A review by 3no7
The Left-Handed Twin by Thomas Perry

dark emotional mysterious tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

5.0

 Protection, untraceable, hunted, discovered 

“The Left-Handed Twin” is part of the “Jane Whitefield” series, but as a new reader, I had no trouble following the compelling and unusual narrative. This is Jane’s story in her voice.  Jane McKinnon is married to Carey McKinnon, MD, Buffalo General Hospital; for the thirty years before that, she was Jane Whitefield, and occasionally, she is again. Jane Whitefield is a fixer, a solver of problems for those who have no one else. She provides protection that is private, focused, and untraceable. She helps people disappear; she takes the endangered out of existence and gives them a second chance at life. New name, new face, new everything, Jane has the connections to make it happen seamlessly. 

The tone of Jane’s narrative is all-knowing, all observing, and ever on guard. She is confident, disciplined, and intense, suspicious of everyone and everything. She is prepared and focused on the end game. The plot is dominated by Jane’s mindset, planning, evaluating, and acting. There is very little conversation. 

 Readers are also taken into the other half of the story, given a different perspective of the same events, because with any escape, also has the hunters, the vengeful, the rich, the dangerous, the enemies. They were tied to that other person, the person who is now “gone,” thanks to Jane. 

“The Left-Handed Twin” is really three intertwined stories, Jane and her husband, Jane and her work, and Jane and her enemies, separate yet connected with problems and complications that must be resolved.  I received a review copy of “The Left-Handed Twin” from Thomas Perry and Mysterious Press. I now wonder about that “previous” Jane did; I will have to go back to the other eight books to find out