Envy- Greg Olsen

       This story tells of the death of a girl called Katelyn, and the mystery of her death. The story is told by a narrator from multiple points of view. There are two twin sisters, Hayley and Taylor, who seek the truth behind a once close friends untimely death. The 15 year old girl's struggle to untangle the truth from the web of lies spun by the wicked Starla. Starla is the girl who "rules" the local high school, and she has more than a few secrets of her own. Secrets that she would do anything to protect.
     While Starla is busy keeping maintaing her popularity, the twins are busy trying to figure out the real cause of Katelyn's death. The coroner may have pronounced Katelyn's death an accident, Hayley and Taylor have a feeling that it was much more, and they intend to find out exactly what happened. What they don't know is that by unraveling what happened on the night of Katelyn's death, will also unravel the secrets that have been kept about themselves. For instance, the crash they survived while in girl scouts.
     There was once an accident that nobody in town wants to talk about. Four girls and an innocent bus driver died. Hayley, Taylor, and Katelyn's mother are the only survivors after Katelyn's death. A nosy reporter, Moira, wants to do a news article on the ten year anniversary of the accident. However, not a single soul in the town of port gamble will talk to her about it. Moira decides that some digging is required. What she uncovers is dangerous, and she should have left it alone. But she didn't.
By the end of the mystery, the twins discover more about themselves than what they had originally set out to do. While they solve the mystery of Katelyn's death, Secrets are told, prying and spying done, and new secrets sealed and shut.
     This book is based upon the story of a young girl who commit suicide because she was cyber-bullied. When two teenage girls created a fake myspace profile and began to make the girl believe the fake boy loved her, only to bring her down in the end. The girl who thought a boy was in love with her eventually commit suicide. The two girls were arrested but because cyber-bullying laws are fairly new the case was benched until further notice.
      This book brings up the big issue of cyber-bullying. It talks about how what began as a simple games can spiral out of control. What one person finds funny, or joking can be what another person sees as painful and mean. Just one comment can send someone into a downward spiral. A few negative or sarcastic comments can send someone over the edge, or cause a suicide.
      There is also a running theme of revenge in this book. Olsen tells of revenge at its worst. In this book the things the characters do for revenge are plain crazy. The lies and deception that ensues because of one little slip up or dressing weird or even simply saying the wrong thing. In the book you get to see revenge after revenge gotten. Olsen shows through his writing that revenge will never be an acceptable answer to a conflict, ever.
     I rate this book an A+. It was an amazing book. The twists in the plot kept me guessing. This is one mystery that I just couldn't figure out. There was always something going on and the big ideas of the story were easy to find and easy to relate to. This book was written fairly recently and has a lot of pop culture references. The references make the book more relatable, and entertaining. A few warnings that go along with this book. There are many inappropriate themes. Swearing does not occur often but there is some in the book. I recommend this read to anyone who enjoys suspense and mystery.