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The Donor
Dennis Heller wakes up in a small private hospital after a minor car accident to discover that one of his organs is missing. Worse yet, he soon learns that this is the second organ to be harvested from him.
Now Dennis must run for his life. Clearly, someone, somewhere, is a close match for him--and is powerful enough to steal Dennis's organs for transplant purposes. The next time, Dennis might lose his heart or lungs. He won't wake up after that . . .
Rivaling the best work of Robin Cook and Michael Crichton, The Donor drags the frightening reality of modern-day organ theft into the cold light of day.
Now Dennis must run for his life. Clearly, someone, somewhere, is a close match for him--and is powerful enough to steal Dennis's organs for transplant purposes. The next time, Dennis might lose his heart or lungs. He won't wake up after that . . .
Rivaling the best work of Robin Cook and Michael Crichton, The Donor drags the frightening reality of modern-day organ theft into the cold light of day.
384 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2004
5 people are currently reading
158 people want to read
About the author
Frank M. Robinson
122 books59 followersFrank M. Robinson was an American science fiction and techno-thriller writer. he got his start writing for the old pulp fiction magazines. He wrote several novels with Thomas N. Scortia until Scortia's death in 1986.
Born in Chicago, Illinois. Robinson was the son of a check forger. He started out in his teens working as a copy boy for International News Service and then became an office boy for Ziff Davis. He was drafted into the Navy for World War II, and when his tour was over attended Beloit College, where he majored in physics, graduating in 1950. Because he could find no work as a writer, he ended up back in the Navy to serve in Korea, where he kept writing, read a lot, and published in Astounding magazine.
After the Navy, he attended graduate school in journalism, then worked for a Chicago-based Sunday supplement. Soon he switched to Science Digest, where he worked from 1956 to 1959. From there, he moved into men's magazines: Rogue (1959–65) and Cavalier (1965–66). In 1969, Playboy asked him to take over the Playboy Advisor column. He remained there until 1973, when he left to write full-time.
After moving to San Francisco in the 1970s, Robinson, who was gay, was a speechwriter for gay politician Harvey Milk; he had a small role in the film Milk. After Milk's assassination, Robinson was co-executor, with Scott Smith, of Milk's last will and testament.
Robinson is the author of 16 books, the editor of two others, and has penned numerous articles. Three of his novels have been made into movies. The Power (1956) was a supernatural science fiction and government conspiracy novel about people with superhuman skills, filmed in 1968 as The Power. The Glass Inferno, co-written with Thomas N. Scortia, was combined with Richard Martin Stern's The Tower to produce the 1974 movie The Towering Inferno. The Gold Crew, also co-written Scortia, was a nuclear threat thriller filmed as an NBC miniseries and re-titled The Fifth Missile.
He collaborated on several other works with Scortia, including The Prometheus Crisis, The Nightmare Factor, and Blow-Out.
In 2009 he was inducted into the Chicago Gay and Lesbian Hall of Fame
Born in Chicago, Illinois. Robinson was the son of a check forger. He started out in his teens working as a copy boy for International News Service and then became an office boy for Ziff Davis. He was drafted into the Navy for World War II, and when his tour was over attended Beloit College, where he majored in physics, graduating in 1950. Because he could find no work as a writer, he ended up back in the Navy to serve in Korea, where he kept writing, read a lot, and published in Astounding magazine.
After the Navy, he attended graduate school in journalism, then worked for a Chicago-based Sunday supplement. Soon he switched to Science Digest, where he worked from 1956 to 1959. From there, he moved into men's magazines: Rogue (1959–65) and Cavalier (1965–66). In 1969, Playboy asked him to take over the Playboy Advisor column. He remained there until 1973, when he left to write full-time.
After moving to San Francisco in the 1970s, Robinson, who was gay, was a speechwriter for gay politician Harvey Milk; he had a small role in the film Milk. After Milk's assassination, Robinson was co-executor, with Scott Smith, of Milk's last will and testament.
Robinson is the author of 16 books, the editor of two others, and has penned numerous articles. Three of his novels have been made into movies. The Power (1956) was a supernatural science fiction and government conspiracy novel about people with superhuman skills, filmed in 1968 as The Power. The Glass Inferno, co-written with Thomas N. Scortia, was combined with Richard Martin Stern's The Tower to produce the 1974 movie The Towering Inferno. The Gold Crew, also co-written Scortia, was a nuclear threat thriller filmed as an NBC miniseries and re-titled The Fifth Missile.
He collaborated on several other works with Scortia, including The Prometheus Crisis, The Nightmare Factor, and Blow-Out.
In 2009 he was inducted into the Chicago Gay and Lesbian Hall of Fame
Ratings & Reviews
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Displaying 1 - 26 of 26 reviews
February 4, 2013
Both good polls, and it's tricky to say this without hinting at the ending.. but oh well. Max's character was well played out, his distant, cold personality that tried to act as a cheerful one- and it's wavering like a "conked out" TV screen was well portrayed.
The ending, I'll tell you was quite the "mad scientist" bit, but it also sewed up all the questions that I'd had.. but the very last page, where Robert is wondering if he'll have kids.. that would make a poorly written cliff hanger for a hopefully non-existant sequal. (Yes that makes no sence if you haven't read the book.. but if you have, just think..)
Minding that, I agree that endings are hard to come up with, and Mr.Robinson did a good job!
4 Stars
Sci-fi, reccogmended read no spell check..sorry!
The ending, I'll tell you was quite the "mad scientist" bit, but it also sewed up all the questions that I'd had.. but the very last page, where Robert is wondering if he'll have kids.. that would make a poorly written cliff hanger for a hopefully non-existant sequal. (Yes that makes no sence if you haven't read the book.. but if you have, just think..)
Minding that, I agree that endings are hard to come up with, and Mr.Robinson did a good job!
4 Stars
Sci-fi, reccogmended read no spell check..sorry!
July 12, 2018
2days. That's all it took me to complete reading the book and it's very interesting! Frank is a very good author and I'll be on lookout for more of his books. Every chapter is enthralling. I never felt a twinge of boredom reading on the book, no wonder I read it in 2days time. I like everything except the ending when (Spoiler alert) Max was killed. It was all too instantaneous. I would have loved if there was more to it, but other than that, it's a good book to read. Mystery unfolding and storytelling at its finest all written in the book.
May 26, 2025
This book had an interesting plot. A guy wakes up and finds out he was unwillingly harvested of one of his kidneys. After running from the hospital and being sent to another hospital, due to ripped stitches, he is informed that he's been harvested twice. Part of his liver was removed during a different surgery, and the doctor informs him that he should be careful. Being harvested twice usually means you are the perfect match for someone and they could come after something more necessary, like a heart or a lung.
The issue I had with this book was it was far too much of a slow burn for me. I honestly think if this book was cut down to 200 pages, it would've been so much better. There would've been a lot less filler chapters, more nonstop action. What you would expect from a thriller.
The issue I had with this book was it was far too much of a slow burn for me. I honestly think if this book was cut down to 200 pages, it would've been so much better. There would've been a lot less filler chapters, more nonstop action. What you would expect from a thriller.
July 15, 2018
I read this one over the course of a few days. It wasn't anything fantastic. I ended up skimming over certain passages. So much of it was different characters having the same conversation about the exact same information- phrased exactly the same way. And I could've made a drinking game called "let's go have a coffee". I would've been hammered after five pages. I got so sick of seeing that phrase- or the equivalent. And the ending was unsatisfying. In fact, I'm not sure why I rated this one so high. Robinson may be a decent author but The Donor did not illustrate that.
If you want a decent mystery then go read anything by Lee Child or Dennis Lehane. Or E.L. Doctorow for that matter.
Anyway, not recommended. Two stars.
If you want a decent mystery then go read anything by Lee Child or Dennis Lehane. Or E.L. Doctorow for that matter.
Anyway, not recommended. Two stars.
September 8, 2017
This was really good. And had an interesting ending.
February 21, 2023
Great to keep you on edge although I mind of saw the ending coming
January 9, 2018
Personal Response
This book was just not as adventurous as I had hoped for, it was adventurous more towards the end but it took a while to get adventurous. I enjoyed the book a lot better when it came closer to the end, but I am more interested in adventure and action rather than the dragging on of books.
Plot Summary
This book was about a man named Dennis who just found out about two organs that he "donated" and he didn't know that he had donated them until after they took the organs. Dennis had part of his liver and a kidney taken from him in two different surgeries he had no consent on. Dennis found all this out after his second surgery when he ran away from the hospital and then was bleeding to death when he then had to go to a different doctor. Dennis then stayed with two young people who were killed shortly after, they were killed by the man hunting Dennis down. Dennis ran to find his "friend" Graham and went up to Alaska to his Uncle's cottage/house. His uncle was killed and Dennis then locked Graham in the cottage after finding out he was his body guard not friend. Fast forwarding closer to the end, Dennis finds his birth father and found out that he was the one the organs were donated to. Dennis now know he has a twin named Robert and Robert then killed their father because neither Robert nor Dennis wanted to die anytime soon.
Recommendations
I would recommend this book to anyone who is into confusing and mysterious books. This book was an okay book, but I wouldn't recommend it to anyone below seventh grade. The gender of those who read this book doesn't really matter tho.
This book was just not as adventurous as I had hoped for, it was adventurous more towards the end but it took a while to get adventurous. I enjoyed the book a lot better when it came closer to the end, but I am more interested in adventure and action rather than the dragging on of books.
Plot Summary
This book was about a man named Dennis who just found out about two organs that he "donated" and he didn't know that he had donated them until after they took the organs. Dennis had part of his liver and a kidney taken from him in two different surgeries he had no consent on. Dennis found all this out after his second surgery when he ran away from the hospital and then was bleeding to death when he then had to go to a different doctor. Dennis then stayed with two young people who were killed shortly after, they were killed by the man hunting Dennis down. Dennis ran to find his "friend" Graham and went up to Alaska to his Uncle's cottage/house. His uncle was killed and Dennis then locked Graham in the cottage after finding out he was his body guard not friend. Fast forwarding closer to the end, Dennis finds his birth father and found out that he was the one the organs were donated to. Dennis now know he has a twin named Robert and Robert then killed their father because neither Robert nor Dennis wanted to die anytime soon.
Recommendations
I would recommend this book to anyone who is into confusing and mysterious books. This book was an okay book, but I wouldn't recommend it to anyone below seventh grade. The gender of those who read this book doesn't really matter tho.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
September 12, 2015
I love it and i can't help but be paranoid with all the characters sprouting. I just can't put this book down!
Poor Dennis, adopted and unawarely harvested (first, his liver,then his kidney,what's next, his lungs and heart?) he's running for his life. He should find his
harvester before his harvester finds him!
"You're not a a person to me, Dennis, you never were. You're a product, a property, something i own."
-coming from a person whose suppose to be your father(?)...brother(?)...twin(?)...clone(?)
whatever, it's quite disturbing in some ways!
Poor Dennis, adopted and unawarely harvested (first, his liver,then his kidney,what's next, his lungs and heart?) he's running for his life. He should find his
harvester before his harvester finds him!
"You're not a a person to me, Dennis, you never were. You're a product, a property, something i own."
-coming from a person whose suppose to be your father(?)...brother(?)...twin(?)...clone(?)
whatever, it's quite disturbing in some ways!
January 21, 2015
This book was definitely something I don't read very often. I was intrigued by the idea and I thought that the author carried that out really well. The characters were interesting, not always believable, but intriguing. The story moved quickly, which I really liked. There were so many interesting twists and turns that I didn't see coming. The ending too was unexpected. Recommend to people who want to try something new.
July 26, 2010
This was a great book with an interesting twist at the end. It was full of suspense and had a good bit of action. It didn't let the romantic part be the focus, which I'm glad it didn't. In all, I'm glad I picked up this book to read.
December 3, 2011
i love this book. it has a never ending twist and turns that keeps me on flipping the page. it may be complicated to others because of the medical terms but if your into medical field too, its a sure thing that you will love this book.
August 3, 2015
This book will keep you on the edge of your seat. Dennis is on the run from someone he doesn't know. He is being pursued for his body parts. This book is haunting in the fact that with today's science this could be happening right now.
October 6, 2008
It was okay in the beginning, but I totally lost interest in about the last 1/3 of it, and didn't finish it.
Read
January 26, 2009Enjoyed the book, scary scenario. Hard to get all the characters straight with all the jumping around.
October 9, 2009
Very interested twist in the end.
February 1, 2011
Interesting premise. Usually my kind of book but just couldn't get into this. Confusing without being complicated?
April 21, 2011
very nice twisted story but not that thrilling though.
August 23, 2011
What a delicious thrill ride! It's creepiest when you imagine yourself in the characters position. Eek!
August 10, 2012
Loved this book. Very unique. A must read.
May 5, 2013
Quite a twisted plot to begin with, and lots of suspense. Felt weird when realising this possibly could happen! End not sooo brilliant, but hard to know what else could have been done.
July 12, 2013
Reminded me more of Robin Cook. But overall good read..
March 29, 2015
I loved this book. It was real page turner with a great twist and so unlike anything I've read before. I highly recommend this book.
July 27, 2015
Pretty average
June 15, 2017
because someone might want to steal your organs; funnily enough I read this in a mental hospital
July 13, 2009
this book instantly grabs you and pulls you in.
Displaying 1 - 26 of 26 reviews