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 what’s 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 didn’t want her to know. Ricky
Phillips Berrington’s son is a twin just and he plays a small part but with a
big impact on the story. Lisa Miller who is Jeannie’s 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 Logan’s 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 Jeannie’s 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 Jeannie’s
office not knowing what to expect he doesn’t 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
Steve’s twin brother to further her research Once 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.
Ferrami’s 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 hasn’t did anything, and the neighbor
walks out and asks what’s 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 couldn’t 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 they’re 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 Stein’s house to question him. Once at Bill
Stein’s 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
wasn’t 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 70’s 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 who’s 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.