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joxertd's review against another edition
3.0
It was good but I am a little let down by the outcome. Predictable and the other half of the mystery surrounding the girls and their mother's past was kind of a let down. I am looking forward to more in the series though.
kkecreads's review against another edition
5.0
Published: February 2, 2021
Bookouture
I received a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
Gregg Olsen is a Seattle native, lives in Olalla, Washington, with his wife, twin daughters, three chickens, Milo (an obedience school dropout cocker spaniel), and Suri (a mini dachshund so spoiled she wears a sweater).
“All it had taken was the sharp edge of a knife.”
Hayley and Taylor are front and center of another tragedy in their small town when a foreign exchange student is brutally murdered during a Halloween party. The sisters were at the party, with their best friend Beth, and they knew the girl who was killed. They also know there is more to the story and are determined to get to the bottom of it no matter what. Except for this time, they may be too close to the case, and this case may be their last.
I thoroughly enjoyed this book. The storyline was quick, fresh, and spooky. I love this little town and the residents we meet. I also really enjoy the Ryan twins are such dynamic and bold characters.
I liked that this book tied into Beneath her Skin but was also completely independent as far as the plot went. I also enjoy that there are still plot points that haven’t been answered yet, hopefully, another book.
The pacing is faster in this book than in the first book. But the story is equally fantastic, and the characters get even more in depth, and we discover more about what makes them tick.
This book starts with a serious bang and doesn’t let up until the very end. The plot is so fast-paced and intense, and it is almost impossible to put down. I found myself reading at such a rapid pace because I had to find out the truth.
There are some twists in this book that you will never see coming. The first big twist left me staring and the same sentence with my mouth agape. I am so happy I was approved for this book, and I think thriller readers will enjoy the dynamic world Gregg Olsen has brought to life.
Bookouture
I received a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
Gregg Olsen is a Seattle native, lives in Olalla, Washington, with his wife, twin daughters, three chickens, Milo (an obedience school dropout cocker spaniel), and Suri (a mini dachshund so spoiled she wears a sweater).
“All it had taken was the sharp edge of a knife.”
Hayley and Taylor are front and center of another tragedy in their small town when a foreign exchange student is brutally murdered during a Halloween party. The sisters were at the party, with their best friend Beth, and they knew the girl who was killed. They also know there is more to the story and are determined to get to the bottom of it no matter what. Except for this time, they may be too close to the case, and this case may be their last.
I thoroughly enjoyed this book. The storyline was quick, fresh, and spooky. I love this little town and the residents we meet. I also really enjoy the Ryan twins are such dynamic and bold characters.
I liked that this book tied into Beneath her Skin but was also completely independent as far as the plot went. I also enjoy that there are still plot points that haven’t been answered yet, hopefully, another book.
The pacing is faster in this book than in the first book. But the story is equally fantastic, and the characters get even more in depth, and we discover more about what makes them tick.
This book starts with a serious bang and doesn’t let up until the very end. The plot is so fast-paced and intense, and it is almost impossible to put down. I found myself reading at such a rapid pace because I had to find out the truth.
There are some twists in this book that you will never see coming. The first big twist left me staring and the same sentence with my mouth agape. I am so happy I was approved for this book, and I think thriller readers will enjoy the dynamic world Gregg Olsen has brought to life.
lpcoolgirl's review
5.0
Creepy mystery, great book, and I can't wait for the 3rd book, because that stuff with what the twins can do isn't over yet!
vesper1931's review against another edition
3.0
In this Pride and Prejudice variation, Lord Matlock is determined that Darcy will marry Isabelle Weatherby, for reasons only known to him and her father Sir Malcolm. Arrangements are made for her, Colonel Fitzwilliam and Darcy to visit Lady Catherine at Rosings.
Where is all goes wrong for the Colonel.
Several years later Darcy decides its time to marry, and meets Elizabeth resulting in quite a bit of mature content.
This is the story of Colonel Fitzwilliam as a not honorable man. With a more wicked Wickham and Caroline Bingley.
As a fan of the Colonel I didn’t like this representation but that is what JAFF is all about.
Where is all goes wrong for the Colonel.
Several years later Darcy decides its time to marry, and meets Elizabeth resulting in quite a bit of mature content.
This is the story of Colonel Fitzwilliam as a not honorable man. With a more wicked Wickham and Caroline Bingley.
As a fan of the Colonel I didn’t like this representation but that is what JAFF is all about.
queenoftheories's review against another edition
2.0
2,5*
Taký priemerný detektívny/paranormálny príbeh.
Zo začiatku sa dej rozvíjal neskutočne pomaly a nič sa dokopy nedialo, preto mi trvalo večnosť začítať sa. Až tak posledných 100 strán malo konečne nejakú akciu.
Prvý diel som čítala asi pred tromi rokmi, takže som si bohužiaľ nepamätala všetky postavy a udalosti, čo, priznávam, mohlo ovplyvniť môj čitateľský zážitok.
Autorov štýl písania mi veľmi nesadol. Potrpí si na zbytočné detaily o nepodstatných postavách, všetci musia mať meno a priezvisko, a najlepšie ešte aj rodinnú históriu. A keď vravím nepodstatné postavy, myslím naozaj nepodstatné, čo sa objavia tak v jednej scéne v celej knihe. To isté aj s pohľadmi, každú kapitolu sa menili, a niekedy boli tie scény fakt úplne zbytočné.
Dvojčatá Hayley a Taylor, ktoré by mali byť hlavné postavy, mali radšej dostať viac priestoru, pretože ich paranormálne schopnosti sú asi najzaujímavejšou časťou tejto série. A opäť sme sa sa z ich minulosti dozvedeli len absolútne minimum, a viac sa už asi ani nedozvieme, keďže to nevyzerá, že by sa autor chystal v sérii pokračovať. Autor mohol radšej vynechať zbytočné opisy a viac sa venovať jeho hlavným hrdinkám, bolo by to omnoho zaujímavejšie.
Ďalšia vec, ktorá mi na jeho písaní vadila, bolo to, ako sa snažil pôsobiť, že sa chce vcítiť do tínedžerov, ale skôr len presadzoval svoje názory a kritizoval celú "tínedžersku kultúru", čo sú sociálne siete, telefóny, technológia, a tak podobne. #okboomer
K poriadne nerozvinutej paranormálnej a detektívnej dejovej linke ešte pridajme aj nejakú tú nepotrebnú tínedžersku drámu, a máme postarané o riadny bordel. Keď sa konečne odhalilo, kto je vrah, vlastne mi to bolo aj jedno, lebo to ani nebolo nejak dobre vystupňované.
Chcela som dať tri hviezdčky, ale ako tak píšem túto recenziu, uvedomujem si, koľko mi toho vlastne vadilo, a dávam dve a pol. Nápad je sľúbný, ale chcelo by to lepšie prevedenie.
Taký priemerný detektívny/paranormálny príbeh.
Zo začiatku sa dej rozvíjal neskutočne pomaly a nič sa dokopy nedialo, preto mi trvalo večnosť začítať sa. Až tak posledných 100 strán malo konečne nejakú akciu.
Prvý diel som čítala asi pred tromi rokmi, takže som si bohužiaľ nepamätala všetky postavy a udalosti, čo, priznávam, mohlo ovplyvniť môj čitateľský zážitok.
Autorov štýl písania mi veľmi nesadol. Potrpí si na zbytočné detaily o nepodstatných postavách, všetci musia mať meno a priezvisko, a najlepšie ešte aj rodinnú históriu. A keď vravím nepodstatné postavy, myslím naozaj nepodstatné, čo sa objavia tak v jednej scéne v celej knihe. To isté aj s pohľadmi, každú kapitolu sa menili, a niekedy boli tie scény fakt úplne zbytočné.
Dvojčatá Hayley a Taylor, ktoré by mali byť hlavné postavy, mali radšej dostať viac priestoru, pretože ich paranormálne schopnosti sú asi najzaujímavejšou časťou tejto série. A opäť sme sa sa z ich minulosti dozvedeli len absolútne minimum, a viac sa už asi ani nedozvieme, keďže to nevyzerá, že by sa autor chystal v sérii pokračovať. Autor mohol radšej vynechať zbytočné opisy a viac sa venovať jeho hlavným hrdinkám, bolo by to omnoho zaujímavejšie.
Ďalšia vec, ktorá mi na jeho písaní vadila, bolo to, ako sa snažil pôsobiť, že sa chce vcítiť do tínedžerov, ale skôr len presadzoval svoje názory a kritizoval celú "tínedžersku kultúru", čo sú sociálne siete, telefóny, technológia, a tak podobne. #okboomer
K poriadne nerozvinutej paranormálnej a detektívnej dejovej linke ešte pridajme aj nejakú tú nepotrebnú tínedžersku drámu, a máme postarané o riadny bordel. Keď sa konečne odhalilo, kto je vrah, vlastne mi to bolo aj jedno, lebo to ani nebolo nejak dobre vystupňované.
Chcela som dať tri hviezdčky, ale ako tak píšem túto recenziu, uvedomujem si, koľko mi toho vlastne vadilo, a dávam dve a pol. Nápad je sľúbný, ale chcelo by to lepšie prevedenie.
rebeccajane's review against another edition
4.0
This was a really interesting book, but sometimes I felt like it culd go without the twin plotline.
bethkemp's review
4.0
Fab YA supernaturally-enhanced crime thriller
I greatly enjoyed Envy, the first in the Empty Coffin series, and found this to be a brilliant follow up. If you haven't read the first one, you may want to check my review of that one instead. I won't have spoilers for Betrayal here, but can't guarantee to avoid them for Envy.
Again, the novel opens with a crime: this time, the brutal stabbing of an exchange student at a Halloween party. We see all the details except the killer's identity, and are then party to the investigation carried out by the Ryan twins, Hayley and Taylor, who share secret psychic/intuitive skills. The writing is detached and very cinematic in feel, as it's descriptive and moves seamlessly between scenes and different characters' perspectives. There are traces of an omniscient narrator, commenting on the personalities of the characters, but this feels interesting and relevant rather than intrusive.
I particularly appreciated the additional insights into the twins' abilities and their history. In Envy, we had learnt about the weird feelings the girls have, and the information they can get access to. We also learnt (along with them) that there were others who knew about their gifts, and this novel develops their backstory further. This information is drip-fed in a natural way through the story and provides an interesting sub-plot which I hope will be taken further with future instalments in the series.
As well as learning more about the supernatural angle, this novel also gives us more insight into the twins' characters, their relationship and other characters in the town of Port Gamble, aka Empty Coffin. I was happy to see more of the girls' friend Beth Lee, and to gain more insight into the twins' family. It's great to read a series book that feels like revisiting a set of friends, and this definitely achieves that for me.
This is still a crime thriller first and foremost and the plotting doesn't disappoint. There are plenty of red herrings and clues to pick through and it wasn't clear to me exactly what had happened and why until the big reveal. As with Envy, I also appreciated the 'true crime' info at the end (some aspects of the story came from the Amanda Knox case).
Overall, this is another hit for YA crime readers, and for those who enjoy stories with a supernatural flavour.
I greatly enjoyed Envy, the first in the Empty Coffin series, and found this to be a brilliant follow up. If you haven't read the first one, you may want to check my review of that one instead. I won't have spoilers for Betrayal here, but can't guarantee to avoid them for Envy.
Again, the novel opens with a crime: this time, the brutal stabbing of an exchange student at a Halloween party. We see all the details except the killer's identity, and are then party to the investigation carried out by the Ryan twins, Hayley and Taylor, who share secret psychic/intuitive skills. The writing is detached and very cinematic in feel, as it's descriptive and moves seamlessly between scenes and different characters' perspectives. There are traces of an omniscient narrator, commenting on the personalities of the characters, but this feels interesting and relevant rather than intrusive.
I particularly appreciated the additional insights into the twins' abilities and their history. In Envy, we had learnt about the weird feelings the girls have, and the information they can get access to. We also learnt (along with them) that there were others who knew about their gifts, and this novel develops their backstory further. This information is drip-fed in a natural way through the story and provides an interesting sub-plot which I hope will be taken further with future instalments in the series.
As well as learning more about the supernatural angle, this novel also gives us more insight into the twins' characters, their relationship and other characters in the town of Port Gamble, aka Empty Coffin. I was happy to see more of the girls' friend Beth Lee, and to gain more insight into the twins' family. It's great to read a series book that feels like revisiting a set of friends, and this definitely achieves that for me.
This is still a crime thriller first and foremost and the plotting doesn't disappoint. There are plenty of red herrings and clues to pick through and it wasn't clear to me exactly what had happened and why until the big reveal. As with Envy, I also appreciated the 'true crime' info at the end (some aspects of the story came from the Amanda Knox case).
Overall, this is another hit for YA crime readers, and for those who enjoy stories with a supernatural flavour.
imzadirose's review
3.0
These books are weird for me. The characters, except Hayley & Taylor, are completely annoying. More so in this one than the first, but still tons of annoying unlikable characters in both. This one didn't seem as much about HayTay as the 1st one did, there was so much else going on. Still, it kept my interest. I like Hayley and Taylor and I like learning about them, the rest of the people I could do without. If there's another one, I really hope that there's less annoying people.
alyce6d980's review
3.0
http://everythingalyce.blogspot.co.uk/2014/09/betrayal-empty-coffin-2-by-gregg-olsen.html
'Betrayal' is the second novel in the Empty Coffin Series by Gregg Olsen. If you haven't read 'Envy' I would definitely recommend reading that one before this one; they aren't exactly intrinsically linked but there are a few referrals back to characters and developments in the first book that are sort of explained but are better to experience.
'Betrayal' focuses on the story of a English student, Olivia Grant, in the sleepy town of Port Gamble (well, ex-sleepy town). Olivia gets murdered at a Halloween party, police investigation ensues. So far, so predictable. However, here enter the characters who make 'Betrayal' a bit more than just a teenage murder mystery. Hayley and Taylor Ryan, the twin protagonists who we follow throughout the story, have some psychic powers (I don't know if you'd describe them as psychic, they're premonitions and seeing images and scenes from the past so I guess it could be loosely described as that?) and they attempt to solve the crime that is developing in their town.
If you've read 'Envy', you'll know that it sounds exactly the same as the first book, but that's where you're wrong. Much of this book, rather than focusing on the murder of Olivia Grant (which the twins don't actually end up solving), focuses on the twins discovering more about their past: finding out that the bus crash was caused on purpose, discovering more about their mother and why she keeps secrets from them. Because most of it is focused on the twins personal life, the murder-solving part of the novel does seem to drag on for longer than necessary, meaning you're left with a constant yearning for closure that gets neglected throughout.
Furthermore, the viewpoint jumps all over the place (which was interesting in 'Envy' but just seems overdone and irritating in 'Betrayal') so at points it was just hard to follow who we were with, where and why. I would describe myself as a fast reader but hot damn I struggled to carry on at points in this novel.
As well as the viewpoint jumping all over the place, so did the time frame and date that we were working with. At one point the twins informed us that the murder suspects, Drew Marcello and his girlfriend Brianna Connors, had gone on the run and had been missing for days, then multiple chapters later we see Drew and Brianna getting a car and setting off. Similarly, chapter 29 jumped from a Tuesday night to a Saturday morning in the space of a paragraph. I understand that not all time that passes in the novel can be included, but normally large jumps of time are the new chapters so you have the understanding that there is a break and then a recommencement.
Despite the negatives of the novel (which also include getting the twins confused by referring to Hayley's visions as Taylor's multiple times) there were also some positives. An old wives tale gives us the origination of the series title which is interesting and quirky. Putting segments from the killers viewpoint throughout keeps up the enigma and makes you guess and second guess who you think the killer can really be. There are some unexpected character deaths that leave you feeling genuinely shocked and a little bit betrayed.
Overall, the murder plot in the novel is very good and it's an enjoyable read. About thirty pages before the end you can completely work out what happened, but it's still good to read the reveal and get your suspicions confirmed, with the story of Olivia Grant wrapping up nicely. However, I sincerely hope Gregg Olsen is planning on writing another Empty Coffin novel ('Betrayal' was released two years ago and I can't find any confirmation of a follow up anywhere) because not all of the questions are completely answered. We find out an awful lot more about the bus crash that the girls were involved in at five years old, but we don't find out why it was caused. It's easy to assume it was because of the girls talents, but it would be good to find out exactly how and why the Text Creeper attempted to have them killed. By the end of the novel, we still don't even know Text Creepers name, so there is a lot to merit a follow up.
'Betrayal' is the second novel in the Empty Coffin Series by Gregg Olsen. If you haven't read 'Envy' I would definitely recommend reading that one before this one; they aren't exactly intrinsically linked but there are a few referrals back to characters and developments in the first book that are sort of explained but are better to experience.
'Betrayal' focuses on the story of a English student, Olivia Grant, in the sleepy town of Port Gamble (well, ex-sleepy town). Olivia gets murdered at a Halloween party, police investigation ensues. So far, so predictable. However, here enter the characters who make 'Betrayal' a bit more than just a teenage murder mystery. Hayley and Taylor Ryan, the twin protagonists who we follow throughout the story, have some psychic powers (I don't know if you'd describe them as psychic, they're premonitions and seeing images and scenes from the past so I guess it could be loosely described as that?) and they attempt to solve the crime that is developing in their town.
If you've read 'Envy', you'll know that it sounds exactly the same as the first book, but that's where you're wrong. Much of this book, rather than focusing on the murder of Olivia Grant (which the twins don't actually end up solving), focuses on the twins discovering more about their past: finding out that the bus crash was caused on purpose, discovering more about their mother and why she keeps secrets from them. Because most of it is focused on the twins personal life, the murder-solving part of the novel does seem to drag on for longer than necessary, meaning you're left with a constant yearning for closure that gets neglected throughout.
Furthermore, the viewpoint jumps all over the place (which was interesting in 'Envy' but just seems overdone and irritating in 'Betrayal') so at points it was just hard to follow who we were with, where and why. I would describe myself as a fast reader but hot damn I struggled to carry on at points in this novel.
As well as the viewpoint jumping all over the place, so did the time frame and date that we were working with. At one point the twins informed us that the murder suspects, Drew Marcello and his girlfriend Brianna Connors, had gone on the run and had been missing for days, then multiple chapters later we see Drew and Brianna getting a car and setting off. Similarly, chapter 29 jumped from a Tuesday night to a Saturday morning in the space of a paragraph. I understand that not all time that passes in the novel can be included, but normally large jumps of time are the new chapters so you have the understanding that there is a break and then a recommencement.
Despite the negatives of the novel (which also include getting the twins confused by referring to Hayley's visions as Taylor's multiple times) there were also some positives. An old wives tale gives us the origination of the series title which is interesting and quirky. Putting segments from the killers viewpoint throughout keeps up the enigma and makes you guess and second guess who you think the killer can really be. There are some unexpected character deaths that leave you feeling genuinely shocked and a little bit betrayed.
Overall, the murder plot in the novel is very good and it's an enjoyable read. About thirty pages before the end you can completely work out what happened, but it's still good to read the reveal and get your suspicions confirmed, with the story of Olivia Grant wrapping up nicely. However, I sincerely hope Gregg Olsen is planning on writing another Empty Coffin novel ('Betrayal' was released two years ago and I can't find any confirmation of a follow up anywhere) because not all of the questions are completely answered. We find out an awful lot more about the bus crash that the girls were involved in at five years old, but we don't find out why it was caused. It's easy to assume it was because of the girls talents, but it would be good to find out exactly how and why the Text Creeper attempted to have them killed. By the end of the novel, we still don't even know Text Creepers name, so there is a lot to merit a follow up.
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