Skip to main content
PBS logo
 
 

Book Reviews of The Third Twin

The Third Twin
The Third Twin
Author: Ken Follett
PBS Market Price: $8.09 or $4.19+1 credit
ISBN-13: 9780449227428
ISBN-10: 0449227421
Publication Date: 6/29/1997
Pages: 480
Rating:
  • Currently 3.8/5 Stars.
 143

3.8 stars, based on 143 ratings
Publisher: Fawcett
Book Type: Paperback
Reviews: Amazon | Write a Review

40 Book Reviews submitted by our Members...sorted by voted most helpful

reviewed The Third Twin on + 67 more book reviews
Helpful Score: 3
Identical twins have been the storyteller's friend since Roman times. Master-scribbler Ken Follett does the arrangement one better in his latest yarn, The Third Twin. The heroine, Jeannie Ferrami, is a young professor at Jones Falls University (JFU)(think Johns Hopkins) who is investigating the balance of nature versus nurture in criminality. Driven by a secret from her past, Dr. Ferrami is overjoyed to find that a straight-arrow law student at JFU has an identical twin (raised separately) who is a convicted rapist. She is not overjoyed, however, when that man is arrested for raping her best friend. Surely Mr. Perfect couldn't be guilty--enter the evil masterminds, three Nixon-era compadres who have been toiling for decades to make America safe for racial purity. It's bad enough that one of the conspirators is Dr. Ferrami's boss, but another is eyeing the Oval Office. The young professor has stumbled onto a secret that could ruin them all, and it's only a matter of pages before bad things start to happen to the pair. The shortest distance between two points is a Follett plot. Look elsewhere for subtlety; entertainment, we got.
KansasSunflower avatar reviewed The Third Twin on + 329 more book reviews
Helpful Score: 1
I really enjoyed this book. Kept me guessing and entertained.
reviewed The Third Twin on + 63 more book reviews
Helpful Score: 1
This one will keep you turning pages late into the night. You've got a genetic "detective" trying to figure out how two women had identical twins...one each. Good read.
reviewed The Third Twin on + 8 more book reviews
Helpful Score: 1
Using a restricted FBI database, a genetic reseacher, Jeannie Ferrami has located identical twins born to different mothers! She uncovers a conspiracy involving experiments and some of the most powerful men who will kill to keep it secret.
reviewed The Third Twin on
Helpful Score: 1
This book was AWESOME.
reviewed The Third Twin on + 79 more book reviews
Helpful Score: 1
great read, bet this is really happening some where in the world.
reviewed The Third Twin on + 209 more book reviews
Helpful Score: 1
Just the title plays with your mind. Imagine what the book will do!
reviewed The Third Twin on + 293 more book reviews
Helpful Score: 1
Using a restricted FBI database, genetic researcher Jeannie Ferrami has located identical twins born to different mothers. She is determined to discover the truth at any cost-until she finds herself at the center of a scandal that could ruin her career. To fight the charges, Jeannie plunges into a maze of hidden evidence. With growing horror, she uncovers a cynical far-reaching conspiracy involving disturbing genetic experiments and some of the most powerful men in America-men who will kill to keep their secrets concealed......
tealily avatar reviewed The Third Twin on
Helpful Score: 1
This was a very good read. It is keeps the story going with suspense and a bit of humor.
reviewed The Third Twin on
Helpful Score: 1
I really enjoyed this book. It is very suspenseful from the beginning to the end.
reviewed The Third Twin on + 227 more book reviews
Helpful Score: 1
Genetic researcher Jeannie Ferrami has located identical twins born to different mothers. Frightened by her bizzare discovery, she is determined to discover the truth at any cost-until she finds herself at the center of a scandal that could ruin her career.
reviewed The Third Twin on + 111 more book reviews
Helpful Score: 1
Through her research on twins and the genetic components of aggression, scientist Jeannie Ferrami makes a startling discovery. Using a restricted FBI database, she finds two young men who appear to be identical twins: Steve, a law student, and Dennis: a convicted murderer. Yet they were born on different days, to different mothers, in hospitals hundreds of miles apart.

As Ferrami delves into their backgrounds, she unwittingly locks horns with some of the most powerful forces in America, including the university where she works, The New York Times, even the Pentagon.

What secret has Ferrami uncovered? Can she trust her boss and mentor, or must she put her life in the hands of Steve Logan, the twin she finds herself falling in love with--even though he's surrounded by intrigue and suspicion? But one thing is certain: There are those who will stop at nothing to keep their chilling conspiracy in the shadows. . . .
reviewed The Third Twin on + 98 more book reviews
Helpful Score: 1
The Third Twin by Ken Follett
ISBN: 0679452729 - Abridged 4 Cassettes 4 Hours
Read by Diane Venora

Jeannie Ferrami, a brilliant young research scientist studying the genetic components of aggression, makes a startling discovery. Using a restricted FBI database, she locates two men who appear to be identical twins: Steve, a law student, and Dennis, a convicted murderer. Yet they were born on different days, to different mothers, in hospitals hundreds of miles apart.

When she delves into their backgrounds, forces as powerful as the Pentagon and The New York Times take notice. And, the more she learns, the worse it gets. When her life is threatened, she realizes that there is much more than just a scientific problem facing her. Unwittingly, she has stumbled upon evidence of a conspiracy involving a top biotech company, right-wing politicians, and her own university. Their aim is as shocking as it is technologically possible in this era of genetic manipulation: the reshaping of American society according to their own reactionary principles.
reviewed The Third Twin on
Great story with a good twist.
reviewed The Third Twin on + 7 more book reviews
The plot was predictable. It was not Follet's best work. It was so so.
jadaskye avatar reviewed The Third Twin on + 122 more book reviews
Awesome Amazing Audio Book
reviewed The Third Twin on
This was a can't put down book. A really good read.
reviewed The Third Twin on + 11 more book reviews
While a bit dated, the story examines the dangers of cloning that are still valid today. And any book that Ken Follett writes is well worth the reading.
reviewed The Third Twin on + 121 more book reviews
This is an EXCELLENT book! I literally could not put it down! The suspense starts in the first chapter and ends 3 pages before the end. This book was written in 1996, so it's been around for awhile, but if you still haven't read it, it is well worth it. Ken Follett is one of my favorite authors. One of the reasons is that he is so versatile. Each book is different from the next so you never know what to suspect. TWO THUMBS UP!!
reviewed The Third Twin on + 232 more book reviews
A young research scientist studying the genetic components of aggression, makes a startling discovery. Using a restricted FBI database, she locates two men who appear to be identical twins & yet the two men were born on different days to different mothers hundres of miles apart. Utilizes leading edge technology, this is a terrifying & compelling story of an investigator pitting wits against powerful people. Author Ken Follett never disappoints & this one is spellbinding.
mrrob avatar reviewed The Third Twin on + 83 more book reviews
I really enjoyed this book! It's a little bit different from the "normal" mysteries I read, but what fun!
The author deals with the contemporary and controversial issues of genetic engineering and test-tube babies in a page-turning story! The characters are well-defined and take you along as they charge through a week full of crime, science, sex, and corporate sellouts! What a ride!
reviewed The Third Twin on + 19 more book reviews
Live this genetic CSI fiction stuff
PIZZELLEBFS avatar reviewed The Third Twin on + 331 more book reviews
From Amazon:

After three consecutive historical sagas (A Dangerous Fortune, etc.), Follett returns to the threshold of the 21st century with a provocative, well-paced and sensational biotech-thriller about the genetic manipulation of human embryos. Striving to prove that offspring genetically predisposed toward aggression can learn to sublimate their combative nature through childhood conditioning by socially responsible parents, a feisty and brilliant young university researcher, Jeannie Ferrami, develops software to identify identical twins who have been reared apart. When she stumbles across what seems to be an impossibility:identical twins born to different mothers at separate locations on different dates, Jeannie runs into serious trouble. Pitted against her is, foremost, her own faculty mentor, Berrington Jones, a world-renowned authority on biotechnical engineering. In devious partnership with another scientist and a bigoted U.S. senator with presidential aspirations, Jones is co-founder of Genetico, a small company that pioneered biogenetic research. The trio is now in the final stages of a lucrative friendly buyout by a corporate giant and they don't take kindly to Jeannie's diggings. Multiples created by genetic manipulation aren't new to thrillers (e.g., Ira Levin's The Boys from Brazil), but Follett puts a clever spin on the concept. And despite entwining outlandish plot strands of biotechnical skullduggery, a neo-Nazi candidate for president, academic politics and corporate greed with a steamy romance between Jeannie and one of the twins, the novel shines with the authenticity that's Follett's trademark as it explores the Internet and the mind-boggling data banks of personal statistics maintained by insurance empires, the Pentagon and the FBI. This isn't Follett's most sophisticated novel,it's heavy on the melodrama and on sexual violence, but its wicked narrative energy and catchy theme will likely propel it quickly onto the charts.
reviewed The Third Twin on + 54 more book reviews
Very interesting suspense novel that kept moving with lots of twists & turns about genetics & twins. The language was a abusive at times, but not throughout the entire book.
reviewed The Third Twin on
I have read most of ken follettt's books and this one was a good as all his others. Would puy this on a list of must read.
reviewed The Third Twin on + 3 more book reviews
Typical of Follet\'s work, this book kept me turning pages late into the night.
reviewed The Third Twin on + 42 more book reviews
It was a very good book. It had alot of twists and turns. I would recommend it to anyone you likes suspense books.
gigi avatar reviewed The Third Twin on + 355 more book reviews
"In The Third Twin, bestselling author Ken Follett has woven the contemporary and controversial issues of genetic engineering and test-tube babies into a snap,crackle, and pop story...Well-defined characters charge through a week full of crime, science, sex, and sellouts...Tightly written."--The State (Columbia, SC)
reviewed The Third Twin on + 223 more book reviews
Fabulous scientific thriller
reviewed The Third Twin on + 219 more book reviews
FAST PACED WITH MANY SUPRISE TWISTS A WINNER!
reviewed The Third Twin on + 232 more book reviews
A tale of the possibilities of genetic manipulation. Fast paced. A look into the possibilities of the reshaping of American society. Ken Follett always tells an electrifying tale.
reviewed The Third Twin on + 83 more book reviews
Very good suspence by Ken Follett, one of his best.
Jeannie Ferrami has located identical twins born to different mothers! Frightened by her bizarre discovery, she is determined to find how the births could happen, she will find the truth at all costs- even her career.
reviewed The Third Twin on + 101 more book reviews
Using a restricted FBI database, genetic researcher Jeannie Ferrami has located identical twins BORN to different mothers. Frightened by her bizarre discovery, she is determined to discover the truth at any cost - until she finds herself at the center of a scandal that could ruin her career. To fight the charges, Jeannie plunges into a maze of hidden evidence. With growing horror, she uncovers a cynical, far reaching conspiracy involving disturbing genetic experiments and some of the most powerful men in America - men who will kill to keep their secret concealed.
redhatter avatar reviewed The Third Twin on + 577 more book reviews
Using a restricted FBI database, genetic researcher Jeannie Ferramihas located identical twins born to different mothers. Frightened by her bizarre discovery, she is determined to uncover the truth at any cost - until she finds herself at the center of a scandal that could ruin her career.
reviewed The Third Twin on + 8 more book reviews
Genetic research finds identical twins born to different mothers. Suspenseful.
reviewed The Third Twin on + 15 more book reviews
Suspense. Identical twins born to different mothers.
eadieburke avatar reviewed The Third Twin on + 1643 more book reviews
Jeannie Ferrami has developed a software program to identify identical twins who have been reared apart. Lisa, Jeannieâs research assistant, is raped. Steve Logan is identified as Lisaâs attacker but he is innocent. They find out that Steve has a criminal twin brother in jail. When Jeannie is attacked she realizes that there is another twin related to Steve. Read book in order to find out how a third twin is possible.
boomerbooklover avatar reviewed The Third Twin on + 441 more book reviews
Mystery novel involving test-tube babies and related experimentation. Main character studies twins raised apart as a way of determining how/why some people become criminals and others, even with same genetic make up. do not.
reviewed The Third Twin on + 11 more book reviews
Great writer full of suspense and fun to read
mvtrekkie avatar reviewed The Third Twin on + 231 more book reviews
The front cover is different from the one shown.