I finally took my Abyss out of the box and used it for a game this weekend. I bought it when it first came out, but have not bowled anywhere I thought would have enough oil so it never left the box. The house I was going to Saturday usually has pretty good volume so I decided it would be a good time to give it a roll.
So, without further delay; yep, this thing hooks. It doesn't make lanes obsolete by being too narrow, but it does have a good amount of movement. I was about 4 boards left of where I would throw the Venom Shock with my feet to get to the pocket using the same break point at the end of the pattern. It has good carry, therefore energy, for such a strong ball(at least until it becomes DOA).
Honestly, I remember the VG Nano Solid hooking more than this ball, but I could be having memory issues in my old age.
I don't see a lot of difference in the number of boards this ball covers than the Jackal Ghost.
I do like the way the Abyss rolls. I had good success with the original Trident and hated the second one(Quest). This is a ball I can use if there is good volume.
I used it for one game, then put it away as it was burning up by the end of the first game.
It was in box finish, which has zero meaning with Motiv as every ball seems to be different, even from the same batch. It did have that dull look that seemed to absorb light that some of their sanded finish balls have. If I had to guess it was about 1500 or so.
These are just my opinions, your results may vary.