Customer Reviews

Third Twin, The

5 star:		(30)
4 star:		(37)
3 star:		(28)
2 star:		(32)
1 star:		(30)

 

 

I notice that there are two distinct groups of reviewers for this book. One group feels that it is excellent and the other feels that it is very poor in quality. However, I have found the book to be an excellent read and so have other book lovers among my acquaintances.
The story is gripping, full of suspense and with a lot of twists. I liked the strong determined character of the heroine. The characters of Steve Logan, Berrington Jones etc. are also well drawn sketches. The plot is intriguing and deals with cutting edge BioTechnology.It has been thoroughly researched as any Ken Follett novel generally is (I know Follett has a good research team to help him out while writing ) The tension is taut throughout. It is well written as any Ken Follett novel is. It has all the ingredients of a top class thriller.
The only drawback that I have noticed was the computer program that Jeannie Ferrami wrote to retrieve matches from databases. That seems a bit far fetched since the program seems to run on any platform, search any database of any type. I have not come across any program like that.
However, apart from this minor flaw, there is hardly any blemish in the book. It made me a Follett fan at once and though the other books he has written are different, I have enjoyed most of them.

On a recent trip to Florida I stopped in at the airport book shop and purchased a book for the return flight to Italy. I had read Ken Follet's excellent "Pillars of the Earth" a few years ago and decided to try another of his books. This book did not even approach the level of the first Follet novel I read. Unlike "Pillars", in "The Third Twin" Follet does not appear to have done any research on his subject matter. In one section he has a character reminiscing about his father who was a SECOND LIEUTENANT in the US NAVY. The US Navy has never had second lieutenants; junior officers of that pay grade are called Ensigns. But this is only the beginning of technical errors that destroy an otherwise compelling story line. One of the main weapons of the protagonist is a computer program that she wrote to compare elements in database to develop genetic comparisons. Unfortunately, the way the thing is supposed to work is closer to something that Gandalf or Harry Potter would whip up rather than something out of computer science class. The poorly researched and unbelievable stuff goes on and worsens throughout the book. More examples - people out on bail without a security clearance wandering the halls of the Pentagon and putting magic floppy disks into the Pentagon computers - you guessed it - so they could search the databases on those computers. All in all, I was very, very glad when the book drew to its predictable close.

Follet is a good writer, but he really needs to research his subjects better before writing a book.

A young scientist studying links in genes to the potential for criminality comes across two men, identical down to their DNA, raised separately and born on different days. As she investigates, becoming more involved with the law abiding twin, Steve, she discovers that there may be a third twin still at large, who may be guilty of raping one of her friends.

This starts off well, as an interesting yarn, but rapidly goes downhill, especially when the words 'perfect soldier' leapt out at you. Right after that the story falls flat. Clones and killing machines have been done before, and combining them doesn't make any difference. The text is bogged down in unnecessary details, such as obsessive details about how the female lead dresses, and the ending is decidedly flat.

Follett can do amazing thrillers and fascinating historical fiction, but this isn't one of them. Aeroplane reading, but not much more. (It gets three stars for being interesting at the start.)

I am a late bloomer where Ken Follett is concerned. Started with his first, the Modigliani Scandal, wasn't too impressed, and then read this one. I couldn't put it down. Maybe it is because my background is in science and medicine, but I think this is an absolute must read for anyone who loves to have the supense reach out and grab you by the throat and not let you go until the last page. Then again, I always love it when the big BAD gets done in by the plucky underdog! I guess I will be plowing through Mr. Follett's other suspense novels now.

"The Third Twin" is the first Ken Follett novel that I have read, and I must say that I am definitely going to try some of his earlier works, even though I Know this book is different from some of his earlier efforts. However, I really liked this book; it moves well; it has likeable heroes and nasty villains. It addresses the question of nature vs. nurture, and Follett obviously believes that no matter what's in your genes, it's important as to what kind of environment you are raised in.

Jeannie Ferrami, the heroine, is a strong, determined character, and I liked her persistence in proving not only that her scientific studies are correct, but that the conspiracy she has uncovered needs to be addressed! I wish sometimes other reviewers wouldn't...mention some of the plot's "surprises," such as the number of clones, but even though in reading the reviews, you get advance information, don't let that spoil the finesse in which Follette weaves his tale.

I liked Steve Logan, too. He comes across as a sincere, honest type of guy, who wants to be a good lawyer and is caught in the unbelievable maze of discovering he is a clone.

The novel opens briskly with one of the evil clones rape of Jeanne's best friend, and we get involved with the confusion when Steve enters Jeannie's life.

The villains are all particularly vile, but Berrington Jones is the worst. Such a pompous, self-serving fool.

Fortunately, after our heroes go through countless setbacks, the ending is justifiable and the epilogue at the end is particularly touching.

A great book; I really enjoyed it for it's entertainment value!

There was a professor, a politician and a businessman. They were evil old Republicans, and back in Nixon's time they worked out how to clone people. Being Republicans they wanted to perfect the white American race. I think the idea was to create a WASP master-race and abolish welfare, possibly replacing it with slavery. They were even against gun control.

Fast-forward twenty years. Here comes a six-foot young woman with big hair - a world-class tennis player as well as brilliant scientist, expert in psychology, genetics, computer science, you name it. Wow, this has to be Jolie McGillis. Her taste in underwear is lovingly described. Surprisingly she isn't a clone but she takes up with one, who happens to be nicely brought up. The rest are degenerate sadists, rapists and murderers. I told you they were WASPs.

Now our girl finds out about the other clones, partly through being such a brilliant scientist but mostly by nearly getting laid by them. Naturally the evil GOP-men can't let any of this get out, especially as the aforesaid politician is about to run for the White House and has plans to rename Washington Berchtesgaden-on-the-Potomac. (I exaggerate - a little.) So we have toing and froing and cliff-hanging, 500 pages of it, until at last the bad guys get their comeuppance and the heroine fades into the sunset with her favorite clone.

This is not exactly trash. Follett is a fluent writer and capable of better than that. He makes the pages turn as well as anyone and one or two of his characters are fairly memorable. (Aside: some reviewers seem to think he's American. He's British and a buddy of Tony Blair, which makes him a buddy-at-one-remove of ... ahem.) I suppose he intends us to take this story somewhat seriously, but I can't do it. I've seen more plausible scenarios on the back of cereal packets. Whether you think the pages are worth turning is up to you.

On one level I enjoyed this book. It was a fun read as a mystery-thriller. But I agree with a number of the criticisms voiced already. I didn't like the main character Jeannie & I didn't like the gratuitous political moralizing where all the bad guys were conservatives. If you want to make your bad guys evil for their attempts at genetic manipulation & white supremacist rantings, fine, but don't throw in that they're against gun control & against welfare! And, Jeannie, I just couldn't warm up to. I know Follett likes his heroines feisty, which is fine, but Jeannie was just too counter-cultural for me. The swearing, the free & easy sex life, the "smoking a little weed," and, ugh, the nose ring. Is that really necessary? I also agree that Follett's presentation of academic life is unrealistic. (I am an academic.) Follett's books with a World War II theme are much better.

So, my main complaint is this-I hate it when characters have ESP and are suddenly able to jump to the right conclusion. that is annoying. Unfortunately, that sums up every "plot twist" in this sophomoric book. Also, there is no purpose whatsoever for Jeannie's mother in this book-in the beginning she is introduced as having alzheimers and jeannie is just sooo concerned about her and her welfare that she IGNORES her for weeks and runs around with an octuplet. nice. That was just plain bad writing. None of this book was written in any convincing way. At one point, when the clones are brought up, one character suddenly is hit out of the blue by the revelation that the cloning is to breed the perfect soldier...wha??? ugh. I can't stand the main character, Jeannie, either. She is a whiner...and a dumb one to boot (even though it seems she has a degree in computers...no, i mean psychology...no, I mean genetics..again, I say wha??). Give me Patricia Cornwall and her good research any day over this novel.

I felt there was one, and only one slightly redeeming part of this book which was Follett's eventual answer to the "environment vs genes" debate that he weakly attempts to have through this book (and only because I actually agreed with the answer). Outside of that, I feel sad for the time I lost reading it. My biggest problem with this book (and the only other Follett book I had the misfortune of reading) is the horrific plot flaws. Mainly the ones where the author takes characters, and then has them act completely out of character (typically they go from semi-smart to downright idiotic) purely to advance his plot. It takes any believability away from the story, and makes me lose all care for the remainder. I don't want to post any potential spoilers, but there are times when I just sat there wondering how a character who did so many intelligent things earlier could act so ridiculously stupid.

Ignoring the major plot flaws, the rest of the book is still quite bad. The characters themselves are basically all the same with artificial details (I think this would be called "one-dimensional"). I'm not political (not a fan of donkeys or elephants), but I found the author's ridiculous stereotyping to be annoying. At one point he even says something like "the other 6 board members were white males, so they would support him". Another he says something like "this man helped to support murderers, rapers, and is against gun control". I'm totally in favor of gun control, but what's the point in that statement? To take a shot at conservatives? To show that the author himself is not intelligent enough to distinguish between anti-gun control people and murderers?

This was my first experience with a Ken Follett novel and I was very impressed. The controversial topics that he explored were gripping. although parts of the story were a bit racy, such as the molestation and sex scenes, it was made obvious that it is not a children's book. I enjoyed the suspense and was literally unable to put it down. One night i was up until about 2 am so that i could get to a some what acceptable stopping point. Even then I had dreams about the upcoming events in the story. I am personally very interseted in forensic science and the theories behind crimes hoping to persue a career in that field, therfore this book was a perfect fit for me. The clonig secrets and genetic engineering that was way before its time in this story send a chill down your spine and really make you think about whether it has already happened or not. Maybe it has!? I would suggest this book to all forensic and suspense mystery enthusiasts. Great book with tons of twists and turns that will trick you and make you cringe!