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Tuesday, 10 December 2024

PHANTOM - Book review

Susan Kay’s second book, Phantom, was published in 1990 and reprinted twice in 1991. It’s the tragic retelling of Erik, the Phantom of the Opera, from birth until death. It was inspired by Lloyd Webber’s musical of 1986, the source novel by Gaston Leroux (1910) which I read in 1987, and an animated cartoon of 1967.

The book is a first-person narrative by several people: Madeleine (1831-1840), Erik’s mother; Erik (1840-1843);  Giovanni (1844-1846), an Italian stonemason; Nadir (1850-1853), the mysterious Persian; Erik (1856-1881); Erik and Christine (1881); and Raoul (1897).

Erik was born in France and was severely disfigured – possibly Lon Chaney’s makeup has come closest to the true depiction. His mother made him wear a mask at all times and yet she still struggles to love him. Strangely, he exhibits uncanny intelligence with a facility for music, languages, architecture and creative art. The boy’s singing voice is almost otherworldly, yet his mother is affected adversely: ‘His voice is a sin... No woman who hears it will ever die in a state of grace’ (p36).

At about eight years of age he runs away and eventually joins a circus where he is treated abysmally for three years until finally he escapes to wander the rest of Europe. He falls in with the aging stonemason Giovanni who takes him on as an apprentice. Disaster follows and we next find him in Persia, being employed by the Shah as an architect and magician. (Yes, he has mastered prestidigitation too). Here, he is embroiled in court intrigue – ‘the Persian court was not a place where a wise man took his eyes off an enemy for a single careless moment’ (p198). Finally, he was drawn to Paris: a public competition had been held for the plans of a new Opera House. He befriends the competition winner and is involved in the construction so that he not only knows intimately the place they build but also the special secret access doors he has engineered as well. The stage is set for Erik to meet Christine and vie for her affections with her rich fiancĂ© Raoul.

Kay has managed to give us the voice of each narrator with conviction. Even though knowing it will all end in tears, I could not put the book down. Kay captures Erik’s prodigious learning capacity for architecture, magic, and music: ‘Music was the secret sanctuary of my soul; music was my god, the only master I would ever serve again. I wished I could build a monument to its glory... an opera house perhaps...’ (pp320-321). The Paris Opera House opening night was on 5 January 1875, with the spectacular chandelier installed.

Erik’s relationship with Nadir, the daroga of Mazenderan is both moving and intriguing, as the Persian was fearful of Erik and yet in awe too: ‘I found that I no longer thought of him as a cold and heartless monster’ (p230).

Christine, as we know, becomes mesmerised by Erik’s voice – the Angel of Music – and falls under his spell. Thus the tragedy’s final act begins.

I too fell under the spell of Kay’s writing, living – even if briefly – the lives of the several narrators.

Sunday, 8 December 2024

THE CHASE - Book review


Clive Cussler’s novel The Chase is the first in his Isaac Bell historical series. Published in 2007, it is mainly set in 1906. The prologue ‘The Ghost from the Past’ features an elderly Bell in 1950 as he witnesses the recovery of a railroad engine from a lake in Montana. The epilogue ‘Up from the Depths’ returns to this scene too. Certainly, the prologue does tend to provide us with a spoiler for the final stages of the adventure, which runs under the title of ‘The Chase Quickens’; the intermediate section is labelled ‘The Butcher Bandit’.

In January 1906, a solitary bank robber gets away not only with his loot but also with the cold-blooded murder of the bank staff. This wasn’t his first robbery, however; it happened to be the fifteenth successful robbery he had committed, actually killing thirty-eight men and women and two children (p18), and thus gaining the infamous sobriquet the Butcher Bandit.

The head of the Van Dorn Detective Agency commits his agent Isaac Bell to track down and apprehend the notorious bandit. Bell already has a solid reputation as a thief-taker: ‘... tracked down Big Foot Cussler...’ (p52). Bell is an engaging and attractive character.

Cussler not only name-drops himself. One of Bell’s new contacts in San Francisco is a young boy called Stuart Lauthner (p332); this is the name of Cussler’s biographer (though he misnames him on the next page as Warren,,,!)

Inevitably, being an enthusiast, Cussler knowledgeably writes about fast cars and trains of the period. He comes across the chief train dispatcher called Morton Gould; I don’t know why he’d want to use the composer’s name (1913-1996).

During his investigations Bell makes friends with a secretary called Marion and it seems romance might be in the air... There is also a fantastic cross-nation drive against the clock, an unfortunate death, and dollops of suspense and action too.

Cussler’s familiarity with the period shines through this fast-paced cat-and-mouse adventure, with two formidable villains and the startling backdrop of the tragic San Francisco earthquake, which is well described.

When the final page is turned, it’s nice to know that there are other adventures of Isaac Bell to enjoy! Next in the series: The Wrecker (2009). Like a number of other authors, such as Bernard Cornwell and C S Forrester, Cussler wrote his Bell books out of chronological order – in effect, filling in gaps in the hero’s earlier history. Chronologically, two later Bell books come before The Chase: The Striker (2013) and The Assassin (2015), covering the periods 1902-1912 and 1899-1908 respectively).

Editorial comment

Chapter 2 is dated September 15, 1906 and relates how Bell is tasked with tracking down the bandit. Unfortunately, it should be 1905. Since the denouement takes place in April, 1906!

‘The posse claimed there were no tracks leading out of town to follow’ (p112) – which seems odd. There must be plenty of tracks leading out of town – unless the road surface is metalled, of course. In which case, it would not be worthy of comment.

A number of full-page black-and-white illustrations have been inserted; but the artist doesn’t appear to be credited.