Helpful Score: 9
I know the words "dark," and "page-turner," and "suspenseful" are **always** used when describing books of the mystery/thriller genre, but gosh, here is one heck of a dark, suspenseful page-turner. Ablow has re-invented the genre with his anti-hero Frank Clevenger -- a forensic psychiatrist with more than his share of demons (within and without). The book has several scenes of graphic sexuality which may offend some readers but are essential to character development and plot. Here is a fresh, shocking and exciting read -- better than Kellerman, and that's saying something!
Helpful Score: 3
A good book. Dark and sometimes disturbing. I wish the author would have focused more on the crime than the main character's personal life. Some is required but I feel he focused on it too much and not enough on the crime.
Helpful Score: 3
Once you got to the second half of the book, it picked up. I didn't care too much for the detail of the character's own life and I figured out the ending before I got 3/4's of the way through.(A bit predictable and redundant)
It was OK, but definately not a favorite.
It was OK, but definately not a favorite.
Helpful Score: 2
Great series! Best to read in order.
Not a very likeable main character.
Helpful Score: 1
Frank Clevenger is a forensic psychiatrist who hates authority, fears intimacy, uses sex as an anesthetic, is tortured by his professional mistakes, and can't free himself from the shadows of a brutal, alcoholic father and an absent, unfeeling mother.
Helpful Score: 1
This is Ablow's 1st novel and it is absolutely outstanding. It shocks you then keeps you tied up in the plot. Recommended. I saw this author on Fox News not knowing his was the book I just finished, he was speaking and giving opinions on OJ. Remarkable man.
Helpful Score: 1
Interesting book, the protagonist is a much more troubled "hero" than usual. The end took me totally by surprise.
Helpful Score: 1
I am so glad I got this book as I read a later book in the series. I was not disappointed - it was better than the last one I read by this author. The ending was a knock out!! I never saw it coming.
Helpful Score: 1
Whenever I can't put a book down until I'm finished, even when it's 3 in the a.m., I have to say it's good. This is the first Frank Clevenger book and is absolutely necessary to understanding his character in Ablow's other books. I had to catch my breath at the ending...unexpected to say the least.
These Clevenger books are AWESOME! that's the only way to describe it. The first few pages had me thinking "oh, here we go, a good but predictable suspense book like the Alex Delaware and Kay Scarpetta novels" (which I also love) and then WHAM, OMG! I loved it.
Kind of hard to like these characters until you realize the torment in their lives is what makes most of this story, there is graphic raw sex descriptions if you like that kind of reading and the story takes over half the book to finally get into what is going on but since it is the first book about Frank Clevenger I guess it was necessary to get his background story out there, just hope it isn't in all the books word for word. I will read more by Ablow
great book, lots of psycgological suspense. recommend this book to people who like to get into the psychological aspects of murder and deceit.
Real page turner, hard to put down, great read if you like medical/psychological/crime stories.
I was slightly disappointed in this novel. When a forensic psychiatrist writes a crime thriller, I expect a level of introspective intensity in the characters that I just didn't see demonstrated by Mr. Ablow. There were elements of cleverness that kept me reading this otherwise mediocre story; I appreciated the raw raunchiness and the thoroughly unlikable protagonist. At the same time, I wanted the author to step up his appeal to both my visceral love of the macabre and my ability to read above a junior high school level, and I didn't feel satisfied when it was through.
AWESOME book & author!!!!!!!!
Great Frank Clevenger book.
Good psychological thriller.
At first I wasn't sure if I would like the book as the main character, Frank Clevenger, was not the most likable person. But as the story progresses and Frank has to both solve the crimes and face the reason he tends to self-destruct, I got more interested in how the story would end. I look forward to reading more about Frank and his friends and enemies in the next book, Projection.
Was good to have a fast reading book, had a great plot, caught my attention and quick to read!
A series of grisly murders has forensic psychaitrist Frank Clevenger on the case of a lifetime, and rhe fight of his life.
pretty good
from the back cover:
A series of grisly murders has forensic psychiatrist Frank Clevenger on the case of a lifetime and the fight of his life against a brutal killer with a horrific trademark and his own howling demons of sexual compulsion, self-destruction, and denial.
A series of grisly murders has forensic psychiatrist Frank Clevenger on the case of a lifetime and the fight of his life against a brutal killer with a horrific trademark and his own howling demons of sexual compulsion, self-destruction, and denial.
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