Product Description

A classic thriller from Dean Koontz--and the basis for the motion picture starring Peter O'Toole...

They thought it was the work of a maniac or terrorists or toxic contamination--but then they found the truth, which was worse than anything they had imagined...

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #3324996 in Books
• Published on: 1999-10
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: School & Library Binding

Amazon.com Review
The lights are on in Snowfield, California, a cozy ski village nestled in the Sierra Madres, but nobody seems to be home. When Dr. Jenny Paige returns to the small town, she finds tables set for dinner, meals being prepared, and music playing in living rooms, but there's no trace of the people who put the water on to boil or set an extra place for company at the dinner table. As she explores the town, Paige finds friends and neighbors felled by a mysterious force--the bodies show no visible signs of violence or disease, and no known plague kills victims before the ice in their dinner drinks has time to melt. But the deep quiet that surrounds her offers few clues about the fate of the town's inhabitants. Dean Koontz's Phantoms strikes fear in readers from the very beginning. The mystery deepens, paving the way for a chilling journey toward the truth. If you plan to catch the film version, starring Ben Affleck and Peter O'Toole, remember that you'll be experiencing this terrifying story in a dark theater. So bring an arm to grab!

About the Author
Dean Koontz was born into a very poor family and learned early on to escape into fiction. He lives in southern California with his wife, Gerda and a vivid imagination.

From AudioFile
The population in the ski-resort town of Snowville, California, seems to have disappeared--everyone who's alive, that is. When Dr. Jenny Paige returns with her sister, the two descend upon the desolate town with an eerie feeling that is only reinforced with the uncovering of dead bodies throughout. But the signs indicate that the people's deaths--by an inexplicable force--were recent, so Jenny and Lisa scramble to find out what happened. Buck Schirner narrates with a deep, gravelly voice that is perfect for the kind of tense atmosphere found in Koontz's books. Schirner's pacing and pitch respond to the story's context, and his characterizations of female characters are impressive, considering his deep voice. L.E. © AudioFile 2008, Portland, Maine-- Copyright © AudioFile, Portland, Maine

Customer Reviews

The Best Type of Horror
I avoided Dean Koontz like the plague since the day some years ago when I attempted to read his novel "Mr. Murder." I found that book so formulaic and tedious that I swore never to read another of his books. I did not even finish "Mr. Murder," a rarity for me because I always strive to finish any book I pick up. When I recently decided to cast my nets a little wider into the vast seas of the horror genre, I looked for something by Koontz that other readers praised. Repeatedly, I found that his book "Phantoms" came highly recommended by nearly everyone who read it. So, with my sense of smell ready to detect the slightest hint of staleness or boredom, I dove right into this 1983 Koontz novel. My analysis: of the many horror novels I have read over the years, "Phantoms" may be the best of the batch, ranking right up there with Stephen King's "It" as one of my all-time favorites.

The author wastes little time getting right into the story. Dr. Jennifer Paige and her little sister Lisa are driving to Jennifer's house in Snowfield, California. Jenny was never close to her sister due to the rigorous demands of medical school and the headache of establishing a practice in the small town. When their mother dies suddenly, Jenny steps in to take care of Lisa. The poignancy of this action quickly shatters when the two arrive in Snowfield. The town appears to be completely uninhabited. Jenny and Lisa realize that no one is walking around town and that no cars are on the streets. An even ruder shock overwhelms the two women when they find Jennifer's housekeeper dead on the kitchen floor. Even eerier is the condition of the dead body, which has uniform bruising over every inch of the skin. At first Jenny surmises that a disease could be the culprit so the sisters decide to pay a visit to the neighbors, a visit that produces more questions than answers. Jenny and Lisa begin a mad dash through town, finding corpses everywhere they go. In some houses, they discover that the residents have simply disappeared without a trace. It quickly becomes apparent that something sinister has occurred in Snowfield, and it is up to Jennifer and Lisa to find out exactly what happened before they become victims themselves.

Enter the Sheriff's Department of Santa Mira, a town just down the road from Snowfield. Unaware of the unfolding terror in Snowfield, Sheriff Bryce Hammond and his deputy Talbert Whitman are questioning a murder suspect named Kale about a gruesome double homicide. Koontz uses the Kale interrogation to give us some background on Sheriff Hammond, revealing that this cop is a brilliant investigator and a great man in a crisis but that he lost his wife in an automobile accident and his son to a coma. Very quickly, Hammond gets a call from Jenny in Snowfield about the strange events in that doomed town. The sheriff sets off with a handful of deputies, most of whom Koontz describes in sufficient detail for the reader to care about what happens to them, and the book starts moving at breakneck speed. Eventually, an English academic named Timothy Flyte, the media, and a chemical weapons team from the federal government become involved in the unfolding events in Snowfield. Because whatever stalked the town is still very much present, as those unlucky enough to remain in Snowfield realize. The author masterfully blends these disparate elements together into a tale that is both suspenseful and horrific.

The first part of the novel works best, as Jennifer, Lisa, and the Santa Mira deputies slowly experience the horrors raging through Snowfield. Each scene of the book ratchets up the horror by revealing a little more information than the previous scene, which creates a growing sense of unease in the reader. The back-story involving Flyte and the "Ancient Enemy" explains the horrific incidents in Snowfield and is a welcome addition to the tale. The end of the story loses some of the excitement of the beginning, as once we understand what these people are up against the suspense dies down appreciably. This in no way should prevent you from seeking this story out, since the tale is still great fun.

Koontz wrote an afterword in 2001 about his opinions on "Phantoms." He avers that while he enjoyed writing the novel, he wished he never wrote it because it classified him as a horror writer when he prefers to see himself as a suspense author. The author mentions that "Phantoms" has never gone out of print since its 1983 release and has sold roughly six million copies. I think most authors could care less what label stuck to them if they could have that many sales! Regardless of Koontz's attitude towards his story, this is an excellent tale and a tremendous contribution to the horror genre.

A fascinating tale of mass disappearances
"Phantoms" is just one of Koontz's many fine horror stories. It offers an imaginative explanation for a tantalizing historical mystery: the mass disappearance (such as the famous Roanoke colony in the early seventeenth century). Koontz tells the story of the almost instantaneous depopulation of an isolated California mountain village, discovered by the town's doctor and her teenaged sister upon their return from attending their mother's funeral some miles away. These two find a terrifyingly quiet Snowfield, devoid of residents, dining room tables set with still-warm suppers. The mystery deepens when the county sheriff and deputies arrive and discover a few dreadfully bruised bodies sprawled lifeless in tightly locked rooms. As dark falls, it becomes clear that something is stalking the entire town of Snowfield--and its would-be rescuers--and that this hunter delights in savoring every morsel of fear it can extract from its prey. I do not want to give away any more of the plot, because Koontz paces the story of the discovery of the identity of the murderous "Ancient Enemy" so well that reading the book is a rollercoaster of an experience.

A word about my rating: Koontz is one of my favorite authors, and I have read quite a few of his books. Phantoms is one of his early novels and is imaginative and entertaining. Compared to some of his later stories, however ("Dark Rivers of the Heart" and "Twilight Eyes" immediately spring to mind), it is not as richly characterized and the level of suspense is not quite as nightmarish. It is like comparing two tornadoes from the movie "Twister": one may suck up cows, but the other swallows cows and barn whole. Each is a frightening experience, but the one is a more intense--and deadly--event. Thus, the seven.

Judith Abendschei

500 bodie bags?
I just read Dean Koontz's book, Phantoms. From the first page it catches you attention then holds it TO THE LAST PAGE! On the first page, you are taken to a small out-of-the-way town in northern California, called Snowfield. Here, Jenny Paige, the doctor, goes home to find her house keeper...Dead. a sheriff from a close town, there to help, calls for backup, and asks for 500 bodie bags. Dean Koontz is the author of many best selling books, I like his writing because he describes the setting, people, weather, mood, and whatever else, SO WELL. i recommend Dean Koontz's Phantoms to any one who wants to read a real page turner.