Envy: An Empty Coffin Novel
by Gregg Olsen
Gregg Olsen, author of Envy, discusses his Young Adult debut with Queenie D.
Envy interview with Gregg Olsen
What
sparked your interest in writing a story about cyber-bullying? What do you hope to gain by sharing this story with the YA audience?
There have been
so many tragic and shocking cases involving cyber-bullying and each of them without question have broken my heart. I thought about the suffering these kids
go through only because they are different or because someone just wants to be mean. I hope that Envy adds to the dialog that seems to be taking place
in this country right now. It simply isn't OK to hurt someone just because you can. The internet is an amazing resource, of course, but it is also a cruel
place. I hope Envy sheds some light on that.
Envy interview with Gregg Olsen
Tell
us more about your decision to add a mystical element to the twins' story. Do you believe in "seers?"
Sometimes I think
YES, of course. Other times, I'm not so sure. I approached the psychic aspect of the twins' storyline from some of the things I've observed in others -- that
is that some people are really tuned into feelings, impressions in ways that others miss. The mind is powerful, so powerful that we really don't know the
extent of what it can do.
Taylor and Hayley are beginning to understand that they have something extra, but they don't yet know the source or the extent of it. That'll be one of the
great "reveals" of the series. I can't wait to write that part!
Envy interview with Gregg Olsen
Tragedy
touched the lives of many families in this small, close-knit town in one way or another. Did this community bond together during each time of loss or sorrow,
or did each small event tear them further apart?
This is a brilliant
question. I've studied tragedy and its impact in small towns (my nonfiction book The Deep Dark was about a mining disaster that killed 91 men in a
very small town in Idaho) and I think that sometimes things are so painful that they are never forgotten, yet seldom discussed. Everyone knows about the
impact of a tragedy in their own family, but they aren't always aware how others have dealt with it.
Envy interview with Gregg Olsen
Let's
discuss the fact that Hayley and Taylor were brought up on bedtime stories of serial killers, ghastly murders, and other atrocities. Compare this to the
line in your "Acknowledgements" which reads "Thanks and love to Claudia, and our girls, Marta and Morgan, for sharing my life of crime." It seems that the
fictional family Ryan has some basis on your real-life family. Can you tell us more about this?
 There is a little
of our real life experiences in the novel, but the Ryans were not inspired by the Olsens. Not really! My girls did visit crime scenes whenever we could fit
them in on family vacations and they did know that the threat of evil against an innocent person is very real. My girls and I did talk about those tips that
Kevin Ryan gives the girls about getting away from a serial killer. There is one other nugget in the book that is completely true -- my girls were separated
from us in London for ten hours. We went through that horrible feeling that parents of missing kids do -- and we will never forget what that kind of fear
feels like.
Envy interview with Gregg Olsen
The
main theme that underscored many characters' lives in this novel was secrets. The Ryan twins parents held the secret of the crash close, never letting the
girls know much about what really happened. Savannah keeps the secret of the tape and the message to herself for years. Shania James won't reveal any
details about what truly happened to her on that awful day many years ago. And, of course, the Larsen family home is full of dark, appalling secrets which
changes the course of many lives. Would things have been drastically different for any of these characters had they chosen to share their hurt, their guilt,
their knowledge? How would it have changed the lives of others involved?
This is another
super question. Some of those secrets (Shania's for example) will come into play later in the Empty Coffin Series. I think that the many of the
characters could find comfort in sharing their hurts with another -- and they might have tried. Think about Sandra Berkley (Katelyn's mom) she carried a
huge guilt inside and she tried to talk to her husband about it, but he always found an excuse to avoid it. The point is, trying isn't enough. Talking things
out over and over is the only way to process these things. Most of us have had bad things happen to us and we find ourselves talking about it, until we feel
that the subject is no longer welcome -- not because we feel any better. Think about a girlfriend who obsesses about a break up and you just want to tell
her to be done with it. But she can't. The hurt is too deep and she needs to be heard. Does that make sense?
Envy interview with Gregg Olsen
This
is the first in the Empty Coffin series. Can you tell us what to expect next for this group? How many books are slated for the series?
I'm planning
six books with the psychic twins aging about six months per book and the series ending with them going off to college -- with lots of murder and adventure
along the way.
Envy interview with Gregg Olsen
Tell
us a little more about your life as a writer. How did you make the switch from true crime to YA? What prompted this debut?
I'm still writing
adult thrillers, but this was an opportunity to write the kind of novel that I loved when I was a teenager. They didn't call them YA back then. Books by
Stephen King or Dean Koontz were among my favorites. Not YA, but about young people facing very scary circumstances, were the plotlines of many of those.
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TYPE OF BOOK: Fiction
NUMBER OF PAGES: 285
YEAR PUBLISHED: 2011
AUTHOR'S SITE: GreggOlsen.com
BOOK RATING:
DISCUSSION RATING:
Queenie D Says:
Creepy! That's the first word that came to mind when I looked at this book cover. I actually had to flip the book over at night after walking past it several
times and getting the shivers. I'm not kidding!
That makes Envy the perfect Halloween treat for any age group.
Gregg Olsen debuts on the YA scene with this first novel in his newly-created Empty Coffin series. As you can tell, the cover alone indicates a spine-tingling
read and Gregg doesn't disappoint. The plot is full of mystery, murder, secrets, and lies, and the small town, Port Gamble, sets the perfect stage.
Port Gamble's resident twins, Hayley and Taylor Ryan, aren't your average high school girls. For reasons unbeknownst to them, they have an ability which sets
them apart from their peers. It's a secret they hold close, never speaking the truth to anyone, because it seems so unreal, even to themselves. "I just know"
is a phrase they have become accustomed to using when trying to explain how or why they've got answers to questions nobody else has even thought to ask. Their
psychoanalyst mother seems to have an inkling of what goes on between their thin walls, but she never directly asks the girls.
Readers will turn pages quickly and breathlessly, eager to know how the mystery of Katelyn's death will unfold, and what the consequences for all involved will be.
Olsen's writing is perfect for the YA audience, it fits the tone and theme of today's teen perfectly; however, adults reading the book will be able to relate just
as easily. The characters are interesting and the town is very "Stepford-esque," but with a dark twist. There are so many secrets and so many different mini-dramas
running underneath the main story of Katelyn's death, that it's hard to actually decide which events are more prominent. But this tactic leaves you on the edge of
your seat, wanting more.
When I got to the last line, I was floored! I already knew this was the beginning of the series and finding out that I have to wait for Fall of 2012 is maddening.
My only advice to Mr. Olsen? WRITE FASTER because you are going to have a ton of antsy fans waiting to get their hands on the next book!
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