THE HIVE by Gregg Olsen

 

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

MY THOUGHTS:

I throughly enjoyed this book. It's in part a thriller and a whole lot mystery. Though I have to say that a bit past the fifty percent part I did figure it out. I got one person wrong but still it was just as I thought. This book is good. 

This excerpt is what starts this book out with a bang. In my opinion. 

"They walked along the shoreline, miles of stunning emptiness all around them. It was as if they were the last people on the earth, and they felt nothing but the love of each other and the kind of peach that comes when one knows the end of a love story."

This is a very complex story. Lots of characters to keep up with and a lot going on. Two murders twenty years apart and a suicide that happens right off. You will get to know each person involved in this story. All about them. Some you will like and some you will despise. Some will fool you completely. But you will find out what happened to both women and why. Why the suicide happened. There is a cult type following that will pull you in also. This all happened because of the cult. Because of one woman who claimed that she was the queen bee. 

This book is well written and is very entertaining. It's one that will keep you turning the pages to find out what is going to happen next. To find out who did what and why. Why would any mother just up and leave her children. Leave a husband that she at one time adored. What makes a good person do something so bad that everyone ends up paying. Actually I suppose they were not really that good to begin with or they would not have done what they did. No matter what!

This story jumps around through the years. From mid 1996 to 2019 actually. One cop, Lindsay Jackson, unravels all the puzzle pieces that make up this story. She works hard to find out why her partner took his own life and who killed two women. What she finds will make you take a good long look at things. What a person will do for the one they love. What a person will do to be loved. To be number one. On top of it all. 

I have to admit that I loved the ending. The way this author tied up all the loose ends. Let us know what happened to each person. Though I do think a couple may have got off way to light. But I'm not an author and I'm by no means a detective. I can, though, figure out some books at times. Even though I figured out who did what in part it did not take away from the story. It's very good. I really did like this book. I look forward to more by this author.

Thank you #NetGalley, #GreggOlsen, #Thomas&Mercer for this ARC. This is my own true thoughts about this book.

4/5 stars and I do recommend it. It's very good.