At a Glance

Title: The Herd

Author: Andrea Bartz

Published: March 24, 2020 by Ballentine Books

Page: 336

Genre: Thriller, Mystery

Goodreads Rating: 3.55out of 5

My Rating: ★★★

Synopsis

My Thoughts

I’m starting to think I need to reevaluate my rating scale but I’m having a really hard time convincing myself to use half stars. Mainly because places such as Goodreads and Amazon don’t allow for half star reviews. Regardless The Herd would be the ideal book for a half star. 3.5 stars to be exact.

I really enjoyed the book but I only liked it, I didn’t absolutely love it. I really enjoyed the mystery aspect of the book. I also stood by what Eleanor was trying to do for women in the work place. However, while I initially liked the characters towards the end I hated them all. Our two main characters are siblings and while Hana is an adopted women of color, Katie is the opposite. She’s blond, blue eyed, and not adopted. The family dynamic that comes into play here was a little too much for a story about their missing friend and I felt that instead of focusing on the murder/missing report, they continuously fought and hated on each other instead. There is absolutely no good communication between the two even though they claim to always have each others backs. But then again I have 3 sisters and I guess we butt heads a lot too but would still die for each other so maybe I’m just being nitpicky.

Without any spoilers, I also was frustrated with the culprit. I just could not get behind the reasoning and if you were getting an extra $80,000 a year for the past two years, wouldn’t you have paid off your debts already? Just wondering because I would have.

The last thing I didn’t love about this book was the extra murder event that took place 10 years prior to modern day. It was a little out of left wing but I understand how it all ties together. At the same time I’m not really clear on whether the girl was still alive or not and the last few pages didn’t help with that.

I think I’ve just talked myself into rating this book ★★★. It was enjoyable and a fast read. The characters were a little whiny and showed very little growth which frustrated me. If you’re looking for simply a good mystery this would be for you. You can get it HERE!

I hope you enjoyed my thoughts on The Herd. If you liked this review please let me know either by commenting below or by visiting my instagram @speakingof_books. Huge thank you to netgalley and Ballentine Books for my advanced copy. 

About the Author

Andrea Bartz is a Brooklyn-based journalist and author of the forthcoming thriller THE HERD. Her debut thriller, THE LOST NIGHT (Crown, 2019), is being developed for TV by Mila Kunis. It was named a best book of the year by Real Simple, Glamour, Marie Claire, Library Journal, Crime Reads, Popsugar, She Reads, and other publications. Her work has appeared in The Wall Street Journal, Vogue, Cosmopolitan, Women’s Health, Martha Stewart Living, Elle, and many other outlets, and she’s held editorial positions at Glamour, Psychology Today, and Self, among other titles

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