Product Description

Sometimes evil has a familiar face . . .

Paul Artisan, P.I. is a new version of an old breed -- a righter of wrongs, someone driven to get to the bottom of things. Too bad his usual cases are of the boring malpractice and fraud variety. Until now.

His new gig turns on the disappearance of one of a pair of twins, adult scions of a rich but tragedy-prone family. The missing twin -- a charismatic poster-boy for irresponsibility -- has spent his life daring people to hate him, punishing himself endlessly for his screw-ups and misdeeds. The other twin -- Artisan's client -- is dutiful and resentful in equal measure, bewildered that his "other half" could have turned out so badly, and wracked by guilt at his inability to reform him. He has a more practical reason, as well, for wanting his brother found: their crazy father, in failing health and with guilty secrets of his own, will not divide the family fortune until both siblings are accounted for.

But it isn't just a fortune that's at stake here. Truth itself is up for grabs, as the detective's discoveries seem to challenge everything we think we know about identity, and human nature, and family. As Artisan journeys across the globe to track down the bad twin, he seems to have moved into a mirror-world where friends and enemies have a way of looking very much alike. The P.I. may have his long-awaited chance to put his courage and ideals to the test, but if he doesn't get to the bottom of this case soon, it could very well cost him his life.

Troup's long-awaited Bad Twin is a suspenseful novel that touches on many powerful themes, including the consequence of vengeance, the power of redemption, and where to turn when all seems lost.

Bad Twin is a work of fiction and all names, characters and incidents are used fictitiously; the author himself is a fictional character.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #178668 in Books
• Published on: 2006-05-02
• Released on: 2006-05-02
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 272 pages

About the Author
Bad Twin is the highly-anticipated new novel by acclaimed mystery writer Gary Troup. Bad Twin was delivered to Hyperion just days before Troup boarded Oceanic Flight 815, which was lost in flight from Sydney, Australia to Los Angeles in September 2004. He remains missing and is presumed dead.

Customer Reviews

What does this have to do with LOST?
I am a huge fan of LOST and I know the place of the Gary Troup manuscript in the series and his relationship with Cindy and all....but this is just a bad book about a bad twin and if it has much meaningful to do with LOST or even remotely with the themes of LOST then it escapes me. Readers would do better to flip through this book before buying it and write down all the other books mentioned in it and go read those instead of this one. Sawyer would most definitely not like this book and I'm sure could find a familiar alternate (twin) use of it, especially while stranded on an island.

Bad Twin
***spoilers*below***

Alright, so it starts off interestingly enough, albeit kind of slowly. Gets better, mystery, mystery, travel, whoo-hoo. I was highly intrigued by the idea that Zander was the good twin and Cliff the bad one. I really thought that would play out more than it did. But then again, I thought lots of things would play out more than they did, for example, Sky. Oh well. Moving beyond that, you have the detective story. I think that was the biggest mistake the writer could make. You don't say, "oh, here's the best mystery book plotline EVER" and then use it yourself. That hurts you, it really does. Not only are you saying that your story has the best plotline, you're also being idiotically predictable. Lots of people die, it's messed up, Manny tosses around some great quotes [loved him!], and we finally find Zander. Back home, Cliff's been killed, so everyone rushes back for the most rushed, convoluted, and random solution ever, although I did love the reunion between father and son.
The plot then, pretty much was horrible. I have to give some credit to the writing though, which I thought in many places was fabulous. I just wish it had more tie-ins with the show and wasn't quite as horribly rushed. [nice cameos by Mittlewerk and Alvar, though!]

Don't bother
Although competently written, this book is not a very good stand-alone, nor does it offer any clue or value for the fans of LOST.