An attractive young woman imagines herself autonomous and self-sufficient, only to discover that she is unwittingly trapped in 'the lives of the twins'.
Molly Marks can't make up her mind. Switching plans of study, bouncing from job to job, she feels lost. But all that might change when she begins a relationship with a young psychiatrist. Handsome, successful and caring, Jonathan is the first person (apart from herself) Molly has ever cared deeply about. There's just one sliver of doubt: Jonathan's refusal to talk about his twin brother. Determined to uncover the reasons behind his silence, Molly arranges a secret meeting with the estranged brother named James, also a psychiatrist.
After this reckless act, Molly embarks on a dangerous double life as her relationships with both brothers becomes more and more tangled. She questions whether she can trust either man.. or even herself.
[AT THIS MOST SIGNIFICANT of moments, preparing for bed in their jointly leased apartment on the seventh floor of the handsome new glass-and-poured concrete Greenwood Towers, after a year, or has it been more, of passion, and indecision, and speculation, and hesitation - and much, much more: the intricies of romantic love resist transcription - at this most delicate and intimate of moments Molly Marks, to her distress, finds herself in the awkward position of having caught her lover Jonathon McKewan in a lie.](Simon & Schuster, 14 February 2017, first published 1987, paperback, 224 pages, bought from Amazon, Popsugar 2018 Reading Challenge, a book with characters who are twins)
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This is the first book I've read by JCO's pen name. I really enjoyed Lives of the Twins. This is a psychological thriller which gradually gets darker and darker. Molly becomes obsessed will meeting her lover's twin when he casually mentions that he has one and that they're not speaking. He piques her interest and the rather disturbing chain of events in set in motion. Lives of the Twins is a slow burning book. Nothing much seems to happen but what does happen is disturbing and fascinating. JCO delves into the entire theory of identical twins, how much of their identity and what makes them alike also makes them standout and be unique. Lives of the Twins when is fascinating at times. I was intrigued by Molly. The more entwined she becomes with both brothers the more unstable she seems, especially when she discovers the dark family secret at the route of the brother's estrangement.
