review: betrayal by gregg olsen

When a foreign exchange student is murdered at a high school Halloween party, both the killer and the motive are unclear. Many in the town find the behavior of the girl who hosted the party and her boyfriend to be suspect. Although Brianna claims to have been friends with Olivia, she's more concerned with not being able to get clothes from her bedroom which is the crime scene. During questioning at the police station, she tweets and later does some yoga poses. That's when I realized Gregg Olsen was using Amanda Knox as his inspiration which seemed in poor taste, especially since Brianna was a horribly spoiled brat with absentee parents. Furthermore, there are lingering questions regarding Meredith Kercher's death. Although Envy was based on a true crime as well, cyberbullying is unfortunately common enough not to spark an immediate connection. Betrayal used far too many of the specific details from Kercher's murder. At one point Olivia's father even made an incredibly distasteful comment that Olivia would've been safer in Perugia.

As with the first book in the Empty Coffin series, Betrayal smacks of trying too hard. Trying too hard to make a social commentary. Trying to hard to be "teenage." And oh, the adjectives. Why must there be so many adjectives? Everything was described, but the description bogged down the story rather than bring the scenes to life.
1/5
Review copy provided by Book It Northwest.