Lost follows plane crash survivors who are stranded on a desert island

Bad Twin by Gary Troup has had an initial print run of 365,000 - but its author is a work of fiction himself.

In the plane crash drama, Gary Troup is one of the victims of the doomed flight. But his manuscript survives to be read by one of the other characters.

Gary Troup is an anagram of "purgatory" but the identity of Bad Twin's real author has not been revealed.

Nevertheless, the show's publicity has pushed it into the top 20 of online retailer Amazon.com's best-seller list.

He apparently got on this plane in Australia and has been lost at sea Bob Miller Hyperion

Publishers Hyperion are selling the book with the slogan: "The author didn't survive the plane crash, but his manuscript did."

Playing along with the stunt, Hyperion president Bob Miller said: "We got this manuscript from this guy and we couldn't reach him.

"He apparently got on this plane in Australia and has been lost at sea."

Bad Twin, about a private investigator who has to find a pair of twins, is about circumstances "when all seems lost", the publishers said.