The God of the Hive: A novel of suspense featuring Mary Russell and Sherlock Holmes
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- ISBN13: 9780553805543
- Condition: NEW
- Notes: Brand New from Publisher. No Remainder Mark.
Product Description
In Laurie R. King’s latest Mary Russell–Sherlock Holmes mystery, the acclaimed New York Times bestselling leader delivers a thriller of ingenious surprises and inexorable suspense—as the legendary spouse and wife sleuths are pursued by a killer immune from the sting of justice.
It started as a problem in one of Holmes’ beloved beehives, led to a murderous cult, and finished—or so they’d hoped—with a daring escape from a sacrificial altar. As a replacement for, Mary Russell and her spouse, Sherlock Holmes, have stirred the wrath and the limitless resources of persons they’ve thwarted. Now they are separated and on the run, wanted by the police, and pursued across the Continent by a ruthless enemy with powerful relations.
Unstoppable together, Russell and Holmes will have to survive this time apart, maintaining tenuous contact only by means of coded messages and cryptic notes. With Holmes’ young granddaughter in her safekeeping, Russell will have to call on instincts she didn’t know she had. But has the couple already made a fatal mistake by separating, building themselves simpler targets for the dark government agents sent to silence them?
From hidden rooms in London shops and rustic forest cabins to rickety planes over Scotland and boats on the frozen North Sea, Russell and Holmes work their way back to each additional while uncovering answers to a mystery that will take both of them to solve. A recluse with a mysterious past and a gorgeous young female doctor with a secret, a cruelly scarred flyer and an obsessed man of the cloth, Holmes’ brother, Mycroft, and an Intelligence agent who knows too much: Everyone Russell and Holmes meet could either speed their safe reunion or betray them to their enemies—in the most complex, shocking, and deeply personal case of their career.
Amazon.com Review
Laurie R. King on The God of the Hive
Basically, I have a low threshold for boredom. For a series writer this can be a treacherous thing, since any series is to some extent the same people doing things similar to what they did before. Over the years, I’ve gotten around this by alternating one series with another, and tossing in the occasional standalone.
But sometimes, I find myself writing the same characters that I did the previous year. Which is fine, I like my characters, and I can permanently find something for them to do. Even so, there is a faint air of threat in a second year with the same people, rather like having excellent friends to stay on an island refuge and having a really fantastic time and wishing they could stay longer until the morning comes when they’re scheduled to take off and the bridge is out, and your boat sinks, and a storm comes up and pretty soon they’ve been there for a month and you start to grumble and snap and marvel what the devil you ever saw in these parasites, and you eye the hatchet and the rat poison and…
Because I know that I have a low threshold for the same faces, whenever I have characters who look as if they’re going to stay on longer than I’d originally proposed, I arrange things so that we don’t have a chance to get bored with each additional. Small projects and changes of scenery help: plop the characters on a boat and send them to India, say, followed by something entirely different like San Francisco. And make the first one a spy thriller, and the second one more psychological suspense: hence The Game and Locked Rooms. Bring in a past detective writer–Dashiell Hammett–and voila! No chance to wear on one another’s nerves!
Similarly, the team of players who come back from San Francisco onto ground that’s been worked before–how many times can one write an English Country House Mystery?–needs to have something unexpected thrown at them, and at the faithful reader. You reflect you know the characters? Well, how about a long-lost son for Sherlock Holmes–and if that’s not enough, maybe give him a granddaughter as well? Then for the following year, take the ingredients of The Language of Bees and change it from first person to multiple points of view, toss with a dash of modern espionage and a sprinkling of very ancient British mythology, and pour them all out onto Westminster Bridge in the wee hours, and you have The God of the Hive.
And next year, when the third Russell & Holmes in a row comes out? I plot on–but no, let’s let that be a surprise. Let us just say, what they will do is sufficiently different from The God of the Hive that it will save them from the dangers of an leader’s rancorous imagination: last time a writer got tired of Sherlock Holmes, it led to a dive off a high waterfall.
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I know that Laurie R King says that she writes ‘Mary Russell books’ and not Sherlock Holmes books, but I reflect that that is something of a copout. The books are all sold with Holmes’ name prominently on the take in, and the use of the name brings with it some minimal assumptions on the part of the book-buying public. That, in fact, is probably why it is placed there so prominently by the publisher in the first place.
This is the umpteenth book in King’s Russell/Holmes series, and is in fact the conclusion to her previous book; this one starts just where that one left off.
The first half of this book has basically no plot whatsoever; Holmes and his son are chased to Holland, ‘Russell’ is chased into the woods to meet up with an eccentric woodman named Robert Goodman (Wordsworth’s Robin Goodfellow place on King’s payroll, or is it vice versa), and Mycroft is isolated and holed up in London. That’s it, you can now skip to page 200. The second half of the book allows the faintest tissue of a plot to renovate, just the merest whisper of one; there is a climactic meeting that any reader could have imagined as early as 50 pages into the book, and then it’s over, everybody’s pleased and whole.
I don’t mean to be snarky about this book, or its leader, but there are just so many things incorrect here. This is not a Holmes book; his character in the book, to the extent that it is noticeable at all, has nothing vital whatever in common with the Holmes known and admired by his fans. His is really an extended cameo role, one not necessary at all (at least not as S. Holmes, consulting detective). The Russell character is plastic, impossible to warm up to. One reason behind the series, per Ms King’s website, is to explore the thought of Holmes having a son, as though anyone would really care. In any event, there is a son – who has just the smallest bit of influence on the tale, and whose part could just as easily have been filled by Mrs Hudson, or for that matter a well-liked pet. The others are still more wooden, stock characters all, except for the villain who in fact is so radically underwritten one wonders why the previous terrible guy had to be killed off to make room.
The entire premise of a Holmes who must be in his 70s (the book is set in 1924) married to a girl 23 or 24 years ancient, albeit possessed of superhuman intelligence and special aptitude for just about anything, is a small off-putting, and more than a small out of character. Not to worry, though, there is precisely zero chemistry between them; still, if King simply must use Holmes as a featured character, it would have so much less cringe-inducing to not have him marry a child, but as a replacement for simply to mentor and guide her in her exploits.
I guess while I am a huge fan of most things Sherlock Holmes, including several brilliant recent novels by additional authors using Doyle’s character, I’m just not a fan of this Holmes series. If King really wants to write Mary Russell books, why does she not go yet to be and do so, invent a lot of new and unique characters to surround her with, and place poor Sherlock to the past? He doesn’t fit in here well at all. Holmes use in this series seems to me really incorrect, and, in a way, cheapens it. Maybe Russell can then go back to the States and marry Charlie Chan or Sam Spade.
Reader’s Rating: 1 / 5
Not having read that book, nor any of the others in the series, I was frustrated from the beginning. I nonstop to read hoping I would catch up, but about half way through, I finally had to give up. I couldn’t know the plot nor tell to the characters as this book continues where the previous one leaves off.
If I had read the additional books, this might have been appealing. There was a lot of suspense and excitement going on. I just couldn’t get it lacking being provided more information regarding the cast of characters and previous events.
Like another reviewer said, this is not your predictable Sherlock Holmes mystery. In this series, he has a wife and a son and a granddaughter. The wife seems to be the central character.
My only advice on this book: if you haven’t read the additional books in the series, don’t start with this one.
Reader’s Rating: 5 / 5
Let me first state that I have not read ANY of the additional books in Ms. King’s “Mary Russell and Psuedo Holmes” tales. And, point of fact, I won’t be reading any more.
As a person who accidentally wandered into this disaster, let me warn persons of you who see, “Sherlock Holmes” and reflect, “Hmm…maybe that will be excellent.” It isn’t. It isn’t Sherlock Holmes and it isn’t excellent.
Now, for persons of you who haven’t read the series, go read Karl Baumeister’s review. He pretty adequately sums up the horrors here.
I will briefly recapitulate his list:
1) It is not Sherlock Holmes.
As a replacement for, we get a 70-year ancient misogynist who has a mysterious son (of virtually no importance) and a twenty-something-young wife. Wha??? Admittedly, I haven’t read Book 1, where they meet, or the others, where they get married, but… Wha????
2)The plot is held together by chances and authorial fiat. And it is terrible despite that.
3)The additional characters are simpering, with the exception of…dum dum da dah!! Superdetective Mary Russell. Part of the charm of Watson was that we could all sit along and go, “Excellent show Holmes, how did you deduce that?”. Granted, much of Conan Doyle’s work was authorial fiat as well, but it was at least CHARMING.
4) The villain is having no effect. Why is he even here? What are his motives? His methods? His meaning?
I am going to take heavy flak for this review, but I consider it public service. If you are NOT already a fan of this series, just stay away. Perhaps the first few books are worthwhile, but this is just…terrible. If you are a fan, then snub me, because this book is probably just like all of the rest, and you will LOVE IT!
Grade: C-
Harkius
Reader’s Rating: 2 / 5
There was permanently a certain cadence for me in the Sherlock Holmes books. I “felt” it again when I first read Laurie R. King’s The Moor and loved it again in The God of the Hive. I must admit that it was the new character, Mary Russell who intrigues me the most and she certainly has added a dimension to Sherlockian tales that delight in a broader breadth and diversity, in my opinion.
In The God of the Hive, the breadth is emphasized, as there are essentially two different parts of a larger picture that is taking place. Mary Russell is on her way back home with a young girl named Estelle Adler. She is the granddaughter of Sherlock who he has never met! Fascinatingly, Mary had a hard time getting used to dealing with a child–in fact, the first thing she says is “A child is a burden.” (p. 7)
But after they had made their way out of Scotland, and the tiny plane on which they were traveling is shot down, there is no way to separate the two, as they work their way on, with the injured pilot, Javitz, who also would not place their side once he had been able to land with everybody safe, for the moment…
In the meantime, Sherlock is conscientiously trying to get his son, Damian, away from persons who had killed his wife and Estelle’s mother and left him with a bullet in his ribs, too deep for an amateur to get out–Sherlock must get him to a doctor or hospital… And if kidnapping a doctor was necessary, then Sherlock did it!
While back at home, both Sherlock and Mary Russell are wanted by the police and Sherlock’s brother Mycroft is missing!
Who and what has happened that has resulted in the entire Holmes family tree being under attack?
It all ongoing when Reverend Thomas Brothers and others had been shot at the same time Damian was. But his corpse could not be establish and it was assumed that he and his group were now searching for them…But Why?
This is an exciting whodunit that takes the separate traveling partners–Mary Russell and Estelle and Sherlock and Damian on two quick-paced adventure trips, especially when they learn that Mycroft is dead and his funeral has already been scheduled–although nobody knows who scheduled it!
Taking us into the many hiding places of London as they get closer and closer to meeting each additional, readers are rewarded with inside tracks of what is really happening. Small by small we are caught up in the family tree escapade until finally they are all back together! What a truly exciting book. Sherlock Holmes is alive and well under the pen of Laurie R. King, with the award-winning Mary Russell series.
If you haven’t had the pleasure of reading her…you really must! And I recommend this series featuring Mary Russell and Sherlock Holmes as your first! By the Way, this book is the conclusion of The Language of Bees but The God of the Hive is a fantastic solo!
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G. A. Bixler
Reader’s Rating: 5 / 5
I have read all of Laurie R. King’s Mary Russell/Sherlock Holmes series, but I chose to re-read the last entry, THE LANGUAGE OF BEES, before starting on THE GOD OF THE HIVE. I reflect this was a excellent thing, as THE GOD OF THE HIVE really is THE LANGUAGE OF BEES, PART 2. THE GOD OF THE HIVE starts right where LANGUAGE OF BEES left off, and I reflect the reader might be a bit lost lacking having first read the latter book.
That said, THE GOD OF THE HIVE is a very suspenseful read that concentrates mainly on Mary Russell and her adventures. I wanted to see more of Sherlock Holmes investigating with Mary, but he was off on his own adventures for the majority of the book. There are some wonderful characters returning from THE LANGUAGE OF BEES, as well as a delightfully squirrelly character (with tragic overtones) introduced in THE GOD OF THE HIVE. I do recommend this book, but I advise readers not familiar with this series to start with book 1, THE BEEKEEPER’S APPRENTICE and then work your way through the series.
Reader’s Rating: 4 / 5