The authors will be familiar to any regular reader of alt.flame.psychiatry. Ablow and Coles have a long-standing reputation as two of the most provocative--and talented--investigators of the region where social norms, criminal activity, and the human brain meet. That's brain, not mind, and the distinction is an important one when approaching A & C's body of work. Wielding an informed position best described as "neo-materialism," the authors masterfully unearth the links between doctor and patient, criminal and victim, normalcy and deviance. In particular, this work puts to rest many of the issues raised in Danielski's "The Relationship of the Physician and the Trauma Patient," [1986] and Bearden's "Shrinks and Other Friends" [1992]. Please don't get the impression that A & C's work is simply another dry academic work on patient/doctor interaction, though. This is also a penetrating first-person account of one doctor's frightening but ultimately redemptive plunge into the nightmarish world of the mentally disturbed. A tasty read, and highly recommended for everyone, from fans of true-crime to serious academics hungering for the latest in therapeutic theory.

Dr. Frank Clevenger, a forensic psychiatrist with many internal demons of his own, gets involved in a complicated murder case in Keith Ablow's new thriller, "Compulsion." On the island of Nantucket, one of the infant twin daughters of billionaire Darwin Bishop is found murdered in her crib. Clevenger is called into the case by North Anderson, a former police officer from Baltimore who is now chief of police on the beautiful island of Nantucket. Clevenger and Anderson are former colleagues who have collaborated on some tough cases in the past.

Clevenger is reluctant to commit himself to another forensic case, since he is still recovering from some terrible experiences that have scarred his psyche. However, North draws him into the web of intrigue surrounding the Bishop family, and Clevenger becomes involved on many levels with the Bishop family. Besides Darwin and the twin daughters, the Bishop family includes Julia, Darwin's gorgeous and seductive wife, and their two adopted teenaged sons, overachieving Garrett and Billy, a budding psychopath with a history of violence.

Everything about "Compulsion" is extremely intense. It is a deeply psychosexual book which delves into the dark forces that make people do the unthinkable. Clevenger doesn't act like a psychiatrist much of the time. He crosses over the line into professional misconduct more than once. Clevenger is a deeply flawed and troubled character. He is an example of someone who becomes a psychiatrist because he wants to help himself and others who have suffered deep emotional traumas.

As a thriller, "Compulsion" is fairly predictable. Ablow throws out red herrings galore, there is a fair amount of sex and violence, and the ending has a "twist," which has become almost compulsory these days. The dialogue is serviceable, but the characters are stereotypes, except for Clevenger. His character is the most intriguing, since he is two people at once. On the one hand, he is a deeply compassionate and insightful psychiatrist, dedicated to healing. On the other hand, he is something of a basket case, trying to cope with a history of alcoholism and drug abuse, and attempting to maintain his own emotional balance.

I recommend "Compulsion" with reservations. It is a page-turner, but Ablow breaks little new ground in the thriller genre.

Brooke and Tess are identical twin girls born to billionaire Darwin Bishop and his beautifully charismatic wife Julia. They also have two adopted sons, Graham the golden boy and sixteen year old Billy who has been in and out of psychiatric institutions all his life and is known to the local authorities for his violent behavior.

When Brooke unexpectedly dies, Darwin immediately thinks that his son murdered his sister. Nantucket police officer North Anderson isn't convinced that Billy is guilty and brings forensic psychologist Dr. Frank Clevenger on the case. Frank believes that everyone that was in the house except for baby Tess is a likely suspect and he risks his own life to uncover the truth.

The moment one starts reading this fascinating crime thriller one is compelled to finish it in one sitting. Like the protagonist, readers will find it hard, if not impossible, to figure out who killed the infant because all the suspects have motives, meaning and opportunity. Keith Ablow is a gifted storyteller who ha written an exceptional tale.

Harriet Klausner

Dr. Frank Clevenger, the emotionally scarred forensic psychiatrist with an addictive personality featured in Denial and Projection, returns in this third outing that is quite chilling. Toning back the "over-the-topness" doings of Projection (that book is a very wild ride), Keith Ablow delivers a novel that will compel you to keep reading in order to figure out whodunnit. Facing the demons of his past, some of it heartbreakingly written, Clevenger must find out who murdered a baby in a wealthy Nantucket home. You can't help but cheer for the good doctor as he propels himself through a plot that races towards a thrilling showdown, with the baby's killer and his own past.
Great beach reading, Keith Ablow is pretty addicting.

This book literally jumped off the shelf and I had to buy it. I was initially put off by the coke-snorting doctor, who didn't seem to have his life together. But, I was hooked by page 19. Ablow's writing is real, not the stuff of Hollywood or those writer's who crank out a book every six months. There were definitely parts that made me reel and squirm. However, his insights into the human psyche are phenomenal. I've had enough therapy to know that the comments he makes about individuals and pain are well researched.

In fact, some of his comments helped me with some work I am currently doing on my own childhood.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book and can't wait for the next one! Thanks, Mr. Ablow.

I actually bought this book in error, thinking I was ordering something by another author Keith Snyder. You can imagine my surprise upon reading it, that I had accidentally come upon a debut novel by a really terrific writer.

Frank Cleavenger is a forensic psychiatrist who interviews suspected murderers. He also snorts cocaine and has as troubled a mind as some of the people he's interviewing but he knows how to keep it in check. The author is also a psychiatrist himself so the research is obviously first hand and this makes the main character so much more believable. In this book, a small town in Massachusetts has a psycho-murderer on its hands and Cleavenger is called in on the case.

Other characters that add to this psychological thriller are Trevor Lucas, a psychopathic plastic surgeon whose former patients are being killed and Kathy, who is living with Cleavenger while using Trevor as a part-time lover. Frank's volatile nature adds to the excitement of this book. Ablow has since written a sequel, Projection, which I'm anxious to read after getting through this riveting book all in one piece.

Ten pages into Denial, I hastily emailed a friend of mine who's a big fan of Hardboiled mysteries and told him, "Have I got an author for you!" This is believably seamy stuff, quickly paced, smart and scary, filled with deliciously flawed characters. Ablow doesn't even place his protagonist above the fray: Frank Clevenger is a forensic psychiatrist with severe addiction issues--including coke, women other than his partner, and twisted psyches. There is not a character in this book who is free of quirks and tics, and it is from this pallette of dark human vagary that the story draws its power and its very plot.

As one who lives in Eastern Massachusetts, I was taken by Ablow's adept use of local geography. Clevenger lives in one of those big houses in coastal Marblehead that require two doctors to support a mortgage; he works and plays, if such a word can cover his particular recreations, in his rag-tag hometown of "Lynn, Lynn, City of Sin," and in equally gritty Chelsea. The duality fits the man, an abused blue-collar boy beneath a professional veneer.

With its sex, blood and lines of white powder, this book is not for everyone. But for those who like their mystery dark and their humanity imperfect, it's a real find.

Susan O'Neill
Author: Don't Mean Nothing: Short Stories of Viet Nam

Projection is the second volume in Keith Ablow's series about Bostonian forensic psychiatrist Frank Clevenger,and I do NOT recommend it to those who have not read the opening book "Denial" as its plot depends very heavily on events described in the earlier book.Come to Projection first and you will be playing catch up and the reading experience will seem frustrating.
Projection opens with the trial of brilliant but warped plastic surgeon Trevor Lucas on a charge of multiple murder,events set out in Denial.He is innocent of the charge,as Clevenger knows full well,having secreted the real culprit in an institution for the insane.Lucas-unable to cope with the trauma of incarceration,takes hostages in the prison and his collaborators include a number of seriously deranged psychotic criminals .Clevenger enters the prison and is able to persuade Lucas to give him 24 hours to delve into the secret of Lucas'traumas and the conviction that he is an agent of Satan.The trip takes him-in the company of a personable hooker-to Baltimore and a confrontation with Lucas disfigured younger brother prior to a powerful climax back in the prison.
The book does not unfortunately avoid the trap of "grand guignol"and the scenes in the prison are misjudged ,becoming not merely gloatingly violent but even faintly absurd.The constant religious imagery and comparison between psychiatry and religion are,at least to a psychiatric sceptic like me (I regard it as an ersatz ,pseudo-science)tiresome
Clevenger has some of his demons under control this time around and comes over as a tad more believable for it.
Powerful and propulsive writing compensate for a slightly hysterical tone but overall,while interesting ,there is an air of sophomoric straining in the book
Violent actions and strong language will not endear the book to many people,but to my mind stem naturally from character and situation

Forensic psychiatrist Dr. Frank Clevenger observes the trial of plastic surgeon Dr. Trevor Lucas with extreme trepidation. The police charged Trevor with killing and mutilating two women. He landed in a psycho ward when he deliberately broke his arm in three places. After Trevor's incarceration, two more identical murders occur, but the police believe a copy cat killer committed the acts of violence.

However, Frank knows otherwise, feeling guilty that his testimony helped lead to an innocent person becoming insane for crimes he never committed. Furthermore, Frank never expected Lucas to gain total command over his residential psychiatric unit. Trevor controls all the inmates and has captured several hostages, including a pregnant woman. Trevor demands that Frank visit him, a request the psychiatrist does both out of guilt and a need to reach Trevor so that the situation can peacefully end. Frank knows that he will either die or help his host gain some inner harmony.

PROJECTION is a tale about a classic anti-hero performing insane actions to prevent further murders. In spite of the character,s obvious flaw, readers will understand that the tortured individual retains an honorable soul. This allows him to break laws for the good of his "patient. Though this story line is an action-packed psychological suspense, the psychopath and the psychiatrist will fascinate mystery fans too because they are different sides of the same coin

Harriet Klausner

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.