This prologue! Omg it had me hooked!
Charlotte opens a live feed to her insta where she murders Heidi Dolak and reaches out to her Hive followers for their votes, whether to kill Lincoln, her ex-boyfriend or let him live. Unleashing her story and horrible events that took place before being dumped and left to die by back stabbing cheating, famous boxer Lincoln Jackson. It's a great opening, I was so eager to find out what happened, and the first half takes you on this thrill of a plot supported by a sisterhood of friends supporting each other along the way. What follows is just chilling and horrific tragedy. A really emotional train wreck takes the second half of the book, and I can appreciate the sensitive topics and everything Charlotte unpacks, but it just gets very, very repetitive! You almost hate her character in the midst of the heavy content, and I don't think that was the intention when building up her character.

This won't be for everyone. Trigger warnings ⚠️
Miscarriage, mental health, suicide, addiction, custody battle...

What you end up with here is a fantastic story about sisterhood and finding family in the friendships of life. There is plenty of drama. Social media roasting, cat fights, and revenge plot, A quick but heavy content read.

Thank you, Netgalley, for the free copy in exchange for my honest review. 3.5⭐️

It pains me to give such a low rating to a debut author - I'm really sorry; but I also need to be honest with my ratings.

The only thing I liked about this book was the prologue. Very strong concept, but poor execution. The dialogue-content ratio was poor - too many dialogues without much happening. Extremely repetitive. I saw another reviewer describing it as "rinse and repeat", and can relate.

I didn't like any of the characters or feel anything for them - but the potential was there with their tragic backstories. If that would have been explored more, I'm sure I would have liked them more.

The plot itself was unbelievable. Not going to dive further into that to avoid spoilers.

This book is being marketed as a "feminist revenge thriller" but it's the furthest thing from being feminist I've read all year. It was like reading about middle school drama with a bunch of pick-me teenage girls - the backstabbing and name-calling didn't do it for me. Maybe "friendship" or "girl power" would be better marketing words to use.

I wouldn't deter anyone from reading The Hive though. This is only my opinion, which doesn't mean anything.

Unfortunately I really didn’t enjoy this book. A woman has lost custody of her kids and is in the clubs, has to pass a drug test and is smoking pot, yet crying about losing her kids? Yeah, it’s a no from me.

So, the positives. I thought the premise of this book was really interesting. I believe it was trying to offer a commentary on the way we live our lives through the social media prism, which I enjoy. I also love feminist themes and strong female characters.

However, I found the writing really immature. I think a lot of background information was dumped on the reader in the first few chapters about Charlotte and her friends, their backstories. It didn’t feel organic, it felt forced. And I hated the characters so I really didn’t care.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for providing an ARC in exchange for my unbiased opinion.

A read in one sitting revenge thriller would be my tagline for this novel - as in theme that's what it is and I did indeed read it in one sitting. This morning in fact. Couldn't put it down.

The Hive is more than that though. It's also a novel of friendship that has no boundaries, of traumatic loss sparking a devastating obsession and of the power of social media to have a cumulative, negative affect on metal well being.

I loved the characters even as I despaired of their behaviour, there are a lot of emotional layers in The Hive, it is also written in an addictive no holds barred style that I related to.

Really good. Recommended.

4 stars

Novel Concept: 5/5
Execution of Novel Concept: 3/5

Title: 4/5
Characterization: 3/5
Dialogue: 2/5
Plot: 3/5
Atmosphere: 1/5
Theme: 3/5
Prose: 2/5

Does this pass the Bechdel Test: Yes

Thank you NetGalley for giving me the Advanced Reader Copy in exchange for an honest review.

This book needs a developmental editor. Half of me is tempted to DM the author on twitter and beg her to hear me out because I love this project and I genuinely want to see it succeed--I requested this arc because it interested me. But the ratings this book has right now is a genuinely accurate reflection of this book.

Without question, the strongest sections of this book are the events directly related to the premise from the back of the book. The scenes surrounding the confession of Lincoln Jackson. They were engaging, unhinged, and absolutely marvelous. These sections are quotable. Additionally, the minor mystery element of this book was written well enough that it kept me engaged.

But this book lacks description. We are often told about events and then later have these statements repeated so as to remind us these events took place rather than just giving us a proper flashback or genuine scene so that we can connect with the characters in the book. I don't want to be told that there was a fire. I want to be in the house when it's burning down. Because there are so many characters with complex backstories it feels like there's no time to really let us steep in the emotional discord of a proper flashback or scene.

Trix the character is going through major life events while this book is unfolding, but because Trix is not the main character we never see these events. We're just given periodical updates and that's frustrating. I want to be there. It felt like I'm banging on the door of this novel demanding to be let inside.

From both a sentence level and a general level, this book also has a repetition problem. You will hear the same phrases repeated over and over again. Words will repeat in the same sentence in an awkward way. And the problem with the repetition is that the emotional crux that is supposed to carry us through the majority of this novel relies on the repetition of the same sentences over and over again. We are constantly reminded of why Charlotte is upset. And then there's the plot repetition. Charlotte pretty much does the same thing three or four times and it plays out almost the same way every time. And I get that we're supposed to be witnessing Charlotte's devolution but I do think if we cut out all of the repetitive actions and replaced them with her trying to solve the mystery that's presented it would make for a more compelling story. Because once Charlotte was actually making plans that led up to the premise statement of the novel, I was all in. I'm here to support Women's Wrongs. Like, the moment Charlotte realizes that there might be something more insidious happening we should have leaned into the uncovering of the mystery.

Lincoln's characterization struggles the most out of all the characters. I did not learn a single thing about boxing from this book and I expected at least one fun fact. A name of a boxing ring. A weight class. What the championship games are called. What the British boxing scene is like. I think we need to emphasize that boxing is big in Britain because as an American reading this, the most unrealistic part of Lincoln's character is that he was his celebrity because he was a boxer. He felt more like an influencer than a boxer in my opinion. And even here in America when I think of major sports like the National Football League (NFL) as someone who does not watch football I can name 3 football players and I can only name three because one of them is dating Taylor Swift and the other two are on The Packers. So this isn't a "dumb American doesn't know anything" complaint this is a "Even people from Britain might not get the hype if they're not boxing fans" so you should account for those people, too.

I think characters like DI Kilby and Sasha were underutilized. I would have liked to see them more especially when it comes to the mystery elements of this novel. Kilby crossed the threshold from threat to joke when it became clear that despite the fact we're being told there will be consequences, there never are consequences. And I mean, I just wanted Sasha to be there more than she was. If you know you know.

The Hive itself I felt should have been the social media platform rather than a sort of Gossip Girl-esque twitter account. Additionally, the constant calling of people on the internet Trolls was near unbearable. Internet Trolls are rage-baiters and people who deliberately try to attack or offend people on the internet through comments. People responding to an atrocious event on the internet are not Internet Trolls. People sending death threats are not Trolls, those are harassers.

There's also a lot of brand names in this book and that became nauseating for me. It got to a point where it felt like product placement in a book. It was more distracting than anything else because typically when real world brands get represented in fiction it's because they pay to be there. Most creatives shy away from using name brands because a brand could get upset if they think your usage of it could misrepresent them or harm their bottom line. Like I could not care what brand underwear the main characters are wearing.

The epilogue was interesting but the ideas fell flat because the information that is supposed to make this epilogue fascinating isn't planted in the novel well enough to make it feel realistic. It comes out of nowhere as a last minute plot twist held together by "Trust me Bro" duct tape rather than a world shattering reveal that the author intended it to be.

In conclusion, the book at its most unhinged are the best parts and I loved the ideas at play but I can't really say it was well executed. I wished we got more information through scene work than being told outright and the repetitious nature of the book made for a frustrating read at times. The epilogue seemed neat in concept but the information just wasn't well planted throughout the entirely of the novel for those emotional beats to hit in the way I think they should have.

There was no where for this one to go. It started off with the end and it was pretty obvious how it got there. For the most part ever character was either obnoxious or a misogynist. I guess some were both. There was nothing to see here.

A definite think outside the box kind of story. It is told almost in a flashback style by different characters. I think if this was edited again the story might benefit from it. I found it mixed up and in places hard to follow. It is a great concept, and I am sure many readers will enjoy it.

Well, this was a weird one! I don’t think I’ve ever had such mixed feelings about a supposed cult.
A young woman’s body is found at the bottom of a ravine. Turns out, she was doing an expose on a group led by a beautiful, charismatic business woman who sells natural beauty products. The leader espouses a woman’s right to find her full potential. But to the extreme, like leave your husband and kids kind of extreme. So why my mixed feelings? Because a male writer making women’s rights into an evil concept worried me a little. But her “outside in” philosophy is one more sales gimmick.
The police procedural part of the story worked okay. Lindsay is a detective, forced to work on her own after her partner’s recent suicide. A man contacts her saying there’s a link with his wife’s murder from 20 years earlier. The link, of course, is the cosmetics queen bee.
The book is written to purposely keep the reader off balance. Told in an omniscient POV, we see not just Lindsay, but the members of The Hive, the five women that previously surrounded Queen Bee Marnie and Marnie herself. And the chapters also alternate between the present day (2019), 1999 before Calista died and segments from the memoir Marnie wrote.
As the book goes on, the story gets more and more convoluted, with a plethora of characters. I liked the premise better than the execution of this one. I would have preferred more chapters from Lindsay’s POV. Olsen does tie everything up in the end with a satisfying ending.
My thanks to NetGalley and Thomas & Mercer for an advance copy of this book.

Unfortunately this one really not for me.

The prologue starts off by showing us what happens towards the end of the story which is something I don't really get on with because once I know what's going to happen I really struggle to stay invested and interested. Regardless I pushed on to see where things were going to. From chapter 1 we flash back to what happened a year ago and I really just could not get on with it, it was all just a load of drama between a group of immature and unlikable characters.

The writing style was also very choppy which meant things didn't seem to flow properly and made it difficult to read.

Ended up having to DNF.

The hive is about a group of lifelong female friends who are bonded by personal traumas and would go to any lengths to help and support each other despite terrible decision making, so you could say this is a book about friendship through and through.

What I liked about it:

The beginning started off really strong. The opening really captured my attention and I was fully absorbed and engaged in the scene that was playing out.

It starts with our FMC live streaming to her thousands of social media followers disturbing events that had just taken place. She has m*rdered her boyfriend’s mistress in cold blood and shown the aftermath evidence on the video. She then turns the camera to her cheating famous boxer boyfriend, and requests the viewers vote on whether he should live or die, but not until she’s given her first person testimony of the events that led up to this situation so they can make a fully informed decision.

As the viewer ratio jumps up to hundreds of thousands of people she begins her story and takes them back to the beginning.

I found this a really interesting concept and had really high hopes for the story we were about to hear.

What I didn’t like:

Essentially (unfortunately) the rest of the book. Once we flashed back to a year prior and got to know the rest of the friendship group it was clear that there was no likeable characters here.

There were mentions of one friend being m*lestered as a child and instead of seeking help or reporting to the authorities, our FMC convinced her to gather evidence and blackmail him for fake IDs instead, and everyone is just okay with that? It somehow erased her trauma of being repeatedly SA?

Another friends children have been taken away from her by her parents and her reaction is to get high and wasted the night before a court hearing and drug test, but that’s okay because her now criminal friend will hack the results? It just seemed like this was a hopeless unredeemable group of traumatized 20 year olds who make all their decisions like teenagers would.

This book started out so strong and had the potential to be absolutely amazing with a gripping plot, however the dialogue fell flat after the beginning climax.

If you enjoy gritty dark themes and heavy UK dialogue this book may be perfect for you, sadly it was a miss for me. Nether the less I am still grateful I had the opportunity to give it a go for myself and would recommend other people don’t deter from giving it a try purely based on my review.

Thank you to NetGalley and independent publishers group for the opportunity to read this book.

Wow! Well that was a serious mind.... You know what! Great book! But a definite crazy one! This book had suspense, intrigue, action, murder, mystery, revenge, A fantastic plot twist and so many crazy twist and turns! The storyline was very interesting and a little out there but had me glued to my Kindle! I definitely recommend reading this book as it was chilling but well worth reading! Thank you Netgalley and the publisher for sharing this book with me!