The Hive is a loose study in cult mentality that centers around Marnie Spellman, a woman who professes to commune with God through bees and whose charismatic personality pulls the broken into her orbit. After manufacturing a line of natural skin care products that supposedly contain life-affirming magic honey and other questionable ingredients, Marnie welcomes helpers to her farm on Lummi Island. Her closest helpers—dubbed The Hive—help her maintain bee hives, harvest honey, package and ship her product and commit murder. The book is a little confusing as the author takes the reader back and forth in time to reveal many deceitful liars. The reality of the plot wavered many times for me. It's hard to believe so many intelligent women would risk everything for a woman offering so little. ( )

I thought this book was a complete waste of time, and that the lead character Lindsay Jackman has to be the worst detective of all time. There is a multi-decade trail of death and destruction that surfaces after the murder of a young female journalist who we find was working on an expose about The Hive, a cult-like group in the Pacific Northwest. Rather than doing any real detecting into the murder, Lindsay spends all her time focusing on this group of women who are a cross between women on The View and the boys in Lord of the Flies, with all the cattiness and bloodlust of The View and the feral children of Flies and their limited cognitive processes (although I guess that is included in The View as well).

I wasn't enthralled by any of the backstory of The Hive which was essentially the entire story. If you want to read that story over and over and over again about 10,000 times, with one or two new pieces of information thrown in at each retelling, then you will love this book. ( )

The Hive by Gregg Olsen is a highly recommended investigative procedural and mystery set in the Pacific Northwest.

Detective Lindsay Jackman is investigating the murder of a college student, Sarah Baker. While Lindsay is investigating the murder, she is also dealing with trying to understand why her partner and father figure Detective Alan Sharpe killed himself. Lindsay soon discovers that Sarah was a journalist who was interviewing people and digging into the past history of Marnie Spellman and the close knit group of women associated with her twenty years ago who were called The Hive. Spellman runs her cosmetic empire and is a charismatic lifestyle and wellness guru on her Lummi Island farm where she has bee hives and grows lavender. Women have flocked to Marnie for years after hearing her message and reading her book, but as Lindsay's investigation continues it becomes clear that there was an ominous side and hidden secrets in the Spellman empire and, as Sarah discovered, it is linked to the murder of Calista Sullivan twenty years ago.

The narrative follows Lindsay's current investigation and, as she questions hive members and others associated with or had family members in the cult, there are numerous flashbacks telling what happened in the past to each person. It is clear that everyone is hiding something and no one is telling the complete truth to Lindsay. The plot plods along as people are interviewed by Lindsay and then we learn they are hiding secrets or withholding information. Rinse, repeat. It is also clear that Marnie is a self obsessed narcissist who is using her followers for her own enrichment and advancement.

All the characters are very detailed and presented as complicated individuals. The impetus to keep reading is based on reaching the denouement to learn more about the characters and to see if your predictions about the ending are going to be true. There aren't any surprises or twists; most readers are going to know where the plot is heading early on, so the enjoyment is found in the characters and the specifics of what happened twenty years ago and how it is connected to the current case. It is also an interesting examination of cults, how followers can be exploited by an unscrupulous and deranged leader.
Disclosure: My review copy was courtesy of Thomas & Mercer.
http://www.shetreadssoftly.com/2021/05/the-hive.html
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/4028849631 ( )

This was a good read that could have been even better having there not been so many cliches (women lying and stabbing each other in the back, washed-up actress, a politician running for an important office, women thinking that life would be better if they looked better, that Marnie and her bees had all the answers...) and had the timeline not been so willy-nilly. I realize the author felt that this was a good way for us to learn what was going on - cults, bees, lies, secrets, blackmail, and murder.

These characters, ALL of them-are so unlikeable that you may want to tear your hair out.

There were too many issues with this book for my taste, but on the other hand, I did keep reading it, so that says something about it! If you have Kindle Unlimited, then this would defiantly be something you may want to try. If you don't have KU, the price is still a good one and will be a good summer read for those of you that are curious and like all the positive reviews.

*ARC supplied to me by the publisher, author, and NetGalley. ( )