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37th out of 245 books
—
109 voters
Phantom
Phantom, by Thomas Tessier, was published in 1982. It is the story of Ned Covington, a ten-year-old boy, who explores an abandoned building near his home and what he finds there. Nominated for a World Fantasy Award it has been called "a touching, scary book" (Horror Literature: A Reader's Guide); and "a compelling humanist ghost story" (Penguin Encyclopedia of Horror and t...more
Paperback, 240 pages
Published
June 1st 1985
by Berkley
(first published 1982)
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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 The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon (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...more
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...more
AWESOME. Normally I'm not a fan of Third Person Omniscient, because writers tend to be very sloppy with it, but not Tessier. Very tightly controlled narrative, and some WONDERFUL, well drawn characters. It's also in Ebook form now, courtesy of NECON EBOOKS: http://neconebooks.com/phantom.htm
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If you liked It, Boy's Life, and/or Summer of Night, add this to the list of coming-of-age horror novels that you MUST read.
The authors imagery and ability to make me feel the young protagonists terror, was incredible. The novel switched POV, a technique that is often poorly mastered. Tessier had no such problems, and though the point of view shifted within chapters, within scenes, I had no trouble discerning between the characters because each one was a unique identity.
I doubt I shall forget in a hurry the abandoned spa-house where Ned goes to face the monster. He finds spiders. Lots of spiders. Webs so dense that t...more
I doubt I shall forget in a hurry the abandoned spa-house where Ned goes to face the monster. He finds spiders. Lots of spiders. Webs so dense that t...more
On s’attend à un percutant livre d’angoisse et d’horreur, et on découvre les peurs irrationnelles d’un enfant portées à leur apogée. Pas mal fait, ça me fait penser au Tour d’écrou d’Henry James, en beaucoup moins transcendant. On finit tout de même par comprendre assez vite que rien n’est réel, si ce n’est pour le petit garçon. Et tous cas l’auteur retranscrit parfaitement la psychologie d’un enfant en proie à ses terreurs, ses angoisses et ses superstitions. J’ai un peu de mal à le classer dan...more
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Thomas Tessier grew up in Connecticut and attended University College, Dublin. He is the author of several acclaimed novels of terror and suspense, plays, poems, and short stories. His novel Fog Heart received the International Horror Guild's Award for Best Novel, was a Bram Stoker Award finalist, and was cited by Publishers Weekly as one of the Best Books of the Year. He lives in Connecticut.
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