Envy (Empty Coffin, #1)

by Gregg Olsen

This title is suitable for children aged 12 and up. This new 'Young Adult fiction' series stars Hayley and Taylor Ryan, crime solving (as long as mum doesn't know), butt-kicking (when they have to) and otherwise normal 15 year-old twin girls. Each novel takes place in Port Gamble, Washington, otherwise known as 'Empty Coffin', so dubbed thanks to an old town legend. Each novel in the series is based on a ripped-from-the-headlines news story with fictionalised characters, real crime-solving techniques and a bit of twin 'senses' thrown in. Told in a non-linear narrative that flashes back and forth in time and bit-by-bit revealing a secret past that even Hayley and Taylor don't know about, each novel tells a satisfying true crime inspired tale as well as peeling back another layer of the overall series arc for the reader at the same time that the main characters discover it. A dedicated series website will include exciting bonus extras. "Envy", the debut book, centres around a teen bullying situation that ends in death. But is it an accident, or murder? The novel will include a sneak peek at the sequel, as well as a smartphone Tag code on the back cover.

• ISBN10: 1402789572
• ISBN13: 9781402789571
• Publish Date: 23 August 2011 (first published 1 January 2011)
• Publish Status: Out of Print
• Out of Print: 9 January 2015
• Publish Country: US
• Publisher: Sterling Juvenile
• Imprint: Splinter
• Format: Hardcover
• Pages: 352
• Language: English

Reviews

[Emma (SCR)]

This review was originally posted on Star Crossed Reviews I received this book for free from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review. Thank you to Bookouture for my copy of this book via netgalley and for letting me take part in this double tour. I'm a big fan of Gregg's work so I was excited to read this series.

This book has a different take on a crime novel. Most crime books follow the detective and their investigations this book focused more on the Ryan twins Hayley and Taylor. I really liked the twins. I think they have good hearts and really want to help people. I think their gifts are cool and I would definitely love to see more of them.

There was a lot of mystery in the case od Katelyn Berkley. I found it was really hard to guess what has happened to the poor girl. As the story unravelled I just felt like this was such a sad story and while this is fiction it was based on real-life events. The story is full of blind alleys and wrong turns. Gregg kept me gripped throughout.

I would class this as a YA thriller so there is a lot of teenage angst and high school drama. I personally don't mind that. I read a lot of YA anyway but some might find this irritating. This was a republication of a book written 10 years ago. there was no indication of when this book was set. If you didn't know when it was originally published then some elements seem quite outdated in terms of technology. This could be easily fixed by adding in some context around the time period or adding the year at the beginning.