People may say ’Eye of the Needle’ and’Key to Rebecca’ were his best performances as an author, however I am of the strong opinion that Ken Follett was definitely at his piercing best in’The Third Twin’. It is an outstanding novel with all the features one would like to come across while writing one.
The features of the same can be summed up as under:
1. Amazing story with characters that leave a strong impression on the reader.
2. It is a very happening novel in the sense that at no point of time will one feel that the story has diminished its pace or is cropping up boring events.
3.It’s simply unbelievable how so many independent events occuring simultaneously may suddenly seem to have a mutual correlation in the end.
4.The story just keeps one guessing, one wouldn’t even think of taking a break until he/she has finished reading it. Indeed, the strangest of developments occur when one least expects it.
5.There is no shortage of humorous events in the novel either, plenty of it to ease the tension in a given situation.
6.The story is very unique in the sense that hardly ever do we ever come across such an independent minded, strong charactered heroine in novels.
7.Another intriguing aspect of the story is that its impossible to tell whether the hero is a hero or villian till the story has gone quite some distance.
IMPORTANT PEOPLE
A>Jean Ferrami:A tough personality, the most important character of the story.
B>Lisa Hoxton:Jean’s best friend , whose raw experiences paves the way for an exciting story.
C>Steven Logan:An interesting character who keeps us guessing, without whom the story wouldn’t have been as exciting.
THE PLOT
The story starts with the rape of Lisa Hoxton, a member of Jones Falls University, Baltimore. However, it is her best friend Prof. Jean Ferrami, also of JFU who vows to make the one responsible pay.Meanwhile, in her daily course of events as a geanologist she stumbles upon a young man, Steven Logan a second year law university student.Both take a liking to each other and commences a love story side by side with the main one.She is shocked to find that Steven shares the same genes with a certain Dennis Pinker who is a criminal.What is even more intriguing is that both were born on different days to different mothers and had no idea of the other’s existence in spite of being twins.Yet it was incredible how different these identical twins were.This in a way confirmed her theory that it was indeed ’nurture’and not only ’nature’ which defines personality of identical twins.......as she thinks that is what they are at that stage.The story steps into next gear with Steven being arrested for raping Lisa, however having spent time with Steven, Jean is convinced it can’t be him but she was even more surprised to find all this time Dennis was in jail.That could only mean one thing.....there were 3 0f them. Steven is eventually bailed out by his parents.Jean, meanwhile is driven out of JFU, as the president doesn’t like what she’s after.She can’t afford a lawyer and Steven offers help but who would’ve stood up against Henry, the university lawyer for long.Jean secures the services of her father(a thief) to break into her own office(closed to her now).She thinks she has made a major breakthrough when she finds 2 other dental records matching with Stevens’s. It isn’t long before she finds out the third one is also an exact lookalike of Steve and has an airtight alibi regarding the day the crime took place.She observes that although the 3 twins have no idea about each other all were conceived at the’Aventine Clinic’, Philadelphia. She has no luck fishing around at the clinic but is intrigued to know that Genetico, is a company owning the clinic specialized in invitro fertilisation as early as 1970, way ahead of others.Elsewhere she encounters Steve , only that she later finds out it is not Steve (but the psycho rapist).She manages a narrow escape though.She begins to doubt Steve’s identity, her judgement and herself.....what next?4 twins a bit unusual wouldn’t it seem?An embryo could split once twice, but thrice in a womb?It was possible but definitely not plausible.The only way to find the truth was to go after it and thats what she does.......Things really heat up, with people doubting each other’s credibilities and Jean lost in an endless ocean of confusion.....only for her to realise eventually that it is all part of an unbelievably atrocious scandal........And of course, if you want to do justice to this book, give it a read yourself.Won’t be fair to disclose everything.You’ll love it for sure.
’The Third Twin’ is indeed a gem of a story, 629 pages of fascinating drama narrated in a splendid manner by one of the best authors in business, Ken Follett.If you haven’t read it yet , you are definitely missing something.