The Hive

By: Gregg Olsen

Narrated by: Karen Peakes

Length: 13 hrs and 41 mins

Publisher's summary

Glamorous messiah or charlatan? A mask of beauty hides deadly secrets in #1 New York Times and Amazon Charts bestselling author Gregg Olsen’s mesmerizing novel of suspense.

In the Pacific Northwest, detective Lindsay Jackman is investigating the murder of a young journalist found at the bottom of a ravine. Lindsay soon learns that the victim was writing an exposé. Her subject: a charismatic wellness guru who’s pulled millions into her euphoric orbit...

To hear Marnie Spellman tell it, when she was a child, a swarm of bees lifted her off the ground and toward the sunlight, illuming her spiritual connection with nature—an uncanny event on which Marnie built a cosmetics empire and became a legend, a healer, and the queen of holistic health and eternal beauty. In her inner circle is an intimate band of devotees called the Hive. They share Marnie’s secrets of success—including one cloaked in darkness for twenty years.

Determined to uncover the possibly deadly mysteries of the group, Lindsay focuses her investigation on Marnie and the former members of the Hive, who are just as determined to keep Lindsay from their secrets as they are to maintain their status.

©2021 by Gregg Olsen. (P)2021 Brilliance Publishing, Inc., all rights reserved.

Boring

Overly dramatic and boring. The narrator isn't great. I think I'll have to jump ship and try a different book.

Mean girls

I really tried to stick with this but totally lost interest half way through. Stuck it out until about 2/3 through and cut my losses.

disappointing

I'm expecting a lot from Greg Olsen because his other books were so good. This one was merely background noise because I was waiting for someone to care about, a story to care about, it never happened.

Excellent read!

Well written and captivating. Was really shocked by the twists at the conclusion. The audible narration was also well done.

Twisted people

The book is long but very good. Excellent narrator! Unfortunately life has real people like the characters.

Pretty Good!

A good story, well written with an interesting premise. Well developed characters show what can (and does!) happen when a charismatic charlatan reels in an unsuspecting, lost and confused public looking for someone to idolize and follow. A story as old as time, probably!The story kept my interest throughout.

The narrator was okay, good in some parts, annoying in others depending on which character she was doing at the time.

Lakeland

awesome plot and plenty of twist even when I had it partially figured out. but totally let down by ending
and I mean absolutely disappointed

Exquisite writing yet not twisted enough!

📚The Hive by Gregg Olsen📚

This is my fourth Olsen’s novels and I must admit that this one contains his signature all over.

Lots of chapter. Crumbs left in every chapter. Extensive description of characters and their reasons to do what they do. And finally, when the reader is at eighty percent of the novel, Olsen starts tying the knots.

The Hive build a lot of tension right from the beginning but unfortunately there was a lot of fuss about something very simple and ordinary.

The reader may believe it is about a cult, a sect, a pact or all of the above mentioned together.

It is about a charismatic woman and her close followers. The writing is exquisite but the novel as a whole could have been more twisted.

It is my first Olsen’s book I grant ⭐️⭐️⭐️/5

Not for passive listening

If you listen to audiobooks while cleaning/cooking I’d suggest picking something else. I enjoyed the author and how the story kept switching perspectives. It did “buzz” past somethings that left you confused. Like what happened to Marnies brother? His death was suggested as purposeful but never confirmed, additionally bee puns can only “bee” used a few times “bee”-fore “bee”-coming annoying but the reader did well articulating the misspelling/pun so you knew the difference. Almost as many characters as drones in a bee hive which is why passive listening gets confusing. There’s a lot of names and back and forth

long, slow burner

but worth it! I enjoyed the build and tying lots of characters together. superb voice performance.