Emma (SCR)'s Review of Beneath Her Skin (Empty Coffin, #1)

by Gregg Olsen

The girl was slumped over the edge of the old clawfoot tub, her eyes tiny shards of broken glass, her expression void of anything. Her long, wet hair dripped onto the floor. She was dead.

When the body of troubled teen Katelyn Berkley is found dead in her bathtub, the close-knit community of Port Gamble, Washington is shaken to its core. All signs point to a suicide but what makes her death even more tragic is that Katelyn survived a horrific bus crash ten years ago, which took the lives of several young girls and has scarred the town ever since.

Hayley and Taylor Ryan are identical twins who grew up with Katelyn and have spent the last 10 years getting over the crash. Ever since that fateful night the twins have shared a secret: they can hear the dead. And it soon becomes clear that Katelyn is communicating with them. Whilst the town believes it was a tragic accident, something much darker lies behind Katelyn’s death.

And all the time, someone is watching Port Gamble, someone who doesn’t want old secrets to surface…

From the #1 New York Times bestselling author comes a compulsive thriller about two girls’ search to uncover the truth behind their friend’s death, with a touch of supernatural help. Perfect for fans of Melinda Leigh, Robert Dugoni and James Patterson.

This book was originally published as ENVY. This new edition has been re-edited since its publication in 2011. The girl was slumped over the edge of the old clawfoot tub, her eyes tiny shards of broken glass, her expression void of anything. Her long, wet hair dripped onto the floor. She was dead.

When the body of troubled teen Katelyn Berkley is found dead in her bathtub, the close-knit community of Port Gamble, Washington is shaken to its core. All signs point to a suicide but what makes her death even more tragic is that Katelyn survived a horrific bus crash ten years ago, which took the lives of several young girls and has scarred the town ever since.

Hayley and Taylor Ryan are identical twins who grew up with Katelyn and have spent the last 10 years getting over the crash. Ever since that fateful night the twins have shared a secret: they can hear the dead. And it soon becomes clear that Katelyn is communicating with them. Whilst the town believes it was a tragic accident, something much darker lies behind Katelyn’s death.

And all the time, someone is watching Port Gamble, someone who doesn’t want old secrets to surface…

From the #1 New York Times bestselling author comes a compulsive thriller about two girls’ search to uncover the truth behind their friend’s death, with a touch of supernatural help. Perfect for fans of Melinda Leigh, Robert Dugoni and James Patterson.

This book was originally published as ENVY. This new edition has been re-edited since its publication in 2011

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.

Beneath Her Skin (Empty Coffin, #1)

by Gregg Olsen

Reviewed by Emma (SCR) on Feb 5, 2021

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