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After winning the popular reality talent show Searching for a Star and a subsequent record deal at the age of nineteen, Amanda Pearson was the hottest thing in the UK. But as her short-lived fame began to fade, the cracks began to show: stumbling and mumbling on stage, slurring during live TV interviews, suspicious photos of her at nightclubs with powder around her nostrils. The dream was over. Amanda Pearson would forever be a one-hit wonder.
Six years later, after cleaning her act up but failing to reestablish her career, her ex-manager informs her of an unexpected opportunity that will help alleviate her dire financial situation and potentially thrust her back into the spotlight. The proposal is simple: Six strangers alone in a mansion, under constant observation, for the duration of a week. Every day they take a pill. Five people are taking a placebo, but one person will be taking an experimental drug, which they are assured has no side adverse effects.
The other participants – a dinner lady who moonlights as a comedian, an eccentric theatre actor, a popular YouTuber, a dance choreographer, and a car salesman – all seem normal at first. However, as each day goes by, cracks begin to show in the group. Paranoia leads to violence. Who is taking the real pill, and what does it do? Amanda realises that this is no normal experiment: she is trapped, the old mansion is rigged, and there is no way out.
Can she find a way out of this nightmare with her sanity in tact?
“Fast-paced, dark and thought-provoking. Honeycomb is both an entertaining high concept thriller and a chilling exploration of fame and celebrity.”
– Alice McIlroy, author of The Glass Woman
“This high-concept thriller sounds both like a scathing critique of reality TV voyeurism and yet also the kind of series I’m surprised isn’t already on the air”
– Paste Magazine, The Most Anticipated Mystery and Thriller Books of 2024