User Reviews
Rating: really liked it
Another nasty, dark, bloody, twisty, mind bending, nail biter, soul crushing, riveting page-turner! Oh boy this author is villanelle. She is the evil queen of ultra-talents kingdom, pushing our buttons and playing mind games with us and you’re voluntarily letting her do that because you’re having so much fun.
This is my Christmas Eve's last reading and I'm already in celebration mood as you may see below:
Welcome to the power drunk, vicious, ambitious, competitive business women’s world. When you google “perfect” you may see their faces on the screen. They’re impeccable, flawless, extra ordinary: Too perfect to be true. They eat their colleagues’ heads or any other vital organs at their lunch breaks and they spit some parts, cleaning their mouths, turning back to their great schemes of stabbing other people behind their back. They’re the workers of HERD. But what a minute, where the hell is the founder? Her name was Eleanor, right? Where is she? Oh, no. She’s gone! No, not dead. At least nobody found a body but she is missing.
And let me to introduce you to two sisters buried some many ugly secrets and kept so many skeletons in their closets reunite in NYC: Katie and Hana. Why were we introduced with them? Oh, I see, they’re good friends with Eleanor. They involved separately to her investigation. They wanted to find her but: as they keep digging about Eleanor’s past to find where she’s hiding or what happened to her, they start to face with their own dirty big secrets. See, sometimes it’s better not to know too much!
I’m not gonna give spoilers not to ruin your enjoyable reading. I canceled my appointment with Henry Cavill for reading this book. ( Okay, not real appointment, I’m not delusional, just a happy drunk. I just skipped to binge watch “Witcher” but as far as I can see I made the right choice, this book is more delicious than ex-Superman’s and Tom Cruise movie villain’s looks. I hate his Legolas wig anyways)
There are lots of twists make you forget your name and repeat to yourself: “Don’t call me Shirley!” several times! You feel flabbergasted, dump, numb because of too much “I didn’t see it coming” moments. The ending is also fantastic. I’m so happy to announce that I found a real five starred, entertaining read.
I already added “Lost Night” novel of the author to my tbr list as high as Mount Kilimanjaro. So happy to read a brilliant writer’s work.
Special thanks to NetGalley and Ballantine Books to share this thrilling ARC COPY with me in exchange my honest review. Special thanks to Andrea Bartz for her talented writing and this unputdownable journey.
blog
instagram
facebook
twitter
Rating: really liked it
| | blog | tumblr | ko-fi | |
Having really enjoyed Andrea Bartz’s debut novel,
The Lost Night, I had rather high hopes for
The Herd. Sadly, not only is
The Herd populated by simultaneously unrealistic and detestable characters but it also tells a rather derivative story.
The summary seemed to promise a tantalising story, one that would depict the complicated and shifting dynamics in an all-female co-working space. What we actually get is the usual cliched storyline that focuses on a group of friends, one of whom happens to be more successful/famous than the others.
The plot is predictable and boring, most of the suspense is created by our not knowing the narrators’ secrets. There was no real tension or atmosphere. The HERD centre is never the focal point of the story but a mere prop, one that led to scenes in which this group of friends can go on and talk about ‘the male gaze’ and the ‘patriarchy’.
“The one way to win, the one fucking way to be a woman and do well in this world is to stomp on other women’s backs.”
While originality wasn’t
The Lost Night’s strongest point, it more than made up for it by having a striking sense of place and time. In
The Herd however New York and the HERD centre fade into the background.
Eleanor Walsh is the classic female character who appears in this type of so-called ‘psychological’ novels. We are told that she is the basic embodiment of the perfect modern woman: beautiful, intelligent, charismatic, a feminist. Being told that she is alluring or interesting doesn’t actually make her those things.
Her disappearance unfolds in a predictable way: her closest friends decide to embark on their own investigation even if there is a detective working the case. Katie and Hana are sisters and both were close to Eleanor. In alternating chapters we read of their amateurish attempts at finding out what Eleanor was hiding. They are also hiding things from one another and they are both trying to forget about a ‘traumatising’ incident from their pasts.
They spend most chapters getting scared by their own ringtones, wondering whether Eleanor is dead, receiving help by their conveniently gifted friends (such as a hacker), and feeling sorry for themselves.
That’s more or less it.
Add two or three attractive and possibly guilty of something or other male characters and there ya have it:
The Herd.
The novel tries to critique a certain brand of feminism by portraying how hypocritical certain female entrepreneurs are: in spite of their ‘empowering’ agendas they still encourage their female associates to spend hours on end on their appearances or they are actually profiteering from other women’s insecurities.
If the HERD centre had actually been the focal point of this novel I think that the story could have been a lot more engaging as well as providing us with a more cutting commentary on certain facets of contemporary feminism. What we have instead is a predictable narrative about two sisters, both of whom think that the other one has it better than they do.
Lousy story and characters aside there are a few other things about this novel that really frustrated me:
✖ This group of friends lacks chemistry. Where they even friends to begin with? Why should I care about ‘backstabbing’ and ‘lies’ when they seem to sort of dislike each other from the get go?
✖ The ‘twist’ is almost identical to the one in
The Lost Night so I saw it from miles away. Isn’t that a bit of a cheap trick? The reveal and final face-off are incredibly reminiscent of the ones in
The Lost Night.
✖ The sisters’ ‘secrets’...one seemed recycled from similar novels while the other one was laughable (view spoiler)
[(a husband walks in on his wife cheating with him with another woman and he has a heart attack?! Come on!) (hide spoiler)].
✖ The writing...in
The Lost Night there were a few phrases which struck me as very debut-like (examples being “a new thought, opening like an umbrella” and “happiness rushing up through me like froth”). I wasn’t expecting the writing in
The Herd to be so much more aggravating. Most pages in this novel have to do with what Katie and Hana feel and think. But they never simply feel or think things. Their feelings and thoughts blossom, billow, plume, or fan out:
-“I said it without thinking, the idea booming out of me like a cannonball.”
-“Fear was fanning out inside of me, working outward from my gut.”
-“The realization that I knew almost nothing about this guy resurfaced like something bobbing up from the bottom of a lake.”
-“It rose through me without warning: a plume of anxiety, neon and strong”
-“The awkwardness plumed, filling up the room like smoke.”
-“Then, pushing through the fug of my worry for Eleanor, a heady sadness that billowed like incense,”
-“The idea bloomed in my skull as if someone else had whispered it to me.”
-“I watched her cry, feeling my impression of her shifting like tectonic plates inside my skull.”
-“A thought like a whisper”
-“sadness billowed in me, threatened to burst out from behind my face.”
This novel is basically pages and pages of purply phrases accentuating the special way in which the narrators think or feel.
✖ Overdramatic. As I’ve mentioned before characters are constantly overacting. They get scared by their phones (“My phone exploded with sound; I jumped so high, I practically bonked my head on the ceiling.”), they think that drums sound like gunfire (“We were looping scarves and tugging on hats when a sudden round of gunfire made us freeze. It started again. Not gunfire—drums, a drum line.”), they gasp at the silliest things in very dramatic fashion (“My mouth gaped open, an oval of shock.”), they are fumbling in their attempts not to let others know that they are actually trying to find Eleanor. A lot of ordinary actions were given a forced sense of urgency: “I was a human whirlwind, somehow whipping out a digital recorder, accepting the call, and putting her on speakerphone all in one scrambling swoop”.
✖ The narrators try really hard to come across as SERIOUS feminists so that as soon as a male character talks they think or say stuff like ‘he can’t understand what is like to be a woman’...more laughable still are phrases such as: “Samantha was washing silverware with the furious concentration of a frat guy playing flip cup” and “I futzed and fumbled, jabbing at the keyhole like an awkward teen during his first sexual encounter, until finally the door clicked open”.
✖ The way these female characters are portrayed promotes a rather one dimensional image of a feminist. While I could get behind the critique of this new wave of feminism, the story never truly delves into the complexities of female friendships or of an all-female workplace. The villain’s final monologue, however cheesy, actually had something interesting to say about the nature of certain female friendships….but that hardly makes up for the novel’s general lack of insight into these ‘female’ dynamics.
The 'herd' analogy appeared now and again but for the most part was largely underused. This novel wasn't fascinating or chilling, it just was. If you haven't read Bartz's debut novel and you don't happen to have a low tolerance for cringe-y proses, you might actually find
The Herd to be entertaining.
Read more reviews on my blog / / / View all my reviews on Goodreads
Rating: really liked it
Eleanor is the founder of The Herd, an elite, women-only coworking space, that has women clawing to become members, coveting the mentorship and empowerment that The Herd membership promises. Part of Eleanor's team are her college best friends, Hana and Mikki. Hana's younger sister, Katie, good friends with Eleanor and Mikki, too, has come to New York City to work and is hoping to join this elite group. Despite the sheen of women helping and supporting women at the top of their game, there is an undercurrent of ambition and competition that is cut throat and ready to steal whatever it takes for each woman to advance their cause. No one is going to admit this undercurrent though because that would go against the brand, would show that these women are just like the men they rail against. The Herd claims it's very existence protects women to be successful even though that success breeds anger, rage, and violence from the jealous men that target them.
Now, on the day that Eleanor has a huge announcement for her company, in fact, right as she is supposed to be having the interview of a lifetime, to make this huge announcement, Eleanor is missing. She and The Herd have been targeted by a group called the Antiherd, with horrible words slashed across the walls of various locations. Eleanor has even been involved in a lawsuit with members of this group. Could they be responsible for Eleanor being missing? Could Eleanor have run away from the pressure of threats on her wellbeing and life?
But, all is not well in Eleanor's life in other ways, either. While she has presented herself as the near perfect modern woman, it now seems that here are cracks in her marriage, secrets that she has kept from her best friends, lies she may have told even them, from the very beginning. Katie has her own secrets about why she is ready to renege on a coveted book advance and she needs a new story to replace the story that she is ditching. Could an expose (couched under much kinder words) be her new story, despite the ethical and moral problems with turning your good friend's life into a unauthorized memoir? Just how far will each woman go to hide their secrets, reach their goals, claim their own success at the peril of each other?
I had trouble liking anyone in this story and so much of their lives seemed undesirable and so elitist that I just didn't care what happened to them, but I was interested in the mystery and who was doing what and why they were doing it. I was an uninvolved bystanding, watching the mess people were making of each other's lives, getting to hold a bit of smug satisfaction that I might not have what they have but I didn't want it anyway, when it appears one might have to sell their soul to join the group. There are so many twists and turns that you could never see coming but I did enjoy them from a distance.
Thank you to Random House Publishing Group - Ballantine and NetGalley for this ARC.
Rating: really liked it
HOT MESS!!
The concept of The Herd is intriguing and I hoped for its potential as a suspense hit. However, what I got instead was a convoluted hot mess.
There's no engagement between the characters. I could not get drawn into their circle, into their story and as such I simply found I did not care about the characters or what happened.
Then there's what happened: a lot! On and on! 2 POVs, constant backstabbing and several twists revealed. While this offers plenty attempts of enticement, it also pulls the book in every which way imaginable. Normally I'd be pleased at the action, but with the lack of connection with characters, and twists thrown in just for twists sake, this was yet another road block that stopped me from becoming fully engaged. Whenever a twist occurred, it did little to excite, or meant nothing to me at that point.
I'd say I lost interest half way. But honestly, I don't think I was ever fully invested at any point.
Rating: really liked it
3.5 stars.
What could cause a female entrepreneur to disappear on the biggest night of her career? This is one of the mysteries at the core of Andrea Bartz's newest thriller.
The Herd is an innovative coworking space just for women. Its founder, Eleanor Walsh, has tapped into a powerful need for women to have their own business and creative space, and women from all over New York and San Francisco are clamoring to become members.
Eleanor, along with her two best friends from college, Hana and Mikki, have made the Herd into a phenomenon, and it’s truly on the verge of greatness. Yet on Eleanor’s biggest night, the night of a major announcement, she disappears.
Hana and Mikki, devastated and angered by Eleanor’s disappearance, can’t figure out what might have happened. Sure, she and the Herd had their detractors, but it all doesn’t make sense. The two friends, along with Hana’s younger sister, Katie, an investigative journalist, start to look into the disappearance, and discover Eleanor's life wasn't as pulled together as it appeared. But then again, the three of them are also hiding major secrets.
The Herd is an interesting, twisty mystery that takes a while to build up steam, but keeps moving fast once it does. I really like the way Andrea Bartz writes (check out her last book,
The Lost Night ), and found the interpersonal dynamics among the characters here pretty fascinating.
One thing I don’t love about books is when everyone has a secret but no one will talk about them yet, they get referred to constantly. ("We can't say anything about that night.") I’d almost rather find out about these secrets by myself than have a ton of foreshadowing with little delivery until the story is coming to a close.
This is a solid, compelling read and it is a thought-provoking look at the barriers women experience when pursuing success. I’m definitely a fan of Bartz’s work and look forward to her next book.
Check out my list of the best books I read in 2019 at https://itseithersadnessoreuphoria.blogspot.com/2020/01/the-best-books-i-read-in-2019.html.
Check out my list of the best books of the decade at https://itseithersadnessoreuphoria.blogspot.com/2020/01/my-favorite-books-of-decade.html.
See all of my reviews at itseithersadnessoreuphoria.blogspot.com.
Follow me on Instagram at https://www.instagram.com/the.bookishworld.of.yrralh/.
Rating: really liked it
3.5 stars
The author came up with a great concept for this novel and I did enjoy reading it. The last part of the book is the weak spot though and it felt like wasted potential. I just wish the ending didn't feel so lackluster in what had basically been a compelling read up until that point.
After taking care of her mother in Michigan for awhile, Katie Bradley has returned to NYC. She is hoping she will be asked to join The Herd, an exclusive all-women coworking space as it provides opportunities to network and empower other women. It should help Katie that her sister, Hana, does pr for The Herd and is good friends with the founder, Eleanor Walsh. And this is where I will stop with my synopsis because I think this book reads better if you don't know much going in other than the story has thriller elements.
I loved how the story incorporated co-working spaces and women only empowerment groups as they are both intriguing subjects to me. Business professionals paying to essentially rent a workspace along with others has become trendy in recent years. Most people find it a good alternative to working at home as they tend to feel more productive and enjoy the contact with other workers. (It feels odd to even write about this given everything is basically shutdown now due to the coronavirus) I liked how the author also played around with the idea that women tend to thrive in women only environments whether it be in school or at work. There was some substance to this thriller and that's what sets it apart from many others in the genre.
But to be fair it is a thriller and a big part of making it the ultimate read is having an awesome ending. Unfortunately, the ending was nowhere near as exciting as I had hoped. I wish my mind would have been blown but instead I felt all of the author's creativity and imagination that was so present for most of the book, petered out by the end. It felt very ordinary is what I am trying to say and didn't seem to match what had been a fun reading experience. I've also had an internal debate about whether the epilogue was necessary or not.
Despite having some flaws, I do recommend this book for those readers who like it when authors attempt to do something different. There were many aspects of the story I found thought provoking and think this would make a good book club pick.
Thank you to the publisher and Netgalley for providing me with a free digital copy in exchange for an honest review!
Rating: really liked it
Thank you to NetGalley and Ballantine Books for providing me with an ARC in exchange for an honest review.
I haven’t been in the mood for mysteries or thrillers lately; I’ve had to wade through a lot of mediocre ones to get to the real gems. When I scored an ARC of
The Herd and saw its relatively low rating here on Goodreads, I was worried I might be in for another disappointment. But I’m certainly not one to turn down a free book, and at a little over 300 pages, I knew this would be a quick read, so I ignored my apprehension and dove right in.
First off, although it wasn’t one of the best mysteries or thrillers I’ve ever read, this book was not a disappointment. It was fast-paced and entertaining and I couldn’t put it down. The premise of an elite, all-female coworking space felt realistic and I thought Andrea Bartz executed it well. She took the time to explore it in detail without dragging on too long or distracting from the plot. I could easily visualize the Herd and the type of women who would have a membership there.
The Herd features two protagonists, sisters Katie and Hana, who I was ambivalent about. Katie is a tech journalist who, after living in Michigan for a year helping her mother go through cancer treatment, moves back to New York and wants to join the Herd. Hana is the Herd’s publicist, best friends with founder Eleanor. Both Katie and Hana have dark secrets in their past that we learn about as the story unfolds, two mini-reveals before the larger reveal that I thought were very well-done.
Because Katie and Hana’s alternating chapters were written in first person, and because their perspectives weren’t
that different, I easily forgot whose chapter I was reading, which tells me they both needed more character development. But the character development that was there was great: Hana’s complicated relationship with her adoptive parents, Katie and Hana’s close relationship with each other, Hana’s experience as the only woman of color in her family and in her friend group, Katie’s experience as a female journalist and during her year in Michigan.
The two supporting characters who stood out the most were Herd founder Eleanor and Hana and Eleanor’s artist friend Mikki. I thought Eleanor, in particular, was fascinating: as a woman, as a friend, as an entrepreneur, as a wife. This story is more about her than it is about Katie or Hana, and the fact that we never read her point-of-view lends her mystery and intrigue. I didn’t think the male supporting characters, brothers Cameron and Ted and Eleanor’s husband Daniel, were all that special, but that seemed fitting for a book about women.
The central mystery of
The Herd – what happened to Eleanor? – had plenty of twists and turns, most of which I didn’t see coming. I did guess the big reveal at the end, but it took me a while to get there. Unlike many thrillers, I thought the ending struck a good balance: surprising but not too far-fetched. In addition to the plot’s many layers, Bartz explored themes of sexism and racism, which added even more to the story. This is an underrated book, and in my opinion worth a read.
Rating: really liked it
It's hard to enjoy a story when there are so few valid issues and characters. 2 of 10 stars
Rating: really liked it
A smart, feminist thriller with elegant prose and complex, skilfully constructed characters. The Herd (emphasis on her) is set in an all-female work environment, exploring the relationships between women, female ambition, and the price of success for women.
Katie and her sister Hana are finally reunited when Katie moves back to New York. When their friend Eleanor, the founder of The Herd, goes missing, they both become entangled in the investigation. And everyone is a suspect.
With lots of twists and a breathtaking finale, The Herd is a lively thriller showcasing flawed protagonists on a journey into the disappearance of a loved one. The complicated dynamics between the characters makes for enjoyable reading as the masks of perfection slip and dark pasts are exposed.
Rating: really liked it
I was all down for the female empowerment at the center of THE HERD, but I ended up having some issues that kept me from really enjoying this one. I loved the concept of a murder mystery at an all woman's social club, but found myself having issues connecting with any of the characters...I'm all for flawed females, but these women are unlikable and difficult to root for and spend most of the book backstabbing each other. I found myself bored by the murder mystery and ultimately don't think I can recommend this one. However, I know many people are enjoying this one, so pick it up at your own peril.
Rating: really liked it
The Herd is an elite, women-only coworking space in New York City created by beauty-mogul and businesswoman Eleanor Walsh. Her fellow Harvard classmates Hana and Mikki have helped Eleanor build The Herd as the place for New York women to apply for a membership that boasts empowerment and mentorship without the male gaze. Among the hopeful members is Hana’s younger sister Katie Bradley - who is returning to the city after caring for her ailing mother and having book research end in disaster in Michigan.
After a vandal mysteriously tagged all three Herd locations, Hana is uneasy as she prepares for an undisclosed announcement about The Herd’s future from Eleanor. On the night of the PR event, Eleanor is a no show, and her friends begin to panic when they realize no has seen her since the day before. As theories about her disappearance begin to fly, Eleanor’s life comes under scrutiny and her closest friends become suspects.
The Herd is Andrea Bartz's second novel. It’s a story full of suspense and unexpected revelation and will keep you guessing. This novel shows that your friends may not always be how they seem.
Rating: really liked it
I found the Herd hard to get in to and boring. Whenever the story seemed to start, it fell flat again. There were long periods where nothing happened to the point that the story didn’t even move forward.
The characters were flat and uninteresting. I couldn’t buy in to any of the characters - I couldn’t relate, or sympathize, or even really care. Very little personality, and so much self involvement (eyeroll). Some of the characters and sub plots were pointless.
I don’t believe I’ll remember this book in a couple of weeks and considered not finishing it.
And lastly....... the cover is terrible.
Rant over.
Rating: really liked it
THE HERD
Andrea Bartz
“A herd’s primary purpose is to keep the highest percentage of its members alive. Evolution doesn’t care about the individual, about survival of the least-fit. We team up for the most selfish reason possible: self-preservation.”
So many mumblings, ranting, and dialogues that mean so very little to the story as a whole. The characters are largely bitchy, manipulative, backstabbing or frontstabbing, and in many cases flat.
Eleanor Walsh believes she is super dedicated to providing an exclusive yet inclusive safe space for “women and marginalized genders” to work. She also believes that she provides and encourages women to excel, in her sought-after co-working space in New York City. Eleanor hires publicist Hana Bradley, with whom she has been friends since Harvard and Mikki. Together the three have made this office space, "the herd" into a sought-after phenomenon, then Eleanor disappears on her big night.
Hana and Mikki are devastated and angered by Eleanor’s disappearance and begin to try to piece together what has happened to Eleanor. Joining these brokenhearted women is Katie, Hana's sister who is an investigative journalist, and who is going to use the group for her own good by writing a book. But someone has been spraying graffiti in these super safe offices that is misogynistic to women. So where did Eleanor go? Why would she leave? The questions literally went on and on, both written in the book and in my head.
Too many secrets hinted at the beginning to be answered at the end sort of made the book 'end heavy' with all of the skeletons falling out of the closet. I found the characters sort of flat, like women who are super involved with their looks and then demand they are really good people who only care about women getting ahead as they stand on the heads of women to get high enough to reach the headline. I just wasn't impressed, in fact like what's her name (Katie) told Hana, I am working to get to the point where I give zero fucks... which is where I am.
2 stars
Happy Reading!
Rating: really liked it
2- Although it's an easy read, there is nothing special about
The Herd. I like the idea of incorporating feminist themes into different genres, but I think the way Bartz went about it was a little overworked. (There's a fake article about "Eve" Jobs mid-novel that was truly eye-roll inducing to me.) The book mainly tries to be an upscale, "twist at every turn" mystery and it just isn't successful. The use of red herrings and tons of unanswered questions are bothersome, but the heavy reliance on coincidence in order to make those "twists" happen is the worst part. In this way, and in the overall structure, the writing is unfortunately sloppy.
Rating: really liked it
I think maybe I've read one too many of these "evil ladies with secret books" lately because nothing here shocked, surprised or thrilled me. Maybe I'm the evil one. That's probably the case. At any rate, listening to this on audio was not a chore but it wasn't exactly the type of book that begged me to drop everything to finish it. The characters were just a wee bit underwhelming as far as personalities go. Lots of petty insecurities and jealousies simmering below their perfect facade. Listening on audio probably didn't help matters as a few of them kept getting mixed up in my head because their personalities weren't distinct enough to help me keep them straight.
