Bad Twin

"Denial was a powerful thing, and it was hard even to imagine the difficulty and pain of acknowledging that one's own twin, one's own genetic double, had murder on his mind."

When I first saw the cover for this book, my first thought was that we were finally going to get the goods on Jacob and The Man in Black. The story is about a pair of twins, just not those twins. Islands are involved, just not The Island. In fact, it's a story that has absolutely not one thing to do with the plot or characters of the LOST tv show. There are few shout-outs to the fans: a mention of Oceanic Airlines, a few Widmores in the cast of characters, but nothing of substance. So if you're halfway through the series and are worried about learning something vital or getting ahead of the timeline by reading this book.... relax. It's completely standalone.

Now that we have that out of the way, why should a LOST fan read it? Why should anyone spend a few hours invested in it? Because it's a pretty entertaining mystery! It has a classic sensibility to it, like The Maltese Falcon or The Big Sleep. Not that it has the dialogue or the language of a hardboiled novel, don't get that impression, but it has that same feeling. A struggling P.I., an elusive case, a femme fatale and plenty of bodies.

As a LOST fan it left me disappointed. As a mystery reader, I really enjoyed it. ( )

I only read this because I am a fan of Lost. It was not particularly well written, and it didn’t add anything to my understanding of the TV show. Now I know why Gary Troup was sucked into a jet engine in the pilot episode. ( )

AMAZING BOOK! lots of inside info of lost hidden messages all that good stuff!! didn;t really undertand the ending and there could have been more lost refrernces but a great book for even a non lost fan! ( )

As long as you don't go into reading BAD TWIN thinking you're going to solve the mysteries of the hit television show Lost, then you should be okay. BAD TWIN, on its own, is an intriguing mystery featuring twin brothers--one a bigwig in the family business, the other a ne're-do-well who has gone missing.

Oh, sure, there are a few references in the actual storyline to make you go "hmmm"--the philosopher John Locke, a trip to Australia aboard an Oceanic flight, the totally hyped numbers showing up as the twin's birthday, and the family name of Widmore. But besides those few basic tidbits, this book won't tell you squat. It really has nothing to do with Lost.

On its own merits, though, it's an engaging mystery that I read in one day, and if Gary Troup was an actual person (which he isn't), and had actually written anything else besides BAD TWIN (which he hasn't), I wouldn't hesitate to read it. ( )

Okay read but don't expect much

If you aren't expecting to solve the mysteries of the TV show LOST, then you should be okay. While there are some vague references to the LOST TV series, that is all there is, a vague reference and nothing more.

The story itself is a mystery about twin brothers, obviously one good and one bad.

The book was an okay read and while it was a short story it felt a bit dragged out and then rushed at the end. ( )