Betrayal by Gregg Olsen

    

Betrayal -- an Empty Coffin Novel
by
Gregg Olsen

What I wanted when I picked up Betrayal, was a page-turning thriller, and I got that, along with a few horrifying adolescent voices that left me a little uncomfortable. This book works for YA kids who like a realistic mysteries with authentic evil.

It is a compelling read. We pick up on the continuing adventures of Hay-Tay, Hayley and Taylor Ryan, the identical twin Nancy Drew Club-like detectives featured in Olsen’s Empty Coffin Series. The crime in this book is the murder of a high school foreign exchange student, Olivia Grant, a native of Great Britain. Naturally, the kids must reach up into the mature world of adults when their joint ESP powers goes off like a Spidey sense, compelling them to nose around the investigation. Olivia Grant is the girl depicted on the book’s cover. She’s murdered in the home -- in the very bedroom -- of Brianna Connors, one of the haughtiest rich kids in Port Gamble. It shocks everyone when Brianna blows off the murder of her friend as "You don't even know how gross it was, but if you really want me to tell you..."

Like in most mysteries, the police are incompetent, and that leaves the Hay-Tay twins up against a pretty powerful antagonist. Though the identity of the killer is not completely known until the end, the killer’s presence is felt throughout the book, in many instances in the visions the twins share with each other and the readers. That’s probably why we keep turning the pages.

Of course, the book is part of a series, and in the series we find most of the causality that remains a mystery still, even as the book ends. Why the twins become so passionately involves usually involves a personal story arc that spans the entire series. Though the law of physics eventually brings the criminal to justice in the end of this installment, the continuing mystery for the Ryan twins will keep readers looking for the next book.