Monday 21 March 2022

The Hive by Scarlett Brade


SHOULD HE LIVE OR DIE? YOU DECIDE.

Charlotte Goodwin looks directly at the camera and reveals a chilling truth to the thousands watching her Instagram live broadcast. She has killed her ex-boyfriend's new partner in cold blood. But she is not finished yet. With bloodied hands she takes a calm sip of tea before continuing. Lincoln Jackson will now make his confession, then the viewers must vote to decide whether he should live or die.

The public display sends shockwaves rippling through the online community and the numbers of viewers skyrockets. But as Lincoln's past is revealed, how will he be judged?

Bonded by mutual tragedy, Charlotte's three best friends have supported each other through the soaring highs and devastating lows of their lives. Now, in Charlotte's hour of need, her friends also face a choice, whether to help her get away with murder.

The Hive explores our darkest fears of the relationship between social media and mental health, but, most importantly, the strength of sisterhood against all the odds.


This sounded really exciting. Murders online! Plots! Scheming! And the first part was brilliant. Charlotte murders someone, confesses online, tells us she doesn't have long to tell her story...

...and then goes back over a year and starts telling a confusing, convuluted story that occasionally goes back even further, paints her and all her friends as terrible people, and seems mostly unnecessary to be honest.

I didn't enjoy it anything like I'd hoped I would. That's not to say others won't. It's a very clever idea, putting a murder and justification on social media, and the story even notes there have been copycats afterwards. I liked the inserts of social media comments - they seemed very plausible!

Overall, though, I'm afraid I didn't enjoy this as much as I hoped. I hope other readers do.


The Hive publishes on the 21st of July, 2022. I received a free copy and am giving an honest review.

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