Thomas Tessier A strange enigmatic little book that is hard to review. I obviously liked it but still haven't come to terms with what it all means. I know, I know you want me to tell you what it is like so you can file it away in some category you have. Alright, it's like [b:Dandelion Wine|50033|Dandelion Wine|Ray Bradbury|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1374049845s/50033.jpg|1627774] meets [b:The House on the Borderland|220937|The House on the Borderland|William Hope Hodgson|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1348820158s/220937.jpg|3150114]. Is that better?It won't do me any good to give you a plot synopsis either since it couldn't convey the depth of this novel. Let's just say a boy finds out a lot about the universe and his role in it way too young, and it's not pretty. Creepy at times but more eerie than scary. Little precocious 10-year old Ned never displays the fear you or I would. There's a haunted decrepit abandoned hot springs spa, two old coots who befriend Ned and teach him a bit about the ways of the world but hold some important parts back, ghosts, revenants, hostile entities in this world and an "alternate" universe or place that may be a grim life after death or just the end of time, a clingy asthmatic Mom, and a clueless Dad (see what I mean about hard to review).I would really welcome some insightful comments about this one so have at it. As I said I'm not even close to understanding this entire little novel. Tell me I got it all wrong!Tessier is an interesting author who never writes the same book twice, nothing close to the same book twice, and he's not very prolific. You will literally say, wow I need to read something else by Tessier, and be stunned by how different his novels and stories will be not just in theme or genre but also in style, which is really unusual. ( )

Subtly supernatural novel about a nine year-old boy who is beginning to explore the mysteries of life and the natural world around him. I found it a bit slow, but it handles well the perspective of a child and the myths children create to explain things that are beyond their understanding. Like Stephen King's [b:The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon|493816|The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon|Stephen King|http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1348714879s/493816.jpg|1836389] (which contains similar themes), it would make a good "scary story" for younger readers. ( )

I first heard of Tessier's Phantom via the Top 40 horror novels on the Horror Writer's Association website. The list is available here: http://www.horror.org/readlist.htm in alphabetical order.

The book was a quick read. Very crisp and concise. And it was a classic, supernatural-presence tale of horror and suspense. A straight-forward spooky tale without too many twists or turns. Just genuine fright. The ending, I will say, was not what I was expecting. Which came as a shock, considering the book mainly followed the plot structure of classic ghost stories.

Overall, it wasn't bad. But it wasn't anything to write home about either. Would I put it on my list of top 40 horror novels? Probably not. But I can see why people liked its simplicity at a time (it was published in the 1980s) when horror writers seemed to be getting more and more convoluted. ( )