The book is good. I literally couldn’t put it down, and actually finished the book in under 2 days.
The author, Gary Troup, was supposedly on Oceanic Flight 815. He is presumed dead, but honestly, he maybe one of the many survivors that we have not been introduced to on the show yet. Rumor has it that “Bad Twin” may have been penned by Stephen King, James Patterson, or possibly Dean Koontz. Whoever it is, he is not talking. As far as information about the show LOST, don’t look for much here. There is some, which I will discuss later, but the thing to remember is that this a fictional book, based a “truth” discovered about a fictional company inside a fictional TV show. Talk about spiralling down the rabbit hole!
The book follows Paul Artisan, a private investigator hired by one of the Widmore twins. Cliff Widmore has hired Paul to find his brother Zander. Zander is the family screw up. supposedly Daddy Widmore had a big argument with Zander, and he wants to set things right, especially now that his ticker isn’t so good. So Daddy Widmore leans on Cliff to get Cliff to hire someon to find Zander. Enter Paul.
Paul is an old soul. His character is reminscient of those old 1940’s or 50’s detectives.. you know, the ones in the trench coats with the cigarettes, sitting in their office waiting for some hot dame to wander in with a case. Thing is, he’s nothing like that. He’s a guy who feels he needs to search out the truth, but winds up frittering away his life on tracking down adultrers, or busting fraud cases… the Widmore case gives him a chance to delve deeper into himself and his mad detective skillz.
It’s a good read… Plenty of intrigue, with a dash of romance, and even some murder. Throw an old mentor with plenty of literary knowledge, a hot gun-toting babe, and the whole twin thing… it’s enough to keep things interesting. Without giving too much away… the ending does have a great sort of twist… msytery fanatics will probably see it coming, but most people probably won’t.
On the down side…. the author does get pretty friendly with the “F” word. He throws that bomb around some 15-20 times in a 258 page book. there is also at least one love scene in the book. It doesn’t get all trashy a la Johanna Lindsey, in fact the whole encounter is only about 15 lines of text. But it is there… so for people who would find that a deal breaker, there you go.
As far as the connection to LOST… If you’re an avid fan of the show, you must know that the Hanso Foundation is behind the Dharma Initiative. Dharma is who is running the island the LOSTies are stuck on. Widmore has also seen several mentions on the show. Widmore Construction has a billboard in a Charlie flashback. Widmore Labs is the name of the company branded pregnancy test that just happened to be on the island for Sun to use. There has always been some kind of connection between Widmore Corporation and Hanso Foundation, but on the show, I don’t think we’ve been told that. and an FYI, Widmore Corporation supposedly owns Oceanic Airlines, the carrier that crashed all the LOSTies on the show.
In the book, we learn that Alava Hanso, founder of the Hanso Foundation, used to sit on the board of directors for the Widmore Corporation. Daddy Widmore is actually quite fond of Alvar, claiming he was a “gentleman”. We learn that the Hanso Foundation’s seat on the board is now filled by Thomas Mittlework, the Hanso Foundation Lawyer, and Cliff Widmore likes Mittlework. Through the LOST Experience Game, we are learning more information about Mittlework and the Foundation.
There is also a brief mention of the Hanso Foundation, towards the begining of the book. Paul goes to visit Cliff at his office in the Widmore building. He accidentally gets off on the wrong floor, and finds himself surrounded by people in labs coats. He learns that the Hanso Foundation is housed on the 42nd floor of the Widmore Building. There is a plaque that says:
The Hanso Foundation stands at the vanguard of social and scientific research for the advancement of the human race. For forty years, the foundation has offered grants to worthy experiements designed to further the evolution of the human race and provide technological solutions to the most pressing problems of our time. The Hanso Foundation: a commitment to encouraging excellence in science and technology and furthering the cause of human development.
That’s it. those are the only mentions of Hanso in the book. I believe that the “big secret” that Gary Troup supposedly discovered about the Widmores is that the Widmores no longer run the corporation. Based on the twist at the end, I think it’s possible that the Hanso Foundation may now be the controling interest in the Widmore Corporation.
Another small connection to the show is flight attendant Cindy. The author, Gary, was smitten with a flight attendant named Cindy Chandler, even dedicated the book to her. He writes her into the story as a flight attendant on a cross-pacific flight, ironically enough on Oceanic Airlines. Fans of the show will remember that Cindy survived with the crash with the Tailies, and was taken by the Others during the Tailies trek across the island to find the LOSTies camp.
There is also the mentions of the philospher John Locke, a running theme of redemption, and those numbers. Turns out the Widmore Twins were born on opposite sides of midnight, in mid August, making there birthdays 8-15-16. Three of the “numbers” that were part of the code on the island.
Overall, if you are looking for the answers to all the questions of LOST or even the Experience game, you will probably be disappointed. but if you take the book for what it is, a fiction book, you won’t be disappointed.