Book Review: Bad Twin
If you aren't a die hard Lost fan, you probably haven't heard about Bad Twin. Basically, the book jacket claims that this book was written by Gary Troup, who tragically died on Oceanic flight 815 before his book was published. Flight 815 of course is the flight that all the Lost characters were on. The book is supposed to give us some insight into the Hanso Foundation, as well as one of the minor yet recurring characters; the stewardess who appears on plane flashbacks in season one and briefly as a tallie in season two. According to information disseminated about the book, the stewardess was the author's girlfriend, and she would become a character in the book.
So die hard Lost fans were totally ready for this book. Not to mention it was a good idea by the writers, because it gives everyone something to do between seasons two and three. Just one problem: this book sucked.
I'm not one to usually give bad reviews, but I sincerely believe this was one of the worst books I've read in a long time. First of all, they really didn't reveal anything of interest that has to do with Lost. At the end of the book, the mention off hand where three of the numbers came from. That was interesting. For those keeping track at home, that's 1 interesting page to 200+ not interesting. When I first started reading and found that some of the characters were wealthy because of business, I assumed that business would be the Hanso Foundation and we would maybe find out something about Alvar Hanso. Nope. The main characters run some other company that is loosely connected to the Hanso foundation, and Alvar Hanso is mentioned offhand a few times. Information about the Hanso foundation in general was pretty limited. Of course, the biggest mystery of Lost is the island, and almost nothing was revealed about any island that might possibly be THE island.
So first of all, the book didn't really do it for me as far as revealing Lost secrets. However, I wouldn't mind if the book were a good read. It wasn't. The characters were generic at best, and incredibly boring at worst. Just about anyone writing a book about polar opposite twins could have come up with their personal traits. The main character was as generic as private detectives come, with the slight twist that he has a 70 year old friend. But the entire point of the old friend was so the author could prove he was knowledgeable in areas of classic literature. I felt I knew the secrets of the main characters love interest before she was even introduced.
Then there was the writing style. Now, I will grant that whoever wrote this book is either a famous writer paid to write this book anonymously, or some no name who may not be a terribly good writer. Either way, the book probably had to be done very quickly to get out on time, and the writer couldn't do his or her do diligence with the book. All that being said, I'm not sure the book was written by someone who's first language was English. Misplaced or misused words, grammatical issues, sentences that don't seem quite be complete or correctly formed (like this one). The style was bad enough that I really think there is a code in the book of some sort. Like, take every 4th, 8th, 15th, 16th, 23rd, and 42nd word and you get some crazy revealed secret about how Claire is Jack's long lost sister from his father's first marriage to Rose before she gave birth to Michael at age 14 and gave him up for adoption where he was going to be placed in a foster home with Sawyer until his father killed his mother. That's really about the only thing that would redeem this book for me right now.
So if you haven't figured it out already, on a scale of "blech" to "wow", I'm calling this one "blech." If you don't watch Lost, you have no reason to read this book. If you do watch Lost, go on to a fan message board, they will tell you everything you need to know and probably more than you will discover by reading the book on your own in the first place.
Book I am reading now: State of Fear.
So die hard Lost fans were totally ready for this book. Not to mention it was a good idea by the writers, because it gives everyone something to do between seasons two and three. Just one problem: this book sucked.
I'm not one to usually give bad reviews, but I sincerely believe this was one of the worst books I've read in a long time. First of all, they really didn't reveal anything of interest that has to do with Lost. At the end of the book, the mention off hand where three of the numbers came from. That was interesting. For those keeping track at home, that's 1 interesting page to 200+ not interesting. When I first started reading and found that some of the characters were wealthy because of business, I assumed that business would be the Hanso Foundation and we would maybe find out something about Alvar Hanso. Nope. The main characters run some other company that is loosely connected to the Hanso foundation, and Alvar Hanso is mentioned offhand a few times. Information about the Hanso foundation in general was pretty limited. Of course, the biggest mystery of Lost is the island, and almost nothing was revealed about any island that might possibly be THE island.
So first of all, the book didn't really do it for me as far as revealing Lost secrets. However, I wouldn't mind if the book were a good read. It wasn't. The characters were generic at best, and incredibly boring at worst. Just about anyone writing a book about polar opposite twins could have come up with their personal traits. The main character was as generic as private detectives come, with the slight twist that he has a 70 year old friend. But the entire point of the old friend was so the author could prove he was knowledgeable in areas of classic literature. I felt I knew the secrets of the main characters love interest before she was even introduced.
Then there was the writing style. Now, I will grant that whoever wrote this book is either a famous writer paid to write this book anonymously, or some no name who may not be a terribly good writer. Either way, the book probably had to be done very quickly to get out on time, and the writer couldn't do his or her do diligence with the book. All that being said, I'm not sure the book was written by someone who's first language was English. Misplaced or misused words, grammatical issues, sentences that don't seem quite be complete or correctly formed (like this one). The style was bad enough that I really think there is a code in the book of some sort. Like, take every 4th, 8th, 15th, 16th, 23rd, and 42nd word and you get some crazy revealed secret about how Claire is Jack's long lost sister from his father's first marriage to Rose before she gave birth to Michael at age 14 and gave him up for adoption where he was going to be placed in a foster home with Sawyer until his father killed his mother. That's really about the only thing that would redeem this book for me right now.
So if you haven't figured it out already, on a scale of "blech" to "wow", I'm calling this one "blech." If you don't watch Lost, you have no reason to read this book. If you do watch Lost, go on to a fan message board, they will tell you everything you need to know and probably more than you will discover by reading the book on your own in the first place.
Book I am reading now: State of Fear.
posted by Mike Oliver at 10:09 AM
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