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jabreads23's review against another edition
3.0
3.5 stars. How well do we really know our best friends/family? Interesting story and characters although some parts a bit unrealistic.
mbkarapcik's review against another edition
3.0
The Herd caters to female professionals, artists, and independent thinkers who wish for a co-working space that fosters an inclusive environment that supports their diverse causes and projects. It's also the title of a novel by Andrea Bartz. In this book, three friends try to come to terms with the unexplained disappearance of The Herd's dynamic and glamorous leader and creator, Eleanor Walsh.
Since I read Bartz's chilling We Were Never Here, I added all her books to my TBR list. The premise for this book works well in that you meet two very different yet close sisters, Hana and Katie Bradley, who go on a quest for answers after their friend Eleanor disappears. Unfortunately, at times, it is predictable, and, as another reviewer said, reads so much like her other novel, The Lost Night. I agreed, and the thought crossed my mind but didn't solidify until I read another review.
Eleanor feels like a character that you come across many times in books such as these. I liked the sister dynamic, but I felt like it could have been more developed. And it was hard to believe these women really liked each other or had much in common, including the sisters. Side characters' stories, especially some of the male characters, never seem to go anywhere, and many characters feel very narrow in their depictions. I cannot say that I liked any of them that much, but I really love Bartz's writing otherwise.
I will say that the outcome of the book was surprising. It takes a while to figure out what happened to Eleanor and if anyone should take responsibility for her disappearance. Some red herrings appear, but they add to the story.
This novel reads like a debut novel, but you detect the seeds of stronger novels on the rise. I'm glad I read it, but unless you're a fan of Bartz, you could skip it. Besides, she has a new novel out in June, The Spare Room, which I cannot wait to read.
Since I read Bartz's chilling We Were Never Here, I added all her books to my TBR list. The premise for this book works well in that you meet two very different yet close sisters, Hana and Katie Bradley, who go on a quest for answers after their friend Eleanor disappears. Unfortunately, at times, it is predictable, and, as another reviewer said, reads so much like her other novel, The Lost Night. I agreed, and the thought crossed my mind but didn't solidify until I read another review.
Eleanor feels like a character that you come across many times in books such as these. I liked the sister dynamic, but I felt like it could have been more developed. And it was hard to believe these women really liked each other or had much in common, including the sisters. Side characters' stories, especially some of the male characters, never seem to go anywhere, and many characters feel very narrow in their depictions. I cannot say that I liked any of them that much, but I really love Bartz's writing otherwise.
I will say that the outcome of the book was surprising. It takes a while to figure out what happened to Eleanor and if anyone should take responsibility for her disappearance. Some red herrings appear, but they add to the story.
This novel reads like a debut novel, but you detect the seeds of stronger novels on the rise. I'm glad I read it, but unless you're a fan of Bartz, you could skip it. Besides, she has a new novel out in June, The Spare Room, which I cannot wait to read.
bakedparmesan's review
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
⭐️⭐️⭐️.75
Synopsis:
Tells the story of a charismatic woman who opens a female-centered business (Eleanor), and how she goes missing. Told from the POV of two sisters who are friends with the woman, they try to find out what happened to Eleanor. A bunch of stuff from their pasts are discovered and you wonder how these secrets may have contributed to Eleanor’s demise.
Review:
Decent book, interesting topic. I like how this author always shows complicated friendships. The ending was weak for me, especially the epilogue.I also don’t love how Hanna just kinda gets off free? Didn’t make much sense as to why Micki took the fall for her after she tried to literally kill her.
Recommend: Yeah it’s a good thriller. I liked the narration style a lot.
Synopsis:
Tells the story of a charismatic woman who opens a female-centered business (Eleanor), and how she goes missing. Told from the POV of two sisters who are friends with the woman, they try to find out what happened to Eleanor. A bunch of stuff from their pasts are discovered and you wonder how these secrets may have contributed to Eleanor’s demise.
Review:
Decent book, interesting topic. I like how this author always shows complicated friendships. The ending was weak for me, especially the epilogue.
Recommend: Yeah it’s a good thriller. I liked the narration style a lot.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Violence
shhchar's review against another edition
3.0
Read in my sprint to get to my 2023 goal. Had the thrills going for it but the voices were hard to distinguish until ~100 pages in and I felt like the character Eleanor was as developed as the first part of Gone Girl, before we get her POV, which is to say, we are meant to presume she is terrible without it being shown.
kittey2ng's review against another edition
3.0
Rounded up to 3. Characters were cardboard and didn’t care about any of them. Couldn’t tell if Eleanor wa supposed to be mysterious or oh so sophisticated but came across as neither. Gave it. 3 cuz it was easy read for when you don’t feel like thinking. Listened to audio book and the Hanna character voice was so monotone that I would tune out and then get completely confused.
geoffdgeorge's review against another edition
Read chapters of this at night before bed and listened to other chapters on audiobook on walks up into Evanston after work. The book fills up a Millenial bingo card quickly: dating apps, emojis, Skrillex, fashion and lifestyle blogging, talk of microaggressions, even fucking avocado toast.
The plot revolves around a murder at a women-only coworking space, which could be a cool, topical setup for a beach-read thriller! The writing kept taking me out of it, though, especially the endless parade of wordy, clunky similes:
"Hana enters any room like Lily Tomlin in an '80s office comedy."
"Their questions floated over my head like speech bubbles in a cartoon."
"I watched her cry, feeling my impression of her shifting like tectonic plates inside my skull."
"I futzed and fumbled, jabbing at the keyhole like an awkward teen during his first sexual encounter."
Got pretty impatient with the whole thing about halfway through and just plowed on to the end, past a number of half-baked plot threads, including a completely tacked-on romance. Sometimes it's best for a thriller to just be a thriller.
The plot revolves around a murder at a women-only coworking space, which could be a cool, topical setup for a beach-read thriller! The writing kept taking me out of it, though, especially the endless parade of wordy, clunky similes:
"Hana enters any room like Lily Tomlin in an '80s office comedy."
"Their questions floated over my head like speech bubbles in a cartoon."
"I watched her cry, feeling my impression of her shifting like tectonic plates inside my skull."
"I futzed and fumbled, jabbing at the keyhole like an awkward teen during his first sexual encounter."
Got pretty impatient with the whole thing about halfway through and just plowed on to the end, past a number of half-baked plot threads, including a completely tacked-on romance. Sometimes it's best for a thriller to just be a thriller.
netflix_and_lil's review against another edition
2.0
IDK. I liked how it tried to tell a different side of the story and explore women stepping on other women to succeed, but the glossing over of AN ENTIRE FACEBOOK GROUP OF MEN DEDICATED TO HATING A SINGLE WOMAN as 'trolls' and actually vindicating them by having said woman be a vile person was a little... upsetting. I mean, it's not like there aren't thousands of groups exactly like them currently active. Maybe delving a little deeper into the danger of that kind of hatred would have made more a more interesting conclusion than 'bitches be crazy'.
Wouldn't not recommend for people who like commentary thrillers but I think there a far better ones out there and this one was a swing and a miss for me (personally).
Wouldn't not recommend for people who like commentary thrillers but I think there a far better ones out there and this one was a swing and a miss for me (personally).
sydk11's review against another edition
mysterious
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
sandygx260's review against another edition
2.0
Bartz has a certainly formula down-- a core group of woman are fascinated by one particular woman. Fascinating person is then killed by... yeah. Just not my cup of wine. Too much focus on looks, fashion and bitchery.
lillanaa's review against another edition
3.0
This book was received as an ARC in exchange for an honest review.
This is another one of those fun for an afternoon kind of books, a thriller that you can bang out without feeling too badly but doesn't really scratch the surface of cerebral. It's decent, the writing doesn't give any hangups, but the entire premise and plot doesn't really work in the real world. It's ultimately farfetched, but again, kinda fun to just blaze through.
The framework is there to be something different from the norm, which makes it really unfortunate in the end when everything starts going. It starts off really good, honestly, and then just crashes and burns in the fourth "part", seeming like the entire plot needed a twist for the sake of it and shoehorning in details out of nowhere. It makes you think there's going to be something, when there really isn't, it's just kind of the same as everything out there. The characters are all the same, I had trouble differentiating Hana and Katie for an entire chapter even though they're viewpoint characters, and it was just... It was fine.
That's the thing, it's one of those books that's just fine. It's inoffensive, a good enough read to not make me put it down, but it's just okay.
This is another one of those fun for an afternoon kind of books, a thriller that you can bang out without feeling too badly but doesn't really scratch the surface of cerebral. It's decent, the writing doesn't give any hangups, but the entire premise and plot doesn't really work in the real world. It's ultimately farfetched, but again, kinda fun to just blaze through.
The framework is there to be something different from the norm, which makes it really unfortunate in the end when everything starts going. It starts off really good, honestly, and then just crashes and burns in the fourth "part", seeming like the entire plot needed a twist for the sake of it and shoehorning in details out of nowhere. It makes you think there's going to be something, when there really isn't, it's just kind of the same as everything out there. The characters are all the same, I had trouble differentiating Hana and Katie for an entire chapter even though they're viewpoint characters, and it was just... It was fine.
That's the thing, it's one of those books that's just fine. It's inoffensive, a good enough read to not make me put it down, but it's just okay.