ENVY by Gregg Olsen-REVIEW

The small town of Port Gamble, Washington is rocked by the death of one of their own. Katelyn, found dead by an apparent suicide, was a teenager like many others – having friend trouble, boy trouble, family trouble, but would she kill herself? Twins Hayley and Taylor don’t think so and decide to get to the bottom of what really happened.

So begins the mystery with several twists, turns, and red herrings thrown in.  

As mysteries go, it was fine. The author definitely had me trying to figure out what happened to Katelyn as each new clue was introduced. My problems with the book aren’t necessarily from the plot.  

I have a real pet peeve when books include mentions of real life objects that will date the story.  This book has way to much of that.  There are mentions of Facebook and fashion brands that might not be around in several years and end up pulling the reader out of the story. 

There were too many flashbacks and flash sideways. The flash sideways are due to the fact that the author used a third-person omniscient narrator. The third-person omniscient is presented by a narrator with an overarching point of view, seeing and knowing everything that happens within the world of the story, including what each of the characters is thinking and feeling. I really don’t like this style. It has too much of a Desperate Housewives feel to it. 

Oh, there is also some cyberbullying thrown in for good measure.


I did like the paranormal twist added to the story.  The twins, Hayley and Taylor, have some cool abilities, but…..it seemed like they could do just about anything they wanted to. When they wanted to figure out some part of the mystery they found a way. They can sense what happened from touching things (these scenes appear as flashbacks).  One of them can go under water or drink water and have messages appear. They can put things under their pillows and dream about them. There is even one instance where they foresee the future. Good grief! 

All in all ENVY was okay. 

Be sure to check out the website for the book.  It has a lot of cool extras.