The Hive - Barry Lyga, Morgan Baden

Cassie, whose father, now deceased, was a world famous hacker and whose mother is a bit of a techno-phobe  find herself landing squarely in the clutches of The Hive, a social media driven, government sanctioned vigilantee committee after making a very unfunny joke to fit in with the cool\mean girls at her new school.

In an attempt to deal with and end cyber bullying, the government has enlisted the help of the top social media platforms to help create BLINQ.  Using this social media platform, instances of bullying can be dealt with immediately with up and down (condemn) voting that can result in punishment by The Hive,  a flash mob to mete out justice.  Offend the wrong person and you could well be flogged in the public square.

Cassie makes the mistake of offending the family of the current president and finds herself reaching BEYOND  the highest level of condemnation. 

On the run and in fear for her life, she finds a band of resistance hackers that help her figure out how it all went so very wrong.

Make an unpopular comment, offend the wrong person and all of your personal information will be shared to the internet.  Full of modern hashtagging, nogs to social media  and the dangers of taking things viral; the book is very fast paced.

Government conspiracy, the dark side of social media, and mob mentality all play a role in the futuresque cautionary tale.


Thank you to NetGalley for the advanced copy in return for my honest review.