Excellent, as expected. Jodi Picoult is an automatic first purchase for most adult fiction collections and this one is no different.

I started reading this book too late on a Sunday. By 12:40 am, I told myself that I would finish the chapter and go to bed, which is precisely when the first big twist was revealed. I felt stupid not to have seen it before, but now I couldn’t sleep.

This felt like a flashback to earlier Picoult works, which I have always liked. With multiple perspectives, a court case, a big twist, it was more familiar than some of her recent works. While I enjoyed “Book of Two Ways” and “Wish You Were Here,” they didn’t hit me in the same way as “My Sister’s Keeper” or “Handle With Care.” This one kept me reading all night and was tense, heartbreaking, sweet, sincere, and tragic.

Mad Honey by Jodi Picoult; Jennifer Finney Boylan Jodi and Jennifiier make for a good writing team. So, some good does come from Tweets! The story starts out with the death of a young girl seemly at the hand of a rage fueled boyfriend. Then the story evolves into so much more. Read with an open mind the backstory of Lily. There is a wealth of information about her life choices. Olivia's story moves forward in time. She has looked at life and people through filters of abuse and anger issues which clouds her view of events and people. Preconceived notions almost lead to a complete disconnect between Olivia and her son, Asher. A history of bees and beekkeeping is interwoven into her story. The ending has the Picoult touch with an expected surprise.

Thank you to the author, publisher, and NetGalley for the opportunity to preview the book.

Goodreads
I received an ARC from Netgalley. Spoiler Free. This is one of those novels that feels like riding a rollercoaster (which to me is the best feeling when going on a book journey). You start off steady with that delicious undercurrent of anticipation, knowing that you will eventually climb and fall but be exhilarated all the while.. I thought I knew where the twists and turns were taking me until one "bottom dropping out" moment left me feeling like my heart was in my stomach. This is a fantastic novel that explores the complexity of identity and relationships while challenging the reader to re-examine how the concept of privilege influences both.

This mystery started out solid. One of those books you read the first chapter, sigh, and realize you will be doing nothing but reading Mad Honey until you have finished.
The characters are well crafted.
There are a few "B" stories, and one of those is a history lesson about bees.
I found the bee story fascinating, at first.
As easily as I found myself in love with the book, I found myself disliking it, skipping along instead of savoring.
Politics has seeped into everything; it's almost impossible to escape lectures by those in Ivory Towers, and Mad Honey firmly delivers on veering into great story telling to lecturing.
The teen sex scenes...didn't need actual description there. I'd have liked more description of the murder scene than the sex scenes.
One very frustrating point (SPOLIER ALERT) is the mom did not push for details of what had happened when her son went to see the girlfriend and found her dead. Any mom would ask questions of not only her son but also the detective. She didn't even TRY.
The flashbacks were tedious after time.
I will happily sell this book to the right readers, and I know they will love it. For me, the politics, flashbacks, and Ivory Tower lectures wrapped as prose, is a one star.
The craft in which the story was told is five stars (the characters, the writing, simply flowed). Surprising ending (the killer) which was, unfortunately, overshadowed by all the wokesim along the way.
If you are looking for entertainment without politics or sexual science fiction, skip this.
If you don't mind slight politics and enjoy sexual science fiction, this is a great book.
I'm rating it five stars, because for me, it's the craft that matters.