Project 17

Merideth says: Imagine the Breakfast Club with a healthy dollop of the Blair Witch Project, and you'd pretty much have a clear picture of this book. Working class ladies man Derik wants a way out of his future in the family diner. He thinks a Real World style documentary shot in an abandoned insane asylum is his best shot. He gathers together an unlikely group of students -- cover-girl braniac Liza, goth girl Mimi, drama club refugees Tony and Greta, and class clown Chet. As they explore the asylum, they become aware of a teen named Christine, who seemed to be more harmed than helped by her treatment at the asylum. Is Christine trying to communicate with them? Or are they just freaked out by the abandoned nut-house?

This book doesn't do show more anything new, as the teens who seemed so different at the beginning of the night learn how much they have in common by dawn. The supernatural elements are pretty well worn too. However, it is well written and suspensefull, and a good read for fans of supernatural fiction. show less

Have you seen the movie Session 9? Did you like The Blair Witch Project? If so, you need to read Project 17. Derek wants to be a film maker and he has come up with the perfect subject for a movie. He is planning to enter his film about teens spending the night inside the haunted Danvers State Hospital into a contest. The only thing he needs now is a cast.Mimi is a goth chick. She begins helping Derek plan by drawing story boards for possible scenes and showing him the ways to get into the hospital at night without getting caught by the security guards that are always on duty. Mimi has a special reason for wanting to see inside the abandoned mental institution and has been thinking about it for a long time.Liza is a straight A student show more hoping to get into Harvard. She has done everything she feels is in her power to get in. She is class valedictorian and devotes all her spare time to studying, but when she hears from her guidance counselor that being admitted isn't a sure thing, she begins to panic. The only advice her counselor can give her is to get involved in extra-curricular activities, but at the end of the school year, there isn't much to choose from. Once Liza hears about a student movie being shot, she decides it might be her only chance to show a little diversity in her school career.Chet is Derek's best friend. Basically he decides to tag along so he doesn't have to be at home. Chet's father is an alcoholic and sometimes knocks Chet around when he's had too much to drink. Chet uses humor to hide his pain and embarrassment. He intends to be the comic relief for the night.Greta and Tony are a loving, romantic couple that both are majorly into acting. They are members of the drama club and look for any chance to be in the spotlight. Tony's main passion is directing, but Greta definately wants to be an actress. They use Derek's film as an excuse to prepare for their future in the business.Together, these six teenagers sneak past security guards and enter Danvers State Hospital. Tension fills the pages right from the start. Through the dark tunnels, in the run down hallways, and behind the doors to rooms where lobotomies and other frightening medical procedures took place, the kids learn about themselves, eachother, and the people that inhabited the walls of Danvers State Hospital.Project 17 isn't a book to read in the dark if you are easily creeped out. The weird occurances that take place while the kids are inside make you believe there are ghosts living in the hospital. Your heart will pound until you get to the last page - and maybe even after. show less

Some teens go into a decrepit asylum to film a documentary for a contest. Weird, spooky things keep happening. The characters are fairly one-dimensional but the suspense is real. Told alternately by the different teens, the story is plot driven, although the characters do have conflicts.

Spooky, yet it never caught my full attention. Fits idea of list -- just not sure how popular.

As it happens at times, the synopsis of a book doesn't really do it justice. If I had picked up this book randomly and read the back cover, I might not have bought it. Good thing I first came across it on a blog review :)

I really liked Project 17. Best part in my opinion, is the fact that Danvers State Hospital is an actual place, or was, before it was partially demolished and turned into condos. Can we say creepy? Do a Google search - you'll find some amazing pictures and descriptions of the place. It was empty for 14 years and I know of a few people who were among the brave trespassers during that time. From what I have been able to learn of the place, a lot of the random facts about Danvers that Stolarz includes in the book are true show more -- the practice of lobotomies, the use of hydrotherapy, the underground tunnels, and the fact that until it's renovation, patient files could be found discarded among the ruins. Also, I found a picture online of a broken American flag window, which one character comes across while exploring. Makes me wonder if Stolarz found the same image I did. In any case, it seems that she did her research.

As a novel, Project 17 is the story of 6 teenagers, brought together for various reasons, who attempt to spend the night at the abandoned facility before it is torn down. Each chapter is told from the point of view of a different character. We have our main protagonist Derik. For him, the film he is attempting to shoot is his way out of a predetermined life in the family business. Chet's just looking for a good time while Liza needs some extracurricular activities on her resume to get into her dream college. Mimi has a personal agenda while Tony and Greta hope to become the next best reality TV stars. A strange mix of personalities but once they are alone at the hospital, they find they must work together in order to survive.

Project 17 is a great 'haunted house' thriller but in the end, the story is more about the characters discovering things about themselves and each other then it is about ghosts and mystery.
5 stars

Young Adult Thriller
Hyperion Books (www.hyperionteens.com)
Published December 2007
248 pages show less

A good thriller, though I didn't love the ending, as I didn't feel it resolved anything. Still, I kept reading and did want to know what would happen! The book reminded me a bit too much of the movie "Session 9" (which is mentioned in here!), but they are both set in the same real life place (Danvers State Hospital, near Boston), so maybe that was it. Still, teens running around in an abandoned mental institution in the middle of the night does indeed make for good scares!

I thought this book started out pretty strong, had a decent middle with a good amount of action, and then just decided to fall flat on its face. It starts out with character sketches, giving the reader a good idea on the main players in the story. The characters are discussed and developed throughout the rest of the book, but for the most part, around the middle, the focus shifts drastically to plot. The plot is interesting, but the end resolution...boooooo-ring. So ridiculously boringly predictable. The characters, they're great, they're well-developed, three dimensional, realistic people, with the possible exception of Liza. I went into this under the assumption it is a psychological thriller, but it's just not. It's a thriller that show more happens to be set in an abandoned psych ward. No mind-twisting in this one! It's one of those books where the reader feels like the author was rushing to meet a deadline and didn't put all their effort into the story, leaving us with a lame ending. I was just completely underwhelmed by this book, it had so much potential (the idea of possession comes to mind), but blew it.

Rating: 2/5 show less

A young adult thriller set at the former Danvers State Hospital, north of Boston, MA. Derik, a h.s. senior worried about his future, decides to make a film that he hopes will win a prize and change his life. He corrals a few other students into making this documentary at the old state hospital just before it is torn down. The students sneak onto the grounds of the hospital under cover of darkness, and proceed to make their way through the rotting Victorian-era edifice, and the book delivers genuinely spooky scenes and suspense. Each chapter is written from a character's point of view, and Stolarz uses real kid dialogue, and very realistic characters; no punches pulled. Although I had a few tense moments, I think there could have been show more more. Also, I was sometimes confused about who was speaking, although each chapter is named after the character whose point of view it is written from; I had to keep checking back to the title of the chapter, but maybe that's just me. A quick and easy read, may interest reluctant readers. Since I visited similar institutions in the 70s, I was interested in the premise; anyone who's ever enjoyed exploring the ruins of a building might like this book. show less