I found this handsome hardcover for cheap at the local Salvation Army Thrift Store, and thought I'd give it a try; it's supposedly a follow-on to the original Phantom of the Opera by Gaston Leroux. [After I got it home I checked some reviews and found that the book was not very well received at all; will see whether I react differently to it!]

Later: I'd have to agree with the negative reviews - quite a letdown here. It seems to be a spinoff of the Andrew Lloyd Weber version of the story rather than the original, though the author addresses the original in his preface. It's some years later, and Christine and Raoul, with their son, are visiting New York where Christine is to perform. A son, eh? Anybody want to risk a guess what happens with that? Right!

There's a new henchman, too, a rather nasty character who deserved, I thought, a book of his own. While I appreciated the use of the multi-document format - this, like the original, is told in a variety of forms, from police reports and news items to lectures and some third-person narrative - I didn't find the characters or the situations either believable or interesting. (I hear that Andrew Lloyd Weber is doing a sequel to his "Phantom" called "Love Never Dies", and Forsyth is listed as doing the book; I wonder if this is the premise for the sequel...)

[There's a TV Tropes page on the book, with some entertaining tidbits.]

WILD RELEASE NOTES:

I plan to leave this book on the book-swap shelf in the Tyngsboro post office lobby at about 2:15 or so. Hope the finder enjoys it!