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The Third Twin

The Third Twin
CJ Omololu
Delacorte Press
February 24, 2015
Hardcover
336

Identical twins. Identical DNA. Identical suspects. It’s Pretty Little Liars meets Revenge in this edge-of-your-seat thriller with a shocking twist.

When they were little, Lexi and her identical twin, Ava, made up a third sister, Alicia. If something broke? Alicia did it. Cookies got eaten? Alicia’s guilty. Alicia was always to blame for everything.

The game is all grown up now that the girls are seniors. They use Alicia as their cover to go out with boys who are hot but not exactly dating material. Boys they’d never, ever be with in real life.

Now one of the guys Alicia went out with has turned up dead, and Lexi wants to stop the game for good. As coincidences start piling up, Ava insists that if they follow the rules for being Alicia, everything will be fine. But when another boy is killed, the DNA evidence and surveillance photos point to only one suspect—Alicia. The girl who doesn’t exist.

As she runs from the cops, Lexi has to find the truth before another boy is murdered. Because either Ava is a killer . . . or Alicia is real.

 

Review:

I really wanted to like “The Third Twin”, and for a little over half of the book, I did.  Somewhere around there it really jumped the rails in several aspects.  The first half is why I gave it three stars, but the second would most certainly would be a two star book, in my opinion.

The premise is a very interesting one, and an unsolved murder for which the protagonist is a suspect holds a lot of promise.  The stakes rise as it goes on, delivering a mix of the predictable and good surprises.  The set-up was the best part of the book.

The characters are not well-developed, relying mostly on tropes to establish their personalities, and by the end they are quite grating.  The ending, without spoiling it, is everything that a mystery should not be.  While unpredictable, which is a good quality, it comes out of nowhere with absolutely no clues to lead it there, which is anything but good.

For most mystery lovers, I would recommend giving this one a pass.  If the little details are not something you care about in a mystery or thriller, it may be worth a try.  If nothing else, “The Third Twin” is a quick read.

This review is based upon a complimentary copy provided by the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

 

Content Warning:

Mild Sexual Situations, Language, Violence