The Herd: A Novel

I chose THE HERD by Andrea Bartz as a “buddy read” book with 9 other readers as I loved the blurb and thought it would be a great book for discussion. We all agreed to read up to a certain point and then discuss online, which is great as the book is split into parts. So far so good, except one person was reading The Herd by Emily Edwards and couldn’t understand what we were talking about!!.Back to THE HERD by Andrea Bartz. Set in the corporate world in New York City, HERD is a fictional women only working space (think WeWork but no men). Run by the beautiful, successful and powerful Eleanor Walsh, who on the eve of a huge Press announcement disappears without a trace.Her best friends and co-workers Hana and Katie can’t understand why Eleanor would just disappear, abandoning her lifes work, husband and friends without a word and start their own investigation.The story is narrated by several of the main characters and slowly the reader finds out more about Eleanor, Katie and Hana’s past history and complicated relationships.I did enjoy this story, it kept me guessing throughout, however many of my buddy readers didn’t feel connected to the characters which I could totally appreciate. It’s an easy read with a few twists and overall I would recommend it for thriller lovers.

Excellent novel. I would of given it 5 stars if the story didn't become Interesting, , in fact boring, until half way through the book. Then I found it to be a very intriguing .

The novel is set in a cold New York December, counting down to Christmas, with chapters alternately related by sisters Hana and Kate. Journalist Kate has just returned from a year in Michigan, where she’s been helping their mother through cancer treatment and gathering material on a local tech company for a book. Early on, we know that something bad happened and it seems that no book will be forthcoming, much to her agent’s panic.In New York, Kate meets up again with the charismatic Eleanor, who has become a celebrity with the success of her Gleam range of beauty products and the establishment of the Herd, a place where women can hang out and network. Hana is the Herd’s publicist and their college friend Mikki is the graphic designer. Kate applies to join. A discrimination case has already been brought against the Herd by an online men’s group called the Antiherd. Things ratchet up significantly when Eleanor goes missing just before a major press announcement. Loyalties are tested during a confusing few days when it seems as though Eleanor has absconded to Mexico. To placate her agent, Kate offers to write a book about Eleanor and the Herd, which comes across as a major betrayal of trust. Then Eleanor is discovered dead on the freezing rooftop of the Herd building. Factor in an old relationship Eleanor had in her hometown with a guy who became a drug addict, her open marriage and an incident in 2010 involving Eleanor’s parents that resulted in blackmail.Bartz is writing about the zingy, zappy world of tech savvy millennials and keeps a lot of balls in the air. As Hana, Kate and the detectives try to figure out exactly what’s going on, who’s doing what and why, the finger of suspicion points convincingly to various people. In the process, the magical Eleanor loses her lustre. Hana, Kate and Mikki are by no means guilt free. The Herd itself seems not so much liberating but yet another exploitative outfit in the somewhat surreal landscape of influencers and strategists, with its own subtle facism. The loss of innocence always comes hard as we come to grips with our own culpability. In the epilogue we find that this also applies to Eleanor’s nurse mother Karen, who knows something none of the others do. It’s excellently done. So why not 5 stars? Only because it’s missing the delight factor. Which yes, I know, is not a requirement for a good book. This is a sober look at a somber world where you have to be very sharp and morally flexible to keep up. I guess you could say the same of a character such as Cromwell as brought to us by Hilary Mantel and countless other horse-trading humans.

I read this book as a buddy read with some friends. I really enjoyed it and found it easy to read.Eleanor set up The Herd- an all female office space to rent. She provided all of the facilities and they had guest speakers, cocktail nights and various other events. Eleanor’s best friends Hana and Mikki also worked with her as consultants to the business.Hana’s younger sister Katie moved to the area and loved The Herd and everything it represented. Eleanor gave a few hints that something big was in the pipeline for The Herd and set up a grand event to make the big announcement.On the evening of the event nobody had seen Eleanor and it became apparent that she had gone missing. Hana, Mikki and Katie were devastated and did everything they could to try and find out what had happened to Eleanor.A great read. I look forward to reading more by this author.

This is a well-paced thriller that is definitely worth your time. Each character felt like they had their own voice and the backdrop of a co-working place in NYC will make you long for the days when you can go sit down and work in a co-working space.I have no idea what the heck a mocktail is though, so if you are in that generation, you'll like this book even more as many mocktails were consumed in these pages.