'The residents of Mariner's Cove are changing… In the aftermath of a violent storm, a collective obsession is rapidly developing among the people of this quaint suburban neighbourhood. Random, everyday items left scattered upon the lawns, the streets, and the shoreline all seem to call out to them. There is an item for almost everyone, and each item has a certain hold over the person who finds it—a hold that soon turns into unwavering infatuation. They hide their items from each other, obsess over them, and they will do anything—anything—to protect them.
'The collective hum of bees' wings... A young boy finds himself the possessor of a strange and inexplicable power. Is the arrival of this power linked to the increasingly odd and dangerous behaviour of the residents of Mariner's Cove? Has he been granted this power in order to thwart whatever is about to happen in this small, bay side community, or is there a more sinister purpose?
'All hail the Dragon... All eyes are on him now. The residents of Mariner's Cove are watching. They move as one, like a solitary organism, and will do anything to succeed in their single-minded purpose. They will not be stopped.'
I've enjoyed each of the Ronald Malfi books that I've read over the last few years, and have put him on my list of authors whose work I'm going to be willing to check out without even reading the blurb. I've said in past reviews that he strikes me as something of a modern day Stephen King, someone who's able to create deep and disturbing stories whilst still making them very character focused, giving readers more information on these characters and their lives in a single chapter then some people do in their entire books. If I'm going to continue to compare Malfi to King then The Hive is definitely going to cement those feelings for me, as it takes a slow burn approach to its story in a brick of a book that feels comparable to something like The Stand.
The Hive begins with a storm hitting the coastal town of Mariner's Cove, one that causes some minor property damage across the small community, but doesn't result in any real horror such as injury or death; or at least no overt horror. During the storm ten-year-old Cory McBride can feel something dark and powerful pushing at the boundaries of our world. Cory has been hiding his secret abilities from his mother, abilities that allow him to hear people's thoughts and move things with his mind, and now that ability is warning him of 'the dragon' that's trying to claw its way into our world.
Following the storm things begin to change in Mariner's Cove as the people begin to act strangely. Some residents discover items in the debris of the storm that begin to hold sway over their thoughts, everyday items that become the focus of powerful compulsions. Heart surgeon Michael Danver finds a door standing upright in the water of the bay behind his home and drags it into his garage, where he becomes focused on protecting and restoring the door; even if it means hurting others to keep them away from the door. Teenage waitress Sarah Miller finds some wire coat hangers after the storm and takes them home, then more, then even more. Something is making her collect every wire hanger she can find and she has no idea why; worse still, she begins to have terrible nightmares and starts to hear other people's thoughts. Alex Braswell ignores both his family and his job as he becomes focused on the strange graffiti that has begun to appear around the neighbourhood and his desire to transform a local water tower. And there's 'Stinger', a handyman and bee keeper who has some darker desires, who wants to bring everyone together towards one dark objective.
Added onto this are strange disappearances in the neighbourhood, of teenagers going missing, there's the mysterious messages and codes appearing everywhere, the old neighbour who wants to get to Cory, and the strange entity just outside the bounds of our reality driving it all onwards. The Hive is a sprawling, complex tapestry of different characters and stories that are all converging towards one destination that makes this a long read, but one that draws you in and demands your attention.
Malfi doesn't focus on a singular protagonist with The Hive and there's no one character who gets more page time than others. Instead the story will follow a character for a few chapters before shifting to another, allowing us adequate time to get to know them, to understand their situation, and discovering the piece of the ever growing puzzle they hold before jumping to another. Despite these shifts Malfi manages to give each character a lot, and after the first chapter or two with each character I felt like I had a really excellent grasp on their motivations, their past, and the things that were driving them on. For example, we spend some time with Cory's uncle, the only character we spend time with outside of Mariner's Cove, and our introduction to him is basically a short story about his past and career as a radio DJ and host and his ups and downs with addiction that could have been the focus of it's own book. Malfi does an impressive job at juggling all of these characters and the ever expanding puzzle that it's almost frightening.
As for frights, The Hive is a horror book that I'd be hard pressed to define. There's a sense of unease throughout, of things being ever so slightly off kilter though I myself became somewhat used to this after a while, becoming less disturbed by a character obsessing over something they found after the storm and instead becoming invested in seeing the mystery revealed. There are some cosmic horror elements scattered throughout the early chapters, teasing at potentially bigger, stranger things to come. There's some gross-out horror in the form of Stinger, a man covered in weeping wounds as his body becomes a patchwork of bee stings. Much of The Hive has this strange, almost detached horror that is lurking in the background, occasionally poking its head out to remind you that this isn't just a book about the lives of these characters and the strange obsessions they have.
I've been trying to stay somewhat vague as to what happens in the later half of the book, so if you've read this review and feel that perhaps The Hive doesn't sound overtly horror enough for you, or that it doesn't seem like enough is happening in the story that's because I feel like I can only really talk about the early parts for risk of giving too much away; and The Hive is definitely a book that you're going to want to experience without knowing too much about it. I even think that I may have given too much away about it at this point.
The Hive is an imposing book. It's a huge novel, and if you're the kind of reader that's more used to reading books around 300-400 pages in length a novel that's close to 800 pages might seem like it's going to be too much of an investment for you, but I can only reassure you that it's more than worth the time and effort that you put into it, and even if you don't love the final destination you won't be able to deny you had a great time getting to know these characters. And if I can't convince you to try this out as your first Malfi book go and read one of his shorter ones, because then you'll definitely be rushing out to grab a copy of The Hive.
Ronald Malfi continues to impress me with this book, and whilst it was a long, sometimes demanding read, The Hive has in large parts helped me to start reading more and getting back into the swing of things after being ill for so long. And I can't wait to see what he does next.
The Hive is available now from Titan Books.
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