The Third Twin by Ken Follett is a type of mystery book. It makes you look at different aspects of the story. When you think you know whats happening it is not always what you think.
Dr. Jeannie Ferrami, a scientist funded by a university who is doing a study on twins is one of the main characters in the story. Jeannie Ferrami is tall with long brown hair and is also very athletic. Steve Logan a student at another college is also a very important character in the story. Berrington Jones the head of the college funds Dr.
Jeannie Ferrami until Jeannie discovers something Berrington didnt want her to know. Ricky Phillips Berringtons son is a twin just and he plays a small part but with a big impact on the story. Lisa Miller who is Jeannies best friend comes early into the story playing a very dramatic role, another small character is Dennis Pinker one of the twins in the story who is a murderer and is also being studied He is one of Steve Logans twin brothers. Lisa Miller and Jeannie Ferammi are play tennis at the university they work for while changing in the locker room a fire breaks out in which Lisa is caught. Ricky Phillips poses as a security guard and ushers the woman out of the locker room all except Lisa who he rapes in the locker room. Soon after Ricky leaves Jeannie enters the locker room looking for Lisa who she finds unconscious and calls the firemen to help her get Lisa out.
Lisa then ends up at the police station filing a report and giving a description of the man whom raped her. The next day Jeannie finds a match in the system she created to help aid her in her search for twins. In her research Jeannie is trying to prove that twins have the same behavior patterns as other twins. In Jeannies system she came up with Steve Logan and Dennis Pinker and found out Steve Logan was a model student at a college campus across town and Dennis Pinker was a convicted murderer at a state prison. Dr. Jeannie Ferrami contacts Steve Logan and Dennis Pinker.
Steve Logan shows up to Jeannies office not knowing what to expect he doesnt know that he has a twin until Dr. Ferrami explains to him what she found based on her computer program. Jeannie then asks if he was adopted or if his mother put a child up for adoption Steve answers no, but then thinks to himself he might be adopted. Once Steve is done with the interview Dr. Ferrami tells him she will be visiting Dennis Pinker Steves twin brother to further her researchOnce Steve gets home he goes to his room and thinks to himself what if I was adopted why did my mother keep it from me.
Once Steve is called to the dinner table he immediately asks his mother if he is adopted, and when his mother tells him no he asks if he had a twin brother; once again she says no. Steve Logan is know confused, was Dr. Ferramis computer program wrong. The next day Jeannie visits the jail where Dennis Pinker is and with one look she finds they are twins, with no doubt in her mind she feels as though they are twins. She soon discovers Steve Logan and Dennis Pinker are nothing alike but yet they look so much alike. When Jeannie is done interviewing Dennis she gets in her car and goes to a donut shop.
Once at the donut shop she finds a tall dark haired man who she thinks is Steve Logan so they sit down and have coffee. Once done with the coffee Jeannie asks Steve if he wants a ride and he says sure. As Jeannie is driving on the highway Steve suddenly starts touching her when Jeannie tells him to stop he throws himself on her, then Jeannie makes a sharpe turn and throws The man out. Once Jeannie gets home she starts screaming and locks herself in her car where she calls the police. As Jeannie is calling the police Steve walks up to the window and asks what happened and she tells Steve to go away. Once the police arrive Jeannie wants Steve arrested but Steve says he hasnt did anything, and the neighbor walks out and asks whats happening Jeannie tells them Steve tried to rape her an hour ago.
The neighbor then tells them that that is impossible Steve has been sitting here waiting for you to come back for hours it couldnt be him. After Jeannie has Steve released and invites him in, Steve then asks how the interview with Dennis went she explained he is definitely your twin she told Steve they are exactly identical, then adds so is someone else. The man which tried to rape her looked exactly like Steve so she suggests maybe theyre triplets, and later found another match with her computer program Bill Stein a game programmer from uptown New York, so Jeannie pays a visit. Once in New York she has the police escort her to Bill Steins house to question him.
Once at Bill Steins house the police interrogate him asking him where he was the other day Bill tells them he was at work working on a game program and his boss confirmed so he was off the hook. After the police interrogated him Jeannie asked him if he were adopted and he said no his parents had had him since birth. Once Jeannie gets back from New York She tells Steve he was another twin, but he says he wasnt adopted just like you and Dennis. Wondering what was going on she broke into Berrington Jones office and look on his personal files she found out that early in the 70s Berrington and a couple of other guys were in a government conspiracy in which they combined genetics and came up with the perfect soldier, they put the genetics together and planted them into eight woman whos husbands were men in the army. They planted the sperm in the woman when they came for regular checkups. Once Jeannie found out about this she confronted Berrington and had his son arrested.
There was a little more to the ending but reading the book is a lot better than hearing it from me. The story ended with all the twins knowing they were genetic experiments and just wondering why. I think the author was trying to tell us that things were not always what they seem.Bibliography:The Third Twin by Ken Follet
