3.5 Stars

What a scarily believable future these authors have created for us. A world where any comments on social media platforms can be deemed offensive and it's writer subject to Hive justice. The common people can deliver the punishments to the offender when The Hive programme has determined that it is warranted. There are a number of criminal levels and the Hive punishment can vary from being beaten up through to being killed on sight. The concept was born from the explosion of offensive material and comments being published online and the increasing level of hate crimes that followed.

To be honest I found Cassie to be a bit of an egocentric brat and therefore very unlikeable. Thankfully the story became more about the political conspiracies underpinning this form of social justice. That, and I decidedly tuned her out to focus on the other parts of the story. I thought the romance aspect was completely unnecessary. I mean the girl is literally running for her life. I hardly think someone's dreamy eyes are a factor for consideration under these trying circumstances. I liked the snippets from her mother's point of view and the exploration of allowing people to learn from their mistakes.

A really intriguing concept that was part of quite a fascinating world. It would have been great to have the dystopic elements slightly more developed and be the focus of the story as I think this was definitely the more engaging aspect of the novel. ( )

wow. Wow. WOw. WOWOWOOOW I stayed up realllllly late to finish this one. I couldn’t stop reading. None stop anxiety through the entire story, wondering what was going to happen. The story kept reminding me of The Purge. Get rid of people because of their social media posts. Could this happen some day? With all the negativity and bullying online lately, eventually someone or something all come along and begin to mete out justice. Scary to think this is a possible path society is going down right now. Definitely one for a win! Cassie is scrappy and smart, smarter than people give her credit for. Would love a follow up to see what happens next for her. ( )

What if your social media could dispense justice? That is the premise for this ya dystopia, where everyone age 13 and over has to carry a smart phone and everyone is connected to an app called Blinq, which basically monitors your online behavior. You can be lauded or punished based on your ratings, the Hive, which is everyone on the app, can coelesce and deliver justice, no judge or jury involved. Supposedly it was developed to protect people from the kind of shaming and personal destruction that happens through social media apps everyday in our world.

Barry Lyga (I Hunt Killers fame) and his wife Megan, have written a very on-point novel about social media's failings and government's use of social media, very reminiscent of the last presidency.

The heroine, Cassie, blithely sends out a criticism of the President in the form of a dis of his grandchild. She is egged on by a group of mean girls that she has become involved with at her new school. When it starts trending negative in a big way, they of course, disassociate themselves from her, and she is forced to flee for her life.

Can she survive thousands of people looking to kill her? Read it and see.

Reminds me of Cory Doctorow's Little Brother and M.T.Anderson's Feed, a little. ( )

Well done and a decent read but formulaic and unmemorable. ( )

I struggled with my rating on this one. I would say a good 75% of this book is a solid 4 but there are aspects that brought it down to a 3.5 in the end. The beginning introduces us to Cassie who is dealing with the loss of her well known hacker father. Her and her mother have moved to a new apartment and she's starting a new school. The downfall was Cassie's attitude in the beginning. She is a very angry soul and though I can grasp this is due to her loss it still took a lot away from connecting with her from the start. She came off aggressively angry to the point of angsty teenager. The insta crush connection she makes with the guys was a downside as well. Thankfully though this is a rare appearance as the story progresses.

For readers who don't know much about code this can be a very slow read with the tech talk, innuendos and geeky code jokes. I personally enjoyed a lot of them and there is decent enough explanation behind it all. Like I said though, non-geekers won't enjoy this aspect. There is a LOT of tech talk in the book. My inner nerd is mightily pleased with someone taking the world of coding and wrapping it up into an action packed book though.

The action is the plus side. The HUGE plus side to this novel. Her rush to stay alive and avoid the HIVE mob had me utterly sucked in. The book goes between Cassie's POV and her mother's (Rachel). Having the POV of a mother who will stop at nothing to keep her daughter safe and dealing with the separation during a time of crisis was felt through the pages. I was pissed off and lost right along with the characters. More importantly the unjustified actions/threats of the manipulators and the mob throughout this book really make you take a look at our world today regarding cyber bullying, political corruptness and following the crowd. Could you imagine a world where the citizens can decide your punishment and deal it to you based on your transgression level? Highschoolers, college kids, unknown neighbors coming for you in a rowdy mob to deliver the hand of justice at your doorstep. ( )