A review by kaadie
The Third Twin by Ken Follett

dark mysterious tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

2.0

I did not really enjoy this book. The first and most pertinent reason was that the big plot twist was easily deduced very early on in the book. This just made the rest of the book tedious and annoying as we painstakingly watched the characters try to puzzle out a seemingly obvious solution. The obviousness of the main plot twist (the origins of the twins) is probably due to the fact that the twist is due to, what was at that time, a relatively new an unknown medical procedure. Unfortunately in this day and age
in vitro fertilization
is not a bizarre and new scientific discovery but rather an established and reasonably accepted procedure. This in turn renders most of the mystery and tension around the twins' origins moot. 

Ken Follet is not terrible at writing a female character but there are still some inconsistencies that lend a superficity to the characters. Additionally there was a lot of strange and focused attention on woman and their bodies in this book, with overt and weird sexual overtures concerning both. Which seemingly clashed with the conversations and subsequent condemnation of sexual assault and rape in the book. 

I also felt that the books final opinions on the issues that it brought up were somewhat ambiguous. The book did valiantly address some big issues like rape culture, eugenics and sexism however the resolution of the plot left me personally, unsatisfied.
The old boys club, consisting of Berrington and his friends, wreaked absolute havoc on people's lives, including impregnating eight unsuspecting women and being freaking nazis and yet faced no consequences other than social disgrace and the loss of potential wealth and power
. Additionally
Harvey Jones
, who brutally rapes a woman faces only 5 years in prison. While these are perhaps realistic endings it certainly left me wanting. These were bad people who committed terrible crimes that our protagonists had to risk life and limb to unearth and their punishment simply feels insufficient. 

Despite all of these complaints I will acknowledge that considering the time in which the book was written and the fact that it was written by a man, the novel is surprisingly adept at addressing rape culture. While the conversation is in no way subtle or nuanced it is definitely there and that still deserves congratulations. (Such are the low standards set by every other novel that likes to parade toxic masculinity as the unquestionable norm).

I did feel like the ending was unnecessarily dragged out, particularly
Steve's deception of Berrington, contacting the clones
and the press conference. We know the story is going to end and we know the protagonists are going to emerge victorious so all of the little twists and sudden discoveries of Jeannie's plan were annoying and just served to stall the inevitable ending and offer cheap tension. 

Overall my opinion of the book was that it was boring but a relatively engaging read for say the first  200 pages, however after that it plateaus. I definitely think depending on when you read the book and how much you know about
in vitro fertilization
will definitely impact your enjoyment of the book.
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