14 May 2006

Book of 2006, Part 7: Bad Twin

Bad Twin

by

Gary Troup

I'm wondering if Gary Troup (which is an anagram for the word purgatory) will show up on the TV series Lost next season. This novel -rumored to be written by Stephen King; and it sort of reads like his books - is about many themes that makes the TV series Lost so interesting: the consequence of vengeance, the power of redemption, and where to turn when all seems hopeless.

The novel may be linked to the series, as it offers us clues via a mentor like character of Manny. We are given insights into King Lear, many allegory tales from the Bible about redemption, and even a mention of philosopher John Locke. Then we get a mysterious mention of the Hanso Foundation -who seem to be part of all the things that went on in the bunkers and that our hero, Paul Artisan, travels to Australia in search of lost twin brother (who share a birthday connected to the flight of 815, and returns on Oceanic Airlines.

Its a good book, by the way, and offers a mystery that you want to follow through. You don't have to be a Lost fan to understand it (but, Hyperion -who is owned by ABC - seems to want to convince you that there are major connections to the show). If anything, it reminds me of the old nior detective movies of the 1940's (and something Stephen King -if he did indeed write this book - did in a novel called the Colorado Kid). Or even in the heydey of private investigtor shows of the 1970s.

In the end, since the publisher has gone out of its way to say that "Bad Twin is a work of fiction and all names, characters and incidents are used fictitiously; the author himself is a fictional character," and that the author vanished on Oceanic Flight 815 in September of 2004, there seems to be a good chance that this Gary Troup survived the crash -though, since Sawyer was seen reading the "screenplay" version of the story, he may have perished.

Still, Bad Twin may yet fall into the series plot, as Hanso Foundation is connected to the Dharma Initiative.

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