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.

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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.

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This book was AWESOME.

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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.

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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......

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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.

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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!

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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.

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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.

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The plot was predictable. It was not Follet's best work. It was so so.

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Great story with a good twist.

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Live this genetic CSI fiction stuff

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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.

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Awesome Amazing Audio Book

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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!!

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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.

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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.

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