Abandon

by Sean Desmond

There are worse places an Ivy Leaguer, desperate to restore a tattered academic career, can pass the mist-shrouded New England autumn of his senior year. There is serenity on the secluded fourth floor of the cavernous stone dormitory, marred only by the occasional echoed footfall on the stairs of muffled voice in the corridor. The atmosphere is ripe for quiet study--until it begins...

Floorboards creak in seemingly deserted hallways. Phantom whispers stir the silence. Invisible eyes seems to lurk, watching. At last, an enigmatic stranger emerges from the shadows, claiming to be a fellow student. But nobody else can see or hear the presence that seeps in like fog rolling off the Charles River. Nobody else can sense, with growing dread, the terrible truth...

Decades have passed since the murky accident that claimed the lives of three Adams House residents. But somebody wants to relive--and punish--the sins of the past. Somebody is preying on the dorm's current occupants, even as one of their peers descends slowly into a surreal world where madness meets mayhem; where nothing is certain but the chilling suspicion that what has happened before can--and must--happen once again...

Genres: Horror, Mystery

256 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published October 9, 2000

Reviews

[Heather · Rating 2 out of 5]

A few years before I read this book, I watched a movie called Abandon. It starred Katie Holmes & the ultra hot Charlie Hunnam (who's currently still hot on "Sons of Anarchy"). Later, I found out that Abandon is loosely based on this novel, Adam's Fall. Since I usually love a story that takes place in a school setting & is part ghost story, part crime thriller (think The River King), I thought I'd go back & see if the book was better. It wasn't. I can't talk specifics here since I read this years ago, but I vividly remember thinking, "Here's a case where the book wasn't any better than the movie." That's too bad, because the story's premise was so promising.

[Erin · Rating 2 out of 5]

This was also published as ABANDON.

[Lana Crotty · Rating 2 out of 5]

I'm not convinced there is a ghost story here, I got the feeling the protagonist was disturbed since the beginning. He was sleeping with his roommate and his roommate's girlfriend in his freshman year. His roommate supposedly committed suicide, though I don't think he did, I think the narrator killed him to keep their affair/gay interaction secret. He also cheated on his current girlfriend. He seemed hypersexual. Another sign of mental illness.
It could of been a ghost story where the narrator was haunted/possessed by a spirit of a former student who stayed in the same old dorm the narrator did and so history repeated itself.
The whole time I read the book, I felt like I was reading about the narrator's decent into madness, he drank and did drugs, took cough medication, and pain pills. He seemed to suffer from insomnia and paranoia, and he was sick and barely ate properly. He was most certainly hallucinating and could not tell what was reality and what was dreams.
So was this a ghost story or just a student who had psychopathic tendencies that went out of control due to his insomnia and alcohol and drug use?

[Steph · Rating 3 out of 5]

It was a pretty good thriller book, a bit too gory for my taste. Sometimes it was hard to read and my mind started drifting away from the story line/plot. Overall it was an okay book, not sure if I would recommend it to a friend or anyone unless I knew that they were totally into this kind of book. I started to read this book so that I could watch the movie as Zooey Deschanel is in it. Still haven't watched the movie as I have read the synopsis of it and it sounds almost nothing like the book, but it is "loosely" based on it. It must be as there is a female lead in the movie and a male in the book. I wouldn't have wanted Hollywood to make a movie on my book if they didn't follow it somewhat closely.

[Sara · Rating 3 out of 5]

Pretty good read. Shades of both Henry James and Wilkie Collins run continuously through the novel. A good first-time novel by Sean Desmond. The novel definitely interweaves the intriguing ghost story elements utilized so well by both James (Turn of the Screw) and Collins (Woman in White, Moonstone) before him. The narration leaves the audience off balance, just as the narrator appears to be, increasingly so as the novel progresses. An unsettling and spooky good read.

[Kristen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Creepy and engaging- Desmond borrows themes and motifs from "Hamlet"- fitting, seeing as our nameless narrator is doing his thesis on Shakespeare's middle plays, including "Hamlet". We have drownings, a ghost, and a protagonist who slowly descends into madness. The ghost is terrifying- chase scenes in the old libraries thrilling.

[Erin · Rating 2 out of 5]

Desmond does a great job with atmosphere, but is less successful with plotting in this ghost story. If you are a graduate of Harvard you would likely enjoy it more, and maybe Desmond will be more successful once he's a little further away from college life.

Edited to add: someone made a movie from this? I am shocked. It really wasn't that good.

[MaryAnn · Rating 4 out of 5]

Facinatingly creepy!!!

[Valerie · Rating 4 out of 5]

What an eerie, almost at times, hard to read book. Tragic and disturbing. A real gut clenching ghost story. I liked this book, but also wanted to run from it. That is good thing!

[Kammie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Read awhile ago. Can remember liking it a little will have to read again to fully remember.

[Carly · Rating 2 out of 5]

There was so much potential for this to be a fantastic psychological thriller but it just felt too rushed. Great writing though!

[Kimberly · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very unsettling and creepy. Saw the movie Abandon was based on this book but the book was much more disturbing than the movie.

[Ewa Gawrych]

awesome book