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A review by samlo28
Betrayal by Gregg Olsen
3.0
Betrayal is the second book in the Empty Coffin series and it was better than Envy in almost every way.
The characters, which were mostly the same as the first book, were so much more relatable. Their relationships seemed more believable and their insecurities helped them seem like real people. Plus, we finally got to learn more about the history of Port Gamble through the bus accident so there was less mystery surrounding the residents. That being said, every characters' use of social media seemed stupid. There were tweets about a dead girl ruining a party while asking for a retweet in the same post and a distasteful trending hashtag. I understand that social media is huge with 16-18 year olds, but I have never in my life read something so ridiculous posted by children (and that's saying something). Honestly, this shouldn't have been a big deal, but the author has twins around the same age as Haley and Taylor so this could have been something that was quickly fact-checked.
As for the mystery itself, it wasn't necessarily more complex than the mystery in the first book, but it was more intriguing. Although I was able to guess who committed the crime pretty quickly, there was a lot of mystery surrounding the motive. I also appreciated how the police seemed more present throughout this book. In the first novel it seemed like the police were barely mentioned because Haley and Taylor were investigating, but in this one the police finally had a presence.
After finishing the first novel, I didn't feel satisfied with the ending. It seemed like there was too much that remained unexplained, but after finishing this novel, I felt much more satisfied. A lot of the mystery surrounding Hayley, Taylor and her family was finally explained, but enough went unexplained to warrant another book. Even though this book was superior to it's predecessor, it never got to the point of being amazing.
The characters, which were mostly the same as the first book, were so much more relatable. Their relationships seemed more believable and their insecurities helped them seem like real people. Plus, we finally got to learn more about the history of Port Gamble through the bus accident so there was less mystery surrounding the residents. That being said, every characters' use of social media seemed stupid. There were tweets about a dead girl ruining a party while asking for a retweet in the same post and a distasteful trending hashtag. I understand that social media is huge with 16-18 year olds, but I have never in my life read something so ridiculous posted by children (and that's saying something). Honestly, this shouldn't have been a big deal, but the author has twins around the same age as Haley and Taylor so this could have been something that was quickly fact-checked.
As for the mystery itself, it wasn't necessarily more complex than the mystery in the first book, but it was more intriguing. Although I was able to guess who committed the crime pretty quickly, there was a lot of mystery surrounding the motive. I also appreciated how the police seemed more present throughout this book. In the first novel it seemed like the police were barely mentioned because Haley and Taylor were investigating, but in this one the police finally had a presence.
After finishing the first novel, I didn't feel satisfied with the ending. It seemed like there was too much that remained unexplained, but after finishing this novel, I felt much more satisfied. A lot of the mystery surrounding Hayley, Taylor and her family was finally explained, but enough went unexplained to warrant another book. Even though this book was superior to it's predecessor, it never got to the point of being amazing.