Doctor Jean (Jeannie) Ferrami is a scientist studying the causes of criminal behavior by comparing sets of twins raised separately, especially when one is a criminal and the other a law-abiding citizen. When her friend, the lab technician Lisa Hoxton is raped, a man called Steve Logan is accused of that crime. But Steve is a Law student and he happens to be one of Ferrami's study subjects. Meaning he has a twin brother who was raised by different parents. Ferrami knows Steve has indeed a twin, Dennis Pinker, who has been convicted for murder and is at that moment in jail. According to Jeannie Ferrami's hypothesis, if Pinker is the "bad" twin, then Steve is the "good" one. Plus, nothing in Steve Logan's bevahiour suggests he was capable of raping someone. She is decided to investigate the issue further but is met with some obstacles. Headstrong and willing to find the truth, and clear Steve, Jeannie will do whatever is necessary. Even if her professional and personal future become at stake. Because there is a secret and some very powerful men are willing to do whatever it takes to protect it.First Ken Follett book I read that it is not historical fiction. This is more like science fiction, involving genetic engineer. The main theme is nature vs. nurture -- is our behaviour just a product of our genes? Or there is more to it? A secret experiment in the seventies produces human clones who become aggressive and highly intelligent young men. They all have a tendency to misjudge situations and get themselves in trouble. One turns out to be a rapist and when a scientist studying twins decides to investigate further, the very same men behind the genetics experiments try everything to keep a secret. They are even willing to destroy Ferrami's life.Yes, all this sounds very exciting and I thought I was in for a treat. Unfortunately I couldn't find The Third Twin as exciting as I had expected. I found the beginning slow and it takes time for things to warm. The end was certainly the best part, because is when there is more action.I also don't really get the name of this book, since there are more than three clones. I also thought Ferrami would get conclusions very fast and that felt a bit fake. Especially when she drew the right conclusion about something that might not have been that obvious. I didn't like Ferrami that much. She has great qualities, but ruins everything by being too impulsive and losing her head too often. Some parts of the story were also a bit predictable, but the secrets were good and fortunately I was able to be surprised. Especially towards the end.In the end, the most exciting about this book for me was knowing why they had done it and how it was possible to have a lot of twins walking around, from different parents. But I wished the book had been more engaging since the beginning. Unfortunately it wasn't a book that managed to keep me glued to it.
Grande estreia! ***O Terceiro Gémeo é o primeiro livro que leio do autor Ken Follet. Muitos de vós podem a este momento perguntar para dentro "como é que é possível?", mas a verdade é que as obras deste autor nunca exerceram um grande fascínio sobre mim. No entanto, esta sinopse fez-me tentar a minha sorte e foi com agrado que arrisquei. Esta obra foi publicada pela primeira vez em 1996 e este facto fascinou-me durante toda a leitura. A primeira coisa que poderia dizer sobre este livro é que mesmo já contando com 15 anos de idade, é um tema que continua a ser importante e não deixa também de ser algo polémico, na minha opinião. A história base deste livro é intrigante, no mínimo. Jeannie Ferrami é uma jovem cientista no início da sua carreira de professora numa universidade de renome situada em Baltimore. A sua especialidade é o estudo de gémeos que foram educados por pais diferentes, ou seja, tiveram cada um deles, uma vida à parte do gémeo. No entanto, Jeannie não está interessada em estudar apenas e só este tipo de gémeos. O que ela quer perceber e analisar são gémeos em que um deles é criminoso e o outro é um cidadão respeitador da lei. Ela quer descortinar o que é o factor decisivo para os caminhos dos gémeos serem tão diferentes: se é a genética, se é a educação e a vivência de cada um dos gémeos. A pesquisa da cientista revelava-se altamente promissora, até que descobre 2 gémeos muito especiais. Na superfície, tudo indica que são gémeos verdadeiros, mas estes nasceram com meses de diferença e não foram gerados pela mesma mãe. A partir deste ponto, Jeannie com a ajuda de Steve Logan, um dos gémeos, vai tentar perceber que espécie de mistério é que ela descobriu inadvertidamente.Confesso que o livro foi uma surpresa muito agradável. Não estava de modo nenhum à espera de um livro tão desafiador e tão envolvente, pelo que a estreia com o autor revelou-se uma experiência a repetir. Com tantos livros que o autor já tem publicados, a escolha torna-se difícil mas foi com imenso prazer que li esta obra. Gostei da escrita e do enredo. Este último toca em assuntos algo polémicos, como já disse, mas são temáticas que convidam à discussão e à reflexão. Uma obra para reler e um autor para explorar com atenção.
What do You think about The Third Twin (1997)?
I remember that this was the very first book I checked out from my high school library. The reason I remember is because of the sex scenes in the book. Let me explain.Up until this point in time, I had been going to a Catholic school. My middle school didn't have a library; if we wanted books, we had to go to the public library. I was a frequent visitor at the public library; my favorite books were romance novels with lots of *ahem*. Anyway, fast-forward to high school. I was so excited to finally have a library INSIDE my school!!! I literally picked out the first novel I saw and checked it out. It happened to be "The Third Twin." The book itself is average...until I came to a random sex scene. I was absolutely floored that my SCHOOL library would even have a copy of this book. It contained sex in it! Ahh! My Catholic school (IF it happened to have a library) would probably only contain research-type books. Nothing with sex in it for sure. Oh right. And the scenes themselves were a bit disturbing, but exciting for me. They were written from a very masculine point-of-view. No romance. Almost brutal. I had never read anything like that before. And it gave me a new appreciation for that type of err porno.
—Rita
The novel is awesome particularly if anybody is interested in the genetics and identical twin concepts. I thoroughly enjoyed it and have just completed my journey through a mysterious arena. It's written in a very modern style. There has been a lot to know from the characters of Dr. Jeannie Ferrami. The concept of cloning is really awesome. In a nutshell this novel contains drama, mystery, romance, research, science, perseverance, bravery and lots of other things. And I heartily thank to Ken Follett for giving us this creation.
—Sukla Pal
Thriller abbastanza prevedibile che si lascia leggere senza troppi intoppi. La trama scorre veloce e vorrebbe talvolta aprire temi delicati come quello della clonazione... fallisce miseramente nello scopo, le riflessioni sono superficiali e gia' sentite, non aggiungono nulla ne' alla conoscienza del lettore ne' alla personalita' del personaggio che le formula. Tuttavia riesce a farci divertire qua e la grazie a una sapiente esposizione dei fatti, non male anche lo spessore dei personaggi(nei limiti delle capacita' di follet a riguardo chiaramente).Evitabile, consigliato solo agli amanti del genere.trivia: l'algoritmo inventato dal dottor Ferrami e' pura fantasia, non sta ne' in cielo ne' in terra. Potrebbe funzionare solo su di un set ristretto di dati e andrebbe modificato ogni volta che si cambia tipo di dati da confrontare... la spiegazione del dottor Ferrami al problema "il programma cerca sequenze di byte simili senza riguardo al tipo di informazione" e' fantascienza dato che stesse informazioni in database diversi risulteranno in una totalmente diversa sequenza di bit se, come e' probabile, hanno una diversa rappresentazione.
—daniel
