewolves, and those two concepts are the most sexual metaphors imaginable, and McGreevy seems to recognize that (and even manages to make a bit of self-referential fun of it). The story is good, and good enough to recommend the book based on. I watched the Netflix series, and it was also good - it followed the story (and in some cases the dialogue) closely, and the acting was good, so if you enjoy this book I'd definitely recommend it.

The story is good and manages to hover above cliché, sometimes even lambasting it. This isn't a happy tale, nor does it come to a contenting conclusion. One thing that the story does manage to handle very well is the juxtaposition of technology and magic - a technical challenge that seems inevitable for the genre (though as I said I'm no genre expert). There's "magic" in the story, no doubt about that, but it's exists in a naturalist sense rather than a romantic one. While the characters take the "magic" elements they can see at face value, there's a lot of discussion of other supernatural elements that are clearly taken as metaphor (for those who have read the book, the story Peter tells Letha is a good example). It pays homage to Frankenstein in a fairly neat albeit direct (Shelly? Like Marie Shelley? What a coincidence!) way, and the two doctors (one a morally obsessed but inadequate psychiatrist, one a power-mad researcher) play into that homage well.

The writing is interesting. A number of comments seem to think that the author should have hired a better editor. I'd respectfully suggest that they're not familiar with stream of consciousness writing. McGreevy's obviously borrowing a number of elements of his technique from the modernist writers. If you're completely uncomfortable with phrases like
"That is, most of a girl named Brooke Bluebell."
"Missing her exactly like he used to."
"Lost in her own thoughts."
Each one of those fragments and countless others appears in the text, capitalized and punctuated like a real sentence. I don't see them as editing mistakes, though, since they're clearly intentional. If that's the sort of thing that bothers you, though, you're probably not the kind of person who does a lot of reading anyway.

There are also several instances where dialogue continues (with no scene description) for a few (short) pages at a time. These are not the norm: most of the book is very concise, and there isn't a lot of extra dialogue. There really isn't a lot of extra anything: everything that happens in the almost 13 hour television series and more happens in this book's short 318 pages. There's something to be said for conciseness, and it works fairly well here. The author keeps you in the dark about at least a few things throughout the book and occasionally things are somewhat unclear due to the sparseness of the text.

There are certainly some flaws in the book, plot-wise. *SPOILER ALERT**SPOILER ALERT**SPOILER ALERT* A handful of characters that readers should care about have almost no development at all. Christina's friends, the totally forgettable twins, are an example, as are all of the show's major victims. Aside from that, Pryce is a particularly uninteresting character when he had so much potential to be the opposite (and muscular hypertrophy? really?). On that note, everything about the White Tower seems weak and unrelated to the plot. Ouroboros has nothing to do with the werewolf killings, or anything the main characters care about. As Olivia puts it, the only important function the biomedical lab does is provides her family money - she's right not just for her own concerns, but for the concern of readers. *SPOILER ALERT**SPOILER ALERT**SPOILER ALERT*

Overall it's an excellent read in a genre I would normally never touch. It seems to be the author's only release, as well, which is promising. His website is essentially a placeholder right now, but I'll be checking back for certain.
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10 of 11 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars Poetic goth April 27, 2013
By deborah
Format:Kindle Edition
The prose of the narrator had a rhythm that kept me connected to the story. It answers some questions left open by the Netflix series. I await the sequels of this book.
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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars Just like the TV series. May 11, 2013
Format:Kindle Edition|Amazon Verified Purchase
After watching the Netflix TV series I was curious to read this book to see if it would clarify a few points that didn't quite make sense. I don't want to write any spoilers or give specific details, but those unclear points were explained by reading this book quite nicely. Definitely recommended to all fans of good horror and original stories.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
4.0 out of 5 stars So far so good
Ive seen the Netflix series and decided I'd like to read the book. So far so good. There are a few minor differences between the series and book but all in all its pretty close, of... Read more
Published 18 hours ago by crystal
3.0 out of 5 stars Three out of Five stars
I discovered this book through the new Netflix Exclusive TV show Hemlock Grove directed by Eli Roth. Read more
Published 1 day ago by Michael_Loring
4.0 out of 5 stars Amazing Plot
From the moment the story opens, McGreevy provides mysterious questions in the plot that he addresses piecemeal throughout the book; not giving answers right away, but rather... Read more
Published 2 days ago by Matthew
3.0 out of 5 stars Hemlock Grove is worth reading
This book was worth reading, however if you have already watched the show you they are identical. Read before you see the show otherwise it isn't really worth it.
Published 3 days ago by William Foster
4.0 out of 5 stars Weird
While I did enjoy the book, its plot does seem a bit disjointed just like the series on Netflix. I will say I would recommend watching the series over reading the book. Read more
Published 3 days ago by Jonesy
2.0 out of 5 stars Skip the book, watch the tv series & ignore giant plot holes...
Hemlock Grove (Urban Fantasy, YA)

One weekend, I was at home watching TV and I noticed a new Netflix Original TV Series called Hemlock Grove. Read more
Published 4 days ago by Underwater Attack Cat
1.0 out of 5 stars blah
worse then blah, this was so bad I wish I hadn't watched reading railroad as a child...Books like this make Illiteracy an option
Published 5 days ago by fab5phone
3.0 out of 5 stars Mysteriously Compelling
'Hemlock Grove' is the dark tale of a series of gruesome murders in a small town.

I'll admit I got this book after watching the TV show and wondering if maybe the book... Read more
Published 5 days ago by chettsgenie@yahoo.co.uk
5.0 out of 5 stars Great Book
This was a great book. I read it after watching the Netflix series. I felt like the series did a pretty good job of staying true to the book (aside from some of the ending... Read more
Published 5 days ago by N
5.0 out of 5 stars A most interestingly and uniquely diabolical story
I gave this book a five star rating because it held me spellbound up to the very end. I recommend this book to all vampire and werewolf lovers who love a good twist. Read more
Published 9 days ago by Linda Whiddon
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