Friday, May 05, 2006

And Again! “Lost” Again Breaks New Ground with “Bad Twin”

And I thought I was creative! But earlier this week the creators of “Lost” took it to the new level with the creating on an online game based around the show, which I commented on in an earlier post.  Ingenious! A commercial on Wednesday night’s “Lost” episode on ABC kicked off the show, and the excitement is already building.

It turns out that wasn’t the only new promotion which Lost has added to the bag of tricks.  Evidently, there has also been a book written called “Bad Twin”, written by a man named Gary Troup (who I don’t believe exists) who wrote this book (as well as one other), and then got on Flight 815 from Australia to LA. The plot thickens, eh?

If you watched the “Lost” episode on Wednesday, you remember that Sawyer was reading a manuscript, a “whodunit” which he indicated he was anxious to finish.  Guess what: that was the manuscript for “Bad Twins”.  And the book is real; you are able to purchase a copy on Amazon.com for a bit under $15.00.  From the description of the book:

He has a more practical reason, as well, for wanting his brother found: their crazy father, in failing health and with guilty secrets of his own, will not divide the family fortune until both siblings are accounted for. But it isn't just a fortune that's at stake here. Truth itself is up for grabs, as the detective's discoveries seem to challenge everything we think we know about identity, and human nature, and family. As Artisan journeys across the globe to track down the bad twin, he seems to have moved into a mirror- world where friends and enemies have a way of looking very much alike. The P. I. may have his long-awaited chance to put his courage and ideals to the test, but if he doesn't get to the bottom of this case soon, it could very well cost him his life. Troup's long-awaited Bad Twin is a suspenseful novel that touches on many powerful themes, including the consequence of vengeance, the power of redemption, and where to turn when all seems lost.


Supposedly, a short video clip of Troup promoting the book also was discovered this past week. The clip mentiones another book by Troup; called the Valenzetti Equation, which is marked as “Out of Print”. Check out the description of this book, which I never heard of or saw before now.

What if a mathematical equation could predict the apocalypse?  Using recently-declassified material and hundreds of hours of interviews with former employees of the United Nations and prominent members of the defense and academic establishment, best-selling author Gary Troup turns his finely honed sense of mystery toward one of the most vexing mathematical riddles of our time.


Again, there’s no indication that Troup is a real person. But is name is significant: the name Gary Troup is an anogram for the word Purgatory.  The book has been published by Hyperion Books, which is owned by Disney, who also owns ABC.  And the website dedicated to Troup also contains some links to some sites I hadn’t seen before.  

Is this part of the new game, or is this a separate plot line altogether, one never knows with “Lost”. But without question, the writers of the show are thinking out of the box as to how to enrich the viewer experience and capture a larger audience.  And I, for one, commend them.

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Posted by Scottage at 12:42 PM / | |