Book Review: THE HIVE by Barry Lyga & Morgan Baden

As a huge Barry Lyga fan, I was thrilled when I read the description for his newest book, THE HIVE, and I jumped at the opportunity to read it. Scroll down for my complete review.

THE HIVE
by Barry Lyga and Morgan Baden
September 3, 2019 (Kids Can Press)
ISBN: 978-1525300608


Description from the Publisher:
Cassie McKinney has always believed in the Hive.

Social media used to be out of control, after all. People were torn apart by trolls and doxxers. Even hackers - like Cassie's dad - were powerless against it. But then the Hive came. A better way to sanction people for what they do online. Cause trouble, get too many "condemns," and a crowd can come after you, teach you a lesson in real life. It's safer, fairer and perfectly legal.

Entering her senior year of high school, filled with grief over an unexpected loss, Cassie is primed to lash out. Egged on by new friends, she makes an edgy joke online. Cassie doubts anyone will notice. But the Hive notices everything. And as her viral comment whips an entire country into a frenzy, the Hive demands retribution. One moment Cassie is anonymous; the next, she's infamous. And running for her life. With nowhere to turn, she must learn to rely on herself - and a group of Hive outcasts who may not be reliable - as she slowly uncovers the truth about the machine behind the Hive. 

New York Times bestselling authors Barry Lyga and Morgan Baden have teamed up for the first time to create a novel that's gripping, terrifying and more relevant every day, based on a story proposal by Jennifer Beals and Tom Jacobson.


About the Author:
Barry Lyga is a recovering comic book geek. According to Kirkus, he's also a "YA rebel-author." Somehow, the two just don't seem to go together to him. When he was a kid, everyone told him that comic books were garbage and would rot his brain, but he had the last laugh. Raised on a steady diet of comics, he worked in the comic book industry for ten years, but now writes full-time because, well, wouldn't you? The Astonishing Adventures of Fanboy & Goth Girl is his first novel. The Hive is his latest. There are a whole bunch in between, featuring everything from the aftermath of child abuse to pre-teens with superpowers to serial killers. He clearly does not know how to stick to one subject.


My Review:
As a huge Barry Lyga fan, I was thrilled when I read the description for his newest book, THE HIVE. “A better way to sanction people for what they do online. Cause trouble, get too many ‘condemns,’ and a crowd can come after you, teach you a lesson in real life. It's safer, fairer and perfectly legal.” Sounded great! But the writing didn’t quite live up to the expectations I’d formed based on his other books.

Here are a few of the issues I ran into:

1. Mom’s point-of-view takes up quite a bit of space in the story. An adult POV is usually not found in a novel targeted at the young adult audience. I found it jarring, didactic, and hard to buy into.

2. Naming of emotions, constantly telling rather than showing, pulled me out of the story world. For example, “Rachel shook her head tersely, fatigue and anger radiating from her in nearly visible waves. … Annoyance was overtaken by a jolt of worry.”

3. Archaic patriarchal ideals can be found throughout. For example, “Why hadn’t Harlon prepared her?” and “She regretted not putting on lipstick,” and “Bryce was a Norse god … What good would her puny mortal muscles do?” AND this one seriously made me want to quit reading: “I hope whoever finds her RAPES HER FIRST. Teach that bitch to open her mouth.”

4. There was such an overwhelming sense of meanness that came through the pages of this story. I don’t know if that was intentional or not, but I felt like I needed a shower after reading.

5. Cassie’s spite for her mother seemed off base and unmotivated. “The world was crazy, but not so crazy that her mom could actually be right.” 

Nearly every time I was tempted to quit reading, Lyga reminded me why I enjoyed his previous books with a lines like these:

“Anytime someone is lambasted in the press without a trial, there are the Romans, feeding victims to the lions for sport. For fun.”

“They clambered up a ladder, then used balconies and fire escapes to zigzag their way up another story … When she dared glance around, her stomach heaved; down below, more lights flashed but the sounds of the city were muted, drowned out by wind and her own heavy breathing.”

“She breathed a silent prayer … then tap-tapped her way down the sidewalk. To her surprise and delight, it worked. A guy in his thirties even offered to help her cross the street when the light changed.”

“A graphic filling the screen … a complicated skein of digital silk, thousands of strands spun out from the center …”


Final takeaway: I’m a fan of Lyga’s I HUNT KILLERS, and I can easily recommend that series.



[I received a free copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for an honest review. This in no way influenced my opinion.]

7 Chilling Thrillers to Read in the Spooky Month of October

[Book suggestions from Margo Kelly, author of the thrillers Who R U Really? and Unlocked. Descriptions below are from the publishers.] 

I Hunt Killers by Barry Lyga

It was a beautiful day. It was a beautiful field. Except for the body. Jazz is a likable teenager. A charmer, some might say. But he's also the son of the world's most infamous serial killer, and for Dear Old Dad, "Take Your Son to Work Day" was year-round. Jazz has witnessed crime scenes the way cops wish they could--from the criminals' point of view. And now, even though Dad has been in jail for years, bodies are piling up in the sleepy town of Lobo's Nod. Again. In an effort to prove murder doesn't run in the family, Jazz joins the police in the hunt for this new serial killer. But Jazz has a secret--could he be more like his father than anyone knows? From acclaimed author Barry Lyga comes a riveting thriller about a teenager trying to control his own destiny in the face of overwhelming odds.

Those Who Wish MeDead by Michael Koryta

When fourteen-year-old Jace Wilson witnesses a brutal murder, he's plunged into a new life, issued a false identity and hidden in a wilderness skills program for troubled teens. The plan is to get Jace off the grid while police find the two killers. The result is the start of a nightmare. The killers, known as the Blackwell Brothers, are slaughtering anyone who gets in their way in a methodical quest to reach him. Now all that remains between them and the boy are Ethan and Allison Serbin, who run the wilderness survival program; Hannah Faber, who occupies a lonely fire lookout tower; and endless miles of desolate Montana mountains. The clock is ticking, the mountains are burning, and those who wish Jace Wilson dead are no longer far behind.

A Madness So Discreet by Mindy McGinnis

Grace Mae is already familiar with madness when family secrets and the bulge in her belly send her to an insane asylum—but it is in the darkness that she finds a new lease on life. When a visiting doctor interested in criminal psychology recognizes Grace's brilliant mind beneath her rage, he recruits her as his assistant. Continuing to operate under the cloak of madness at crime scenes allows her to gather clues from bystanders who believe her less than human. Now comfortable in an ethical asylum, Grace finds friends—and hope. But gruesome nights bring Grace and the doctor into the circle of a killer who will bring her shaky sanity and the demons in her past dangerously close to the surface.

Odd Thomas by Dean Koontz

“The dead don’t talk. I don’t know why.” But they do try to communicate, with a short-order cook in a small desert town serving as their reluctant confidant. Meet Odd Thomas, the unassuming young hero of Dean Koontz’s dazzling New York Times bestseller, a gallant sentinel at the crossroads of life and death who offers up his heart in these pages and will forever capture yours. Sometimes the silent souls who seek out Odd want justice. Occasionally their otherworldly tips help him prevent a crime. But this time it’s different. A stranger comes to Pico Mundo, accompanied by a horde of hyena-like shades who herald an imminent catastrophe. Aided by his soul mate, Stormy Llewellyn, and an unlikely community of allies that includes the King of Rock ’n’ Roll, Odd will race against time to thwart the gathering evil. His account of these shattering hours, in which past and present, fate and destiny, converge, is a testament by which to live—an unforgettable fable for our time destined to rank among Dean Koontz’s most enduring works.

The Ruins by Scott Smith

Trapped in the Mexican jungle, a group of friends stumble upon a creeping horror unlike anything they could ever imagine.Two young couples are on a lazy Mexican vacation–sun-drenched days, drunken nights, making friends with fellow tourists. When the brother of one of those friends disappears, they decide to venture into the jungle to look for him. What started out as a fun day-trip slowly spirals into a nightmare when they find an ancient ruins site . . . and the terrifying presence that lurks there.

Escape from Eden by Elisa Nader

Mia has spent half her life rebelling against the iron-fisted fundamentalist preacher who brainwashed her mom into joining a compound of fanatics deep in the South American jungle. When Gabriel, a new boy, turns up, Mia sees the chance to run. But then Mia and Gabriel discover how the paranoid reverend is using faithful church members for his own gain, and how he has big plans to free his whole flock from this evil world while keeping their money to fund his way to a new "paradise" for himself. Love must take a back seat as Mia and Gabriel fight back against a criminal mastermind, because if they can't get the truth in time and live to tell it, hundreds of innocent people, including their own families, face certain death.

BigLittle Lies by Liane Moriarty

Sometimes it’s the little lies that turn out to be the most lethal...

A murder…a tragic accident…or just parents behaving badly? 

What’s indisputable is that someone is dead. But who did what?

Big Little Lies follows three women, each at a crossroads:

Madeline is a force to be reckoned with. She’s funny and biting, passionate, she remembers everything and forgives no one. Her ex-husband and his yogi new wife have moved into her beloved beachside community, and their daughter is in the same kindergarten class as Madeline’s youngest (how is this possible?). And to top it all off, Madeline’s teenage daughter seems to be choosing Madeline’s ex-husband over her. (How. Is. This. Possible?). Celeste is the kind of beautiful woman who makes the world stop and stare. While she may seem a bit flustered at times, who wouldn’t be, with those rambunctious twin boys? Now that the boys are starting school, Celeste and her husband look set to become the king and queen of the school parent body. But royalty often comes at a price, and Celeste is grappling with how much more she is willing to pay. New to town, single mom Jane is so young that another mother mistakes her for the nanny. Jane is sad beyond her years and harbors secret doubts about her son. But why? While Madeline and Celeste soon take Jane under their wing, none of them realizes how the arrival of Jane and her inscrutable little boy will affect them all. Big Little Lies is a brilliant take on ex-husbands and second wives, mothers and daughters, schoolyard scandal, and the dangerous little lies we tell ourselves just to survive.