Name: Envy
ISBN: 9781402789571

Gregg Olsen

Fifteen-year-old twins Hayley and Taylor Ryan of Port Gamble, WA, known as "Empty Coffin" because of a local legend, investigate a former friend's Christmas suicide and, along the way, discover a secret from their own past.

Envy

Emelie

It's was an okay book. I liked the fact that it was based on a true story!

Sanat Gersappa

Nice book. Not sure if I like the new trend of authors writing series though.

Sam Kiszonka

** spoiler alert **
           I picked up this book because of the cover, the cover is creepy and dark, all the things I love in a book. It was not a horror. And although I was deeply depressed with the fact that the story did not match the cover at all, I kept reading.

This book at best is a who-dunnit mystery with some paranormal activity, I can not call it a thriller and there was very little suspense. The story line was okay, psychic twins looking for the person who killed their old best friend and saving their own butts along the way.

There were parts of the book that didn't make sense, such as why was Shania okay with murdering someone, what promise did she make to the twins mum? Who was Moira working for? Just a few of the questions left unanswered lol.

The main thing that irritated me through the book was: 1. Who takes a damn coffee machine into the bathroom and then leaves it close enough to the bath that it can fall in. And 2. Why didn't Teagan knock on the bathroom door and who even names a boy Teagan, is it an American thing? Teagan here in Australia is a girls name.

The Author has noted that the story line of Envy has taken some "cues" from a famous case involving the suicide of a young girl. The young girls frinds and mother had taken to cyber bullying her via MySpace after a falling out between the girls.
At the beginning and throughout you learn of a falling out between two girls and it is hinted that there was some online bullying happening.

"And finally, not far away, one person got online and started deleting the contents of a file folder marked KATELYN."

However the cyber bullying conducted by Katelyn's friend and mother is only really mentioned in the last few chapters and is overshadowed by the 'killer' coming forward. 
I believe that the cyber bullying would have been a great baseline for the story, if it had actually focused on it, and a believable reason for the death of Katelyn. Not because of an accidental electrocution from a coffee maker. :|

Jessica Nottingham

Chilling. That's the first word that pops into my head when I think about my reading of Envy. Even before I realized that this was based on a true crime, my heart beat faster just reliving the events of this book. Imagine a book that mixes a bit of horror with the paranormal we all know and love. Are you imagining? Good. That? That's this book. It's pretty amazing.

I fell in love with Hayley and Taylor instantly. Twins, sisters, confidants, and sharing one of the biggest secrets that they've ever had. I really wanted to get to know Hayley and Taylor as I followed them. Witty and intelligent, these girls are definitely spitfires! Determined to find out who killed their friend, the girls end up learning more about themselves than they every really though possible. I loved uncovering the mystery of their childhoods, and learning more about the Ryan family overall. It's not everyday you see such a tight knit family, and it makes for great atmosphere.

When I said that this book was chilling, I wasn't kidding. Gregg Olsen leads the twins on quite a chase as they struggle to uncover what truly happened to Katelyn. The mystery here is scrumptious. It's the type that will draw you in, have you probing for answers, and then throw a slap in the face at the last minute, just as you think you might have finally figured out what's going on. Oh yes. There's some twists and turns along the way. Let's just say it makes this a read while worth diving into. I can promise you that you'll be flipping pages faster than you can read.

Long story short, this is a wonderfully written mystery that is just creepy enough to make you want to keep reading. I devoured Envy and then was still hungrily looking for more to read. If you are a fan of mysteries, or of true crime novels, this is the best of both worlds. Pick up a copy of Envy and get reading.

Envy

Reviews