Bad Twin

by Gary Troup

Book Overview

For fans of ABCUs Lost comes Gary Troup's long-awaited suspense novel featuring Paul Artisan, P.I. This TV tie-in is a startlingly original novel, delivering a dark, comedic mystery that will haunt you for weeks (Jane Comins).

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1401302769
• ISBN13: 9781401302764
• Release Date: May 2006
• Publisher: Kingswell Books
• Length: 272 Pages
• Weight: 0.90 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.9" x 5.5" x 8.3"
• Age Range: 18 years and up
• Grade Range: Postsecondary and higher

Customer Reviews

Fooled By The Marketing

I made the mistake of picking this book up with the idea that I'm going to solve some mysteries in Lost. Which did not happen. I finished this book in two days and I'm sitting there in my chair staring at the wall, dumbly thinking to myself, "What?". I had ABSOLUTELY NO IDEA that this book wasn't about Lost. Except when they're getting on the plane and it's an Oceanic flight from Sydney to L.A. That's about it. And they say that the writer was on Oceanic Flight 815. Enough about that, though. This is an EXCELLENT book. I recommend it to anyone and everyone who likes Lost and mysteries. This book may not have anything to do with Lost, other than the genius marketing hype, but it is a gorgeous book. I wish I knew who the real writer of Bad Twin is so I can read more of their books. It's definently NOT Stephen King. 'Gary Troup' writes nothing like King.

Great mystery even if you DON'T watch "Lost"

I read Bad Twin initially for its connections to ABC's hit TV show, Lost. For those of you who don't watch the show, author "Gary Troup" was a passenger on Oceanic Flight 815, the flight that crashed in the pilot episode. He is supposedly among the dead in that crash, and one of the characters found the manuscript of his final novel in the wreckage. Now Hyperion (a printing arm of ABC's parent company, Disney) has published this posthumous lost novel. No pun intended. Read on its own merits, Bad Twin is a really engaging mystery novel. Paul Artisan is a private detective hired by a wealthy young man to track down his misanthrope twin brother. As he begins a cross-country and, eventually, cross-planet search. The things he uncovers causes Artisan to question which of the men is truly the "bad twin," the nature of good and evil and how perception plays into reality. While it's not quite as high-falootin' as some of the advance hype would suggest, it's a gripping read that keeps you interested and reading right through to the final twist at the end. Read in the context of the Lost universe, the book is even better. The book makes extensive use of the Widmore family and the Hanso Foundation, real entities in the world of Lost, where this book is allegedly fiction. Furthermore, as a sort of in-joke, much of the novel takes place on various islands, and there is heavy discussion about the concept of purgatory -- even Gary Troup's name is an anagram for "purgatory." Many fans of the show have postulated that the characters have died and are in purgatory, and although the producers have repeatedly denied that is the case (and I believe them), I think there is merit in comparing the idea to the situation of the television series in a metaphorical sense rather than a literal one. The one problem I really have is that the real author of the book, at present, is unknown. I've heard several rumors, including James Patterson, Stephen King and Dean Koontz, but whoever it is, I like to give credit where credit is due. This is an excellent mystery novel even if you don't watch Lost, and it is only fair that the writer get to take a bow.

4 Books in One

If you haven't bought this book yet, buy it, and read it, NOW. Whoever actually wrote this (Steven King? Elmore Leonard? A surprise guest like John Grisham or Scott Turow?) is a storytelling wizard. Bad Twin is really four books in one. The first story is the search for the twin -- a taut and clever yarn that follows all the rules of the detective genre. The second book consists of all of the "Easter eggs" -- some of them quite obvious, others pretty subtle, that refer to things that have been seen on LOST. The third book -- pretty intriguing! -- is made up of thoughts and coincidenses that seem to belong to the universe of LOST, but haven't actually been seen on the show. Are they clues to things that will happen? Are they peices of the puzzle/game that's now heating up on the Web? The fourth book is the one that weaves together all the others, in ways that range from the sly to the definately spooky. This is a fun read and a real brain tickler. I absolutely loved it and I can't wait to read everyting else this author, whoever he or she is, has in print!

Unbelievable

I prepurchased because of hype of Lost, but didn't expect all that much. It's great. I read it in one sitting. Couldn't put it down. The are a few references to people, places, etc. that you recognize from Lost, but just enough to tie it to the fictional author. There have been suggestions on the internet as to who might actually have authored it and for those of you who have seen them, as a fan of his, I believe it to be true.

Now I know what POSTMODERN means!

For years, in book reviews and stuff about pop culture, I've seen the word "postmodern"--but I never knew exactly what it meant, other than hip, brainy, and strange. After reading--okay, inhaling--Bad Twin, I think I finally get it. This is a book that toys with everything we think we know about fiction, reality, and how storytelling works. It grabs the reader on a lot of different levels, and is...well, hip, brainy, and strange! On one level, Bad Twin is an old-fashioned, straight-ahead detective story--and a really good one, with vivid characters, snappy dialogue, plenty of twists and turns, and even a sexy little love story thrown in. It's so tidy that I wouldn't be surprised if the real author--just a guess--was an old master like Elmore Leonard. But wait, that's just the first level. Here's where it gets weird... The supposed "author", Gary Troup, is himself a fictional character from the fictional universe of LOST. So which world does the story of Bad Twin belong to? Our world or the world of the Island? So now we have a fiction within a fiction, a mystery within a mystery. Is the detective only trying solve a murder?--or is he also--consciously or otherwise--following clues about the Island? And if the fictional Troup perished in the crash, is it just coincidence that the book echoes so many of the themes of the show? All those twins and mirror-images: Truth and fiction; coincidence and fate; suffering and redemption... This book is a total page-turner the first time through, and probably complex enough to deserve a second reading.