I found this to be a bit of a letdown after the author's last book. It wasn't bad, by any means, but it didn't excite me or thrill me like The Lost Night did. I had a very guttural reaction to how utterly millennial that book was; I didn't have any such emotional response to The Herd. It's fun sometimes, but it didn't feel as unique as The Lost Night.

A feminist thriller an author whose writing drew me in kept me racing through the pages. The author has a diabolical style of dropping hints here and there.This has bestseller written all over it and this is an author to follow#netgalley#randomhouse

Andrea Bartz knows how to write New York City.

This is my second book by this author and I have to say, I absolutely loved them both. The Herd came out just a hair ahead of The Lost Night though.

The setting is NYC, the time now, and characters are a crew of highly motivated and successful women who have been friends since college. Their de facto leader is Eleanor, the rising star who started a makeup empire and most recently, started a women only co-working space called The HERd. When Eleanor goes missing hours before a major company event, the friends know something bad happened and set out to find her.

I loved the idea of this book and the execution was great. There were so many juicy secrets dropped throughout this I never would have guessed were coming. I loved the tangled web of relationships within the core group of women. I suspected every single person involved except the one who actually did it. Of course.

All in all, I thought this was a solid 4 star read. Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for my advanced free copy in exchange for my honest review. This review has already been posted to Instagram.

A group of women who run a feminist business organization known as the HERD must come together to solve the disappearance of their leader.

What I enjoyed most about this was reading about women helping women succeed. But it’s a double-edged sword and everything is not how it appears on the surface. I figured out who did it early on but was astonished to learn why that person did it. A definite fun read.

Many thanks to Netgalley, Ballantine Books and Andrea Bartz for my complimentary e-copy ARC in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

New York's HERD, founded by entrepreneur Eleanor Walsh, is an iconic feminist corporation which mentors and empowers women. The corporation embraces diversity and provides women with the resources to cultivate new contributions to society. Katie Bradley, a struggling journalist, returns to New York with the hope of joining her sister Hana, head of HERD PR, as an elite member of the HERD. On the night of the announcement of the HERD's pending merger, Eleanor vanishes. As they try to try to piece together clues about her disappearance, they discover secrets that tie the past to the present and put everyone in danger.

The Herd is a new mystery thriller by Andrea Bartz which I was excited to have the chance to read. It centers on the founder of a woman owned and operated corporation in New York, Eleanor Walsh. Katie's sister Hana, friend Mikki, and Eleanor were all friends in college and worked together to make the HERD a reality. Katie, running from a mysterious incident is unable to finish her book and hopes to fix the situation by writing about the chic and secretive Eleanor. When Eleanor vanishes everyone's secrets are revealed and thus they become suspects. I wanted to LOVE this novel but the first half of the book was a bit of a struggle for me. Although I enjoyed the characters the pace of the book felt a bit slow. The second half of the book was fantastic and the mystery/thrill factor really intensifies quickly. Digging for answers, they learn that each of them has been keeping secrets…some more deadly than others.

This was a super-addictive, fast-paced read and I highly recommend it. It felt like it would make a super fun TV show, and was a refreshing read all-around.

The story is told by 2 characters, Katie and her older sister Hana, and the reader is in more than capable hands with these two guiding us through the world of The Herd. Katie is sassy and resourceful as an investigative reporter with secrets, and her sister is an assertive publicist who takes care of business, and, of course, also has secrets. I loved tagging along as these 2 uncover the mystery of what happened to their friend and founder of The Herd, Eleanor, while dealing with their past family drama. If I ever have to solve the mystery of what happened to my missing friend, I'd like a funny reporter and a pushy publicist on my dream team for sure. It'd be less investigating and fewer phone calls for me, and the mystery would be solved in a way that's satisfying for some but not for others, but we've got our resolution. Bada-boom.

I also loved The Herd itself - it was a setting that pulled you in right away, much like it's real-life counterparts would. The descriptions of the club and the women in it nailed that feeling of a place that's exclusive and alluring yet problematic at the same time. Like, you want to be a part of The Herd, but don't want to want to be a part of The Herd.

Because of the nature of The Herd, the story also managed to weave various issues into the action-packed plot in an organic way, getting into feminism and female friendships, social media, power dynamics, and more.

The mystery was also artfully constructed, leaving hints as to whodunit that fall perfectly into place and had me wondering why I didn't put it together sooner. I love a good breadcrumb, and this left a very delicious trail. Like, really good baguette crumbs. Or ciabatta with little olives in it.

So do give it a read if you're in the mood for a solid, twisty thriller!

On trend book featuring feminists ideals of creating a shared workspace/club for women only. The founder, Eleanor, is as ruthless as any man in her climb up the entrepreneurial ladder. Taking along her college girlfriends, Mikki and Hana, The Herd is created. The name is meant to inspirational and perhaps multifaceted. It could mean many things some of which are: Women will be HEARD? It is all HER space? Just for HER Or ultimately, is it just a bunch of mean girls in a herd? My conclusions is the latter. But, hey, now they are just like the men.
There is backstabbing a plenty, friendship built on lies, deception, and crimes that move the story along. Throw in a newly formed all-male on-line group called The Anti-herd, exes of the founders, a younger sister with secret ambitions of her own, and an untimely disappearance of Eleanor herself and The Herd becomes a bit expansive. I would have liked a tighter story among the women or flesh out those in opposition to The Herd. In the end, there are no winners in this herd.

Hana and Katie are sisters who find themselves inside The Herd, owned and run by their friend Eleanor. It’s a co-space for women to work, and come together collaboratively. But when Eleanor goes missing, Katie and Hana are forced to delve into her life for answers, and must face their own secrets at the same time.

I enjoyed this story but wasn’t completely wowed by any of the plot “twists” or character reveals. I’m not sure why but the entire thing felt jumbled and not cohesive and I found myself bored and confused through a lot of it. The ending wrapped up interestingly but I didn’t find it an exciting thriller twist, just sort of a throwaway. Overall I’d recommend to those new to thrillers.

Whoa - I wasn't expecting the twists and turns in this book to shock me, but they did! I spent much of the book fairly uninterested in the individual characters or their lives. I was annoyed by each of them at times, and I wasn't invested in what happened to them — but then, a little more than halfway through the book, that all changed. I thought I'd predicted the ending, and I was wrong — not once, not twice, but three times! It had great twists, but overall I didn't find myself that enthused about the plot or its characters. There wasn't really anyone I was rooting for, unfortunately, and even though the end *somewhat* saved it, it wasn't enough to make up for the first 3/4 of the book.

I think that I may be one of the dissenters on this one.

I do agree with the editorial reviewer who states that it shows the hypocrisy of feminism…I just don’t think it’s a good thing. The book takes some really awesome feminist ideals and them tramples them with petty cat fights and general bad behavior.

The mystery at its heart is interesting, but not particularly entertaining. Most of our characters seemed to be playing at being adults, but their underlying lack of maturity gets tiresome to read.

I was intrigued by the idea of The Herd, but ultimately wasn’t particularly satisfied with our story or characters.

Your mileage may vary.

*ARC Provided via Net Galley

I really liked the premise of this book, book at times the execution seemed to drag a bit. I wasn't fully expecting the end, but it was not some groundbreaking, earth shaking twist. I loved reading about powerful women, and I absolutely think that there are not enough books written about strong,determined women.... this book filled that massive hole, but only to an extent when you find out about who Eleanor had to step on in order to obtain her power. I think that was my main concern with this particular novel.... otherwise, it was pretty well written -- full of intriguing plots and sub-plots, developed characters with defined voices, descriptive language, and snappy dialogue. Although this was not my favorite book of the year, I do believe I would recommend it, and I will look for books by Andrea Bartz in the future.

I really tried to like this book. I kept going back to it over the last several days, and trying to get into it. But I just couldn't. Sometimes you just find books that aren't for you and this was one of them. The book isn't bad per se, and I do enjoy a murder mystery, but I just couldn't connect with any of the characters.

I get what this book was trying to do, female empowerment is really important, but I feel like it was too much. It took away the fun of a good mystery.

Thank you Netgalley and Ballantine Books for the ARC.

this book is actually a 4.5 for me. I gave it less because it took longer to get into than i wanted, longer to care about the characters. but then i did and cared about their secrets and yes just about all of them had secrets all of which was helping define their present. this is a mystery but also more about relationships and what we care behind our facades.

Due to lingering resentment, sisters Hana and Katie sometimes feel as though they’re tied together by mutual friends and not much else. When Katie moves back to NYC, she joins Hana at The Herd, an exclusive co-working space for successful female entrepreneurs founded by their best friend Eleanor. Eleanor goes missing unexpectedly, and the sisters again find themselves at odds again as Katie puts her investigative journalism prowess into action while Hana hustles to ensure her and Eleanor’s long hidden secrets stay buried.

Damn this was fun. I freakin’ LOVED Bartz’s first novel up until the end, and I hoped this one would satisfy me all the way through – happy to report IT DELIVERED! In addition to the well-developed plot, believable characters, and solid ending, this was a really fun peek into the world of corporate feminism and women’s workplace culture. This reminded me of Jessica Knoll’s The Favorite Sister, but with characters I actually liked, and a storyline that was closer to reality. I highly recommend this for thriller lovers, but also for fans of domestic dramas.

I actually LOVE reading books about workplace drama – not white collar corruption or corporate espionage, but day in, day out office dynamics and department drama. This May Hurt by Jillian Medoff and The Herd are two great examples of this.

Thank you to Netgalley, the author and the publisher for this ARC.

I really tried to like this. I really did. I tried for nearly two months to read this. And I just couldn’t get through it easily. I was not invested. I was not intrigued. I wanted so badly to be pulled in. The reviews were stellar. But don’t force it. This is a slow read, even when I thought it would pick up, it didn’t. There was a lot of ground-laying for the first 20% that I just didn’t think was necessary. It was not worth the pleasure read to me, sorry folks.

eBook provided for free from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

You know when you find a story that just clicks with you and you automatically know it will be one of your favorite books forever? That's "The Herd" for me.

Sisters Hana and Katie are in the inner circle of New York's newest rising star Eleanor Walsh — the founder and CEO of The Herd, an all-female co-working space. With the Herd's member waitlist a mile long, the future is bright for these women. When Eleanor goes missing on the eve of a major announcement for The Herd, Hana and Katie begin to question how well they know Eleanor, themselves and even each other.

"The Herd" has a dark and twisty plot that kept me guessing and doubting until the very end. It's part thriller, part whodunnit, part chilling critique of our highly curated online selves. It's a can't miss read for anyone who is both equally drawn in by and suspicious of Instagram-friendly feminism.

I can't wait to pick up a finished copy or two once to share with all my friends.

Guys, this read was great! Thank you to Netgalley and Random House Publishing for the advanced reader copy. The Herd is an exclusive workspace for elite women with a powerhouse of a leader, Eleanor. When Eleanor suddenly goes missing the night before a huge announcement for the company, her closest friends and family are shocked. The book is told through alternating perspectives, changing back and forth between two sisters with dark secrets of their own. Andrea Bartz did a great job developing her characters and keeping the reader guessing throughout. I seriously had so many theories on who killed Eleanor! Although, I did guess the killer, it was a great thriller with awesome twists and captivating storytelling. I'll definitely be on the lookout for other books by this author. Check out The Herd when it comes out on March 23rd of this year!

I loved this book! A wonderful "who done it" based around a fictional women's work space, Bartz kept me guessing and engaged from the very first page. Well-drawn out characters, lots of surprises, and a great mystery made this one an absolute page turner and a welcome respite from domestic suspense! Kudos!

3.5 stars. This was an entertaining mystery, but it could have been (and I guess I expected it to be) so much more.

When an exclusive New York women's workspace is rocked by the mysterious disappearance of its enigmatic founder, two sisters must uncover the haunting truth before they lose their friendships, their careers--maybe even their lives.

". . . just how fucked women are in society. It's like, women unfairly can't own up their shit because they're punished so harshly for not being perfect. Men can fuck up and move on, but not women. If you're a woman, you're always one mistake away from being worthless again. You go through life waiting for everything to be taken away, bending over backward trying to prove your worth, driving yourself crazy trying to get everyone to like and respect you. We do it in jobs, we even do it in our extra-curricular lives . . .the one way to win, the one fucking way to be a woman and do well in this world is to stomp on the other women's backs."

I expected a book, entitled The Herd, about a women-only communal work space/social space/networking/etc to have more to say like the above quote. I thought it would a running theme through the entire book. But the above quote comes at approximately 89% of the way through, and while I was happy to read it, I was disappointed the theme wasn't more prevalent the entire book.

I liked the characters, I liked the plot, I liked the pacing of the story. I just wanted more.

Thanks to NetGalley for the free ARC in exchange for my review.

A fast paced feminist thriller that follows the secrets and lies between a group of girlfriends.

There's lots of twists and the author nailed the way sisters and close female friends can be so nasty to each other.

I can see this book blowing up. It would make a great book club book and I'm dying to talk about it with someone!