Rating: 
Summary: Boring, predictable and full of liberal buzzwords
Review: The Third Twin is the fourth Follett book I've read and it ranks a distant last. In Dangerous Fortune, Night over Water and Pillars of the Earth, Follett takes the reader on a journey into the past with different cultures and different customs. His characterization makes each period come alive.The Third Twin is different in that it is set in the present day. It is a traditional, sub-par thriller that is made worse by Follett's political bias or ignorance. I'll mention more on that later. Jeannie Ferrami studies identical twins and her studies leads her to some facts that some certain bad guys don't want to be discovered. Ferrami and one of her subjects race against the three bad guys to expose the bad guys for the evil people that they are. It is true that they were evil, but Follett does a horrible job of making me fear this people or making me think they are worthy bad guys. In the beginning of the book, Follett says Senator Proust has photos of himself with Rush Limbaugh, Geraldo Riveria and Newt Gingrich. Later a reference is made to Barry Goldwater as a hero to one of the bad guys. The bad guys are also mentioned to be in favor of gun control. Now, to a liberal, these aren't ideal beliefs, but they hardly make a person evil. Yet, Follett fails to do anything else to characterize the bad guys as evil. So we are supposed to believe they are bad because they are Republican. Also, the three bad guys are involved in cloning and genetic engineering. To me, Follett implies that this is a right-wing issue and that only conservatives would use genetics to create the type of humans they want. This book was several years old, but as far as I can tell, this is a political neutral issue. There are wackos on both sides willing to use genetics to engineer humans. I don't know if Follett is a bigot against conservatives or just naïve to think that throwing in some liberal buzzwords would be all he would need to do to create the sense that the bad guys truly are bad in this novel. Politics aside, this story was interesting yet I found much of the dialogue between characters both childish and stating the obvious. I never felt like Ferrami those helping her were fighting to stop something truly evil. Maybe that is because the main plan they were trying to stop was the sale of a genetics firm in which Senator Proust would get $60 million to run for president. Follett himself makes this implausible by making Proust such an unlikeable character. Also, selling a firm for money doesn't just lead to being president. So I never really feel like the unlikeable Proust will get the power that he wants. I plan on reading more Follett but will stick to the period pieces and WWII stuff.
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