Customer Reviews

Projection (Frank Clevenger Novel S.)

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

Keith Ablow picks up right where he left off in his first book Denial. Psychopathic plastic surgeon, Trevor Lucas, is now on trial for the brutal murders of 4 people in and around Lynn, Massachusetts. Unfortunately, Frank Clevenger, forensic psychiatrist, knows he's not guilty but can't bring himself to give this information to the police for fear of what it will do to the real killer. This fact torments Clevenger throughout the entire book and just adds to his already existing demons.

Trevor Lucas is as psychotic a character as I've ever met in books of this type. He takes over a locked unit for the criminally insane taking hostages at the same time. He asks for one person, and one person only to negotiate with and that person is Frank Clevenger. What Clevenger sees upon entering this hospital makes for some gruesome and rather scary reading.

Since Ablow himself is a forensic psychiatrist, everything in this book is incredibly believable. It makes the reader wonder if Ablow has been through similar scenarios in his business. I can't recommend this book enough but do yourself a favor, read Denial first to learn exactly what makes Frank Clevenger tick.

I firmly disagree with those who say this is Ablow's weakest book to date. It makes you look very deeply into your own psyche and how you project your stuff onto others both consciously and, more powerfully, from the recesses of the unconscious mind in ways that can end up in either chaos or order.

Dr. Ablow is an incredibly intuitive psychiatrist who expresses his knowledge and experience in a way that is exquisitely brought to life with his incisive intellect and compassionate nature expressed in words that are an art form in themselves in how they are refined before selection. This book is a deeply profound study of the psychodynamic called Projection. I find myself asking more questions and doing more inner "homework" in my own psyche as a direct result of the power of his work.

The author has a set of big 'ole brass ones to be this utterly transparent with the reader. I find myself in awe and very respectful of Dr. Ablow's enormous capacity to be totally REAL.

The teaching in this book is beyond superb, it is brilliant and illuminating. "Monitoring one's own emotions' in reaction to other's behavior is the major message here that Holloway shares with Clevenger. It is one of the key concepts that doctors utilize in therapy to guide the patient toward that "ah ha" experience, and can be brilliantly useful to others as well. I found it a timely reminder. In my opinion, the story is almost ancillary to the powerful inner work that the author puts on the table for us all to share.

This is the third book of this series that I have read and can say that they all will be archived cheek by jowl with my medical and psychiatric textbooks. It is a wonderful teaching tool and should be required reading in graduate school.

Kathleen Nelson, PhD
Psychologist (Ret.)
Music Producer

Projection's gore and violence do not begin to touch the places where author Keith Ablow wants to take us. There is no wasted language, no impertinent paragraphs, not a single word used out of context. Ablow is a master practitioner of the art of writing. With Projection, Ablow comes closer to mastering a genre he has been trying to command for almost a decade. Those of you searching for reasons to deem Projection implausible, need to rethink why you are reading a thriller. Projection is all about two of Ablow's favorite topics - pain and redemption. The pain comes from man's inhumanity to man. I am not sure how redemption gets processed, but Ablow helps us out with that one. Projection is the stuff of brilliance, written by an extaordinary young man. Keith Ablow's work is destined to reach the top. Projection is one giant step in that direction.

This is the second book by Keith Ablow and is the sequel to Denial. It's an honest to goodness sequel too, with the story from Denial recalled many times along with events and characters, who come back to play significant roles. The bottom line is: you'd better read Denial before reading Projection.

Like in Denial, Projection is another gritty suspense thriller, packed with more than its fair share of grisly scenes that will be sure to turn the stomach of the squeamish reader - just a fair warning.

The story begins with the trial of a doctor suspected of committing a series of murders, but who is pleading insanity. When the doctor is taken back to the asylum for the criminally insane, where he is to be held overnight, he somehow gets free and takes over the asylum, holding the doctors, nurses and fellow inmates hostage. The doctor is convinced that Satan has taken over the bodies of just about everyone around him and his solution is to perform "operations" on whomever he can get his hands on to rid them of Satan's presence. Disturbingly, he believes his own body is controlled by Satan too and, well, you'd better read for yourself how he solves that little problem.

Frank Clevenger, still feeling guilty over past events and still battling his own demons, is forced to become involved in the situation, witnesses some of the depraved actions of the lunatic who has taken over the asylum, but is powerless to stop him. As a psychologist, it's up to Clevenger to work out a way to get inside the doctor's mind to coax him out of the asylum without harming the hostages.

It's another strong entry in a series that doesn't hold back when it comes to describing what would be considered the more distasteful side of the human psyche. It's shocking, but it definitely draws you in, as a good thriller just about always does.

Often when there is a sequel, it never quite holds the reader's attention on the same level as the first book, and this was no exception. All the characters, including the serial killer, Trevor Lucas, and forensic psychologist, Frank Cleavenger, were strong, true-to-life characters; however, the plot seemed to lack much of the excitement and suspense found in "Denial." Perhaps, having studied psychology, I see the book in a different light than someone who has not, and maybe for that reason nothing that happened in the book truly surprised me or captured my undivided attention. I often measure the success of a book by the emotional attachment of the conclusion...did it leave me wanting to read more? The end of "Projection" was just a formality, not a disappointment. All said and done, Keith Ablow is still a truly gifted writer, and, I am sure, a genius in forensic psychology. While the story does not quite live up to the "edge-of-your-seat-thriller" found in "Denial," it is still well worth reading.

I read the first book in Ablow's series, Denial, featuring Dr. Frank Clevenger in the mid-late '90s. I liked Denial but not enough to read Projection, the second book in the series, until now. My feeling about both of these books is the same -- fast reading, lots of suspense, off-center characters and gruesome violence. In most cases, for me, these are the ingredients for giving a thriller a 4-star or 5-star rating. So, why I am considering Projection to be a good book, but nothing special, and giving it a 3 1/2-star rating? The basic reason for this has to do primarily with Ablow's writing style; in that I felt I was "reading an account" of the suspense that occurs, rather than being able to feel that I was "right there experiencing it" with the characters. Another factor that probably contributed to my not rating Projection higher was that I allowed too much time to go by from when I read Denial. My strong recommendation if you decide to read Projection is to read Denial first. Otherwise, I don't think you'll understand well enough the angst and motivations of the main character and some of the other characters that were first introduced in Denial; which, in turn, is likely have a negative impact on your enjoyment of Projection.

After reading all four in the Clevanger series, "Projection" is the weakest of them, but still is a good book. It follows up the events of "Denial", and it feels like Ablow is trying to neatly wrap up the mess at the end of "Denial". Basically, Dr. Lucas, the slimebucket plastic surgeon from the first book, is in prison, and goes over the edge. Dr. Clevanger knows that Dr. Lucas didn't do the crimes that he was put in prison for(*you have to read Denial to know how he knows this*), and so there is some tension when he is called to help negoiate a hostage sitution where Lucas and a band of psycho patients take over the prison hospital. The violence is overdone(which I felt was the weakest point), but Clevanger's investigation of Lucas's past is well done, and we first meet North Anderson, who is important to later books. The ending was a bit of a letdown, but it does neatly tie all the loose ends up, and leaves a blank slate so to speak for "Compulsion"

Ablow knows addiction and psychiatry like the back of his hand, making me wonder what personal demons he may harbor in his closet.

He writes like an addict on crystal meth; he is an intense and very graphic writer with bundles of talent. He narrates a fascinating story about a hostage situation at a mental hospital and doesn't slow down.

Ablow keeps the story going at a break-neck speed and writes an interesting cast of characters, smooth storytelling, and the surprises are shocking and astounding. He has a talent for keeping the readers in suspense and twisting the knife a little deeper.

A great read!!

I can't compare this book with his first book, Denial. I doubt that I will read his first book since I now know this was a sequal. The story about an innocent psychiatrist flipping out while being locked up in a mental ward for killings he didn't do was exciting and believable and kept me reading. What troubled me about the book was Dr. Cleavenger's sexual escapades with the prostitute Cynthia. I understand his sexual fantasy helping him overcome his weakness for drugs and alcohol. What I don't understand is why it was necessary for Cynthia to give him a blow job while on an airplane. Could this be a fantasy the writer has and not one that belongs in the story? The other thing that gave me the impression this writer has a low opinion of women is the way he used the prostitute, Cynthia,then dumps her out on the street when she has clearly fallen in love with him. He poured his heart out to her revealing his secret of knowing who the real killer is and she betrayed his trust by selling the secret to a reporter. She fell in love with him after the betrayal and then when she trusted him enough to reveal her past and what brought her to prostitution he seemed to forgive that but wouldn't even consider the cause of the betrayal. His weakness of confessing his sin to a prostitute like she was a priest caused the betrayal. All through his book the author discribes women in mostly a sexual nature. I found all his women characters to be presented as pretty much worthless sex objects or killers that he used for sex objects. I didn't find the graphic mutilations and murders near as offensive as what seemed to be his demeaning of women. Definately the blow job on the airplane could have been edited out. The image of that single thing is what I was left with more than the story because it made me angry. Anger is not what I want to be left with in any book.

As most sequels go, I was not expecting much from Keith Ablow's "Projection". The first novel "Denial" was poorly written and I found very little of any value. "Projection" however is much better in every way shape and form. Ablow has a sharp nightmarish voice in this novel. He is slowly becoming like Thomas Harris with his ability to keep people up late into the night reading to find out what will happen next.

"Projection" picks up right where "Denial" left off.

This novel is much more well rounded and the last half of the novel will fly by. Clevender is still a main character that is very hard to like, due to his past and present demons tormenting him. Some of the chapters contain graphic acts of violence not suitable for every reader. Ablow has shown that he has grown a little as an author and should find some great new success in future novels.