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Product Description
Review
“The great marvel of King’s series is that she’s managed to preserve the integrity of Holmes’s character and yet somehow conjure up a woman astute, edgy, and compelling enough to be the partner of his mind as well as his heart.” —Washington Post Book World
“King enriches the Sherlockian legacy.”—Boston Globe
"The God of the Hive is mesmerizing—another wonderful novel etched by the hand of a master storyteller. No reader who opens this one will be disappointed." —Michael Connelly, author of The Scarecrow
"A dazzling continuation of the adventures of the world’s most famous beekeeper, and his equally daunting "apprentice," The God of the Hive will astonish and delight even the most seasoned of Holmes’ devotees." —Katherine Neville, The Fire
"The Mary Russell series is the most sustained feat of imagination in mystery fiction today, and this is the best installment yet." —Lee Child, author of Gone Tomorrow
"Without a doubt, King is the master of Sherlockian authors." —Gayle Lynds, author of The Book of Spies
"All it takes is the very first page of the newest installment in Laurie R. King’s brilliant series for and you’re gone...disappearing into an artfully crafted, creative and craft world...This is historical suspense at its best, rich with atmosphere, mystery, psychological insight and complex, fascinating characters. But it’s not just the plot of Russell’s world, or how she matches wits with Holmes that makes King’s books such standouts, it’s how she brings heart and soul to great detective novels." —M.J Rose, author of The Hypnotist
Product Description
In Laurie R. King’s latest Mary Russell–Sherlock Holmes mystery, the acclaimed New York Times bestselling author delivers a thriller of ingenious surprises and unrelenting suspense—as the famous husband and wife sleuths are pursued by a killer immune from the sting of justice.
It began as a problem in one of Holmes’ beloved beehives, led to a murderous cult, and ended—or so they’d hoped—with a daring escape from a sacrificial altar. Instead, Mary Russell and her husband, Sherlock Holmes, have stirred the wrath and the limitless resources of those 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 connections.
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, making themselves easier targets for the shadowy 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 other while uncovering answers to a mystery that will take both of them to solve. A hermit with a mysterious past and a beautiful 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.
It began as a problem in one of Holmes’ beloved beehives, led to a murderous cult, and ended—or so they’d hoped—with a daring escape from a sacrificial altar. Instead, Mary Russell and her husband, Sherlock Holmes, have stirred the wrath and the limitless resources of those 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 connections.
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, making themselves easier targets for the shadowy 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 other while uncovering answers to a mystery that will take both of them to solve. A hermit with a mysterious past and a beautiful 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.
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Most helpful customer reviews
4.0 out of 5 stars
More Sherlock, Please!,
By
This review is from: The God of the Hive: A novel of suspense featuring Mary Russell and Sherlock Holmes (Hardcover)
There's lots of action - flying, running, hiding, sneaking - and Mycroft is around, as well as the previously (until the book before) unknown son of Holmes. And a plot that has an wicked crazy man at its heart. Overall it's a great read for Mary Russell fans, since she's in nearly every scene. But the scenes with Sherlock himself are sparse, and that's unfortunate because King has created a wonderful satisfying character - the aging super-sleuth beginning to show his emotions to his (newly found) family. I can only hope that the next installment will have many scenes of Sherlock at home with Mary, ruminating and solving crimes with a few telegrams and careful culling of newspaper personal ads. After all, Sherlock is in his 70s (at least) in these books, and how much time is left for romantic scenes with Mary?
I wonder if some well-meaning but misguided editor told King that she needed to produce younger characters and add more action to her books? If she's listening to that editor - don't do it anymore. Christie did well with an aging Miss Marple and an aging Poirot - and Sherlock is more interesting than any young son could be. If you need more characters, bring back Peter Wimsey as a buddy. (He made a small appearance in one of the earliest King books, and I was thrilled by the possibility that he might be a recurring character.)
4.0 out of 5 stars
Worth the Wait,
By
This review is from: The God of the Hive: A novel of suspense featuring Mary Russell and Sherlock Holmes (Hardcover)
I was disappointed in the previous book (the first time I've felt a bit cheated by this author) because it was only the first part of a story that is finally completed in this book. The writing, as always, is strong, compelling and difficult to put down. The characters are engaging -- particularly those new characters who come to the heroine's aid. I loved the fellow who found them after the plane wreck in the forest, but I can't say more without giving too much away. It's a rollercoaster ride with, finally, a satisfactory conclusion.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta) Amazon.com:
4.0 out of 5 stars (82 customer reviews) 77 of 80 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A beautifully told tale of myth, mystery and suspense,
By Sheila L. Beaumont - Published on Amazon.com
This review is from: The God of the Hive: A novel of suspense featuring Mary Russell and Sherlock Holmes (Hardcover)
Pre-release customer review from the Amazon Vine™ Program
This is a most satisfying conclusion to the story begun in "The Language of Bees." Ms. King masterfully refreshes the reader's memory of the dark events in that novel as she traces the separate, circuitous journeys of Sherlock Holmes and Mary Russell back to London, and we also find out what Mycroft and assorted villains are up to. It's hard to say much about the events in this book without giving too much away, but there's plenty of suspense, mystery, action and adventure, and the quality of the prose and the vivid portrayal of the characters are up to the author's usual high standards.
The highlight of this book for me was an odd, delightful new character, a man who comes to the rescue of Russell, her pilot, and Holmes' young granddaughter, Estelle, after their plane crash-lands in the forest. He introduces himself as Robert Goodman, and Russell can't help thinking of him as Robin Goodfellow, or "The Green Man," which was the author's original working title for this book. Ms. King is also reviving her theme of the holy fool, which she used so effectively earlier in her Kate Martinelli mystery "To Play the Fool." As exciting and well-plotted as the thrilling story of Mycroft, Holmes and Russell vs. the villains is, I saw this book primarily as a powerful mythic tale, with the fey Robert Goodman at the center of it. It's certainly one of the very best books in the series. Be sure to read "The Language of Bees" before you start this one. And if you haven't read the earlier installments in the Russell-Holmes series, start with "The Beekeeper's Apprentice." It's a great series for anyone who enjoys well-written mystery and suspense with intelligent, likable characters, and it's a must-read for Sherlock Holmes aficionados. 25 of 26 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
A Delightful Escape,
By Karie Hoskins "karieh" - Published on Amazon.com
This review is from: The God of the Hive: A novel of suspense featuring Mary Russell and Sherlock Holmes (Hardcover)
Pre-release customer review from the Amazon Vine™ Program
I so didn't want to finish reading this book. I can't explain exactly what it is about Laurie King's books...but even though I dropped out of reading the "mystery/thriller" genre a LONG time ago - I love her books. They have all the wonderful escapism and none of the cheesiness that ruins most "whodunits" for me.
To sink back into the world of Sherlock Holmes...of bolt holes, Irregulars, disguises and detecting far before the world of DNA & CSI...is a delight. And with Mary Russell as our guide - the experience is all the more delightful. She has all of the intelligence, common sense and perception of Holmes - with the very needed addition of compassion and a sharp wit. "The business end of a gun is remarkably distracting. It dominates the world." "The God of the Hive" brings the reader into the world of Holmes's brother Mycroft, usually a background character. The reader is also introduced to newly revealed family members for Holmes and a fascinating character Russell encounters under desperate circumstances. "He stood, torn between the choices I had given him. It might be nothing. A charabanc of travelers benighted and looking for help. A band of Wordsworth fanatics looking for a host of golden daffodils by moonlight. Even some of Mycroft's men coming to our assistance - the last made for a lovely thought. But until I knew for certain, we had to treat this as an invasion, and I hated the thought that this damaged man's generosity of spirit had brought an abrupt loss of his hard-won peace." Although the story is at the forefront almost all of the time...there seems to be a thread of social commentary running through the events that was not unwelcome. "Were five armed men another symptom of unrest? Or was this simply what modern life would be, a place where a homicidal charlatan is embraced as wise, where children can be shot out of the sky, where a Good Samaritan can be driven from his home by armed intruders?" This takes place in 1924...but during a time of great social change when a great schism existed between those eager for a brighter future and those who wanted to maintain their death grip on the past. As described by Mycroft, "...as you no doubt heard even in foreign parts, there was consternation and loud doom-saying on all sides: The Socialists were expected to bring the end of the monarchy, the establishment of rubles as the coin of the realm, a destruction of marriage and family, and dangerously intimate political and economic ties with the Bolsheviks. Eight months later, the worst of the country's fears have yet to be realized, and MacDonald has surprised everyone by being less of a firebrand than the village greengrocer." Again, the story is the thing in "The God of the Hives" - and it is a wonderful one. I enjoyed this book immensely and my only regret is that I finished it too quickly and now must wait again for another wonderful story of Mary Russell and Sherlock Holmes. 27 of 29 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
"We had little more than twelve hours to assemble a foolproof plan to save a life, and an empire.",
By K. M. "literary devotee" - Published on Amazon.com
This review is from: The God of the Hive: A novel of suspense featuring Mary Russell and Sherlock Holmes (Hardcover)
Pre-release customer review from the Amazon Vine™ Program
The God of the Hive: A novel of suspense featuring Mary Russell and Sherlock Holmes takes up exactly where Laurie R. King's last Russell/Holmes novel, The Language of Bees (Mary Russell Novels), left off. On the run from the law, Sherlock Holmes, with a wounded young man, takes off in one direction, and over open water, while Mary Russell climbs hills on a different heading, fearing she is being followed by the same madman they had all just confronted. Mary is not alone as she tries to get back to the small airplane that brought her to the Orkney islands; she is carrying three-and-a-half-year-old Estelle. Holmes, after snatching up a doctor to treat Damian, his charge and more to him than just that, decides to hole up in Amsterdam. Mary, meanwhile, aims to get back to London, but she, Estelle, and the plane's pilot are forced to take a detour, setting them on a collision course (pun intended) with a nearly elfin hermit/"fool" who goes by the moniker Robert Goodman.
For much of THE GOD OF THE HIVE, Holmes and Russell are separated and communicate very sparingly. All the while, Mycroft Holmes is also being threatened. He's kidnapped by a shadowy person who apparently is the superior of the maniac from whom Damian and Estelle had been rescued. This new villain is, like Mycroft, part of British intelligence. Unlike Mycroft, he considers his version of national security as rationale for blackmail and murder. And that leads to what Mary mournfully decides is a world that's "a less secure, less blessedly interesting place" and "an age of the death of gods." Ultimately, after much chasing around and playing hide and seek, most of the leading characters converge for a dramatic, tense showdown. King writes assured, fast-paced chapters that contain some easily-guessed plot points but as many or more twists. Some brief observations: -- Although Holmes and Russell togetherness -- with their unsentimental couples communication featuring tartness, perceptiveness, and delightful, quick wit -- is more enjoyable reading, I was not bored following their individual adventures. -- Having so much of Mycroft made me miss Dr. Watson less. -- The thinly-drawn antagonist could have received more attention. -- And as for Goodman, he reminded me somewhat of Erasmus, an earlier title character of King's from the Kate Martinelli police mystery, To Play the Fool. And who precisely is the title character of THE GOD OF THE HIVE? Ah. Burn through this latest visit with Mary Russell and her more famous husband, Sherlock Holmes, and find out! 4.5 stars. |
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