Phantom Nights

by John Farris

Book Overview

In a psychic reinterpretation of To Kill a Mockingbird, teenage Alex Gambier, an outcast scarred from a childhood tragedy and mute from an early bout of diptheria, conceives daredevil stunts that... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Mass Market Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0765346885
• ISBN13: 9780765346889
• Release Date: December 2005
• Publisher: Tor Books
• Length: 323 Pages
• Weight: 0.40 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.9" x 4.2" x 6.8"

Customer Reviews

A Gifted Storyteller and his BEST in years....

John Farris pulls out a classic.... I've read many of John Farris's novels and stories over the years but I was not prepared for how this left me, days after in fact. Stories rarely come this well written anymore. The bestsellers you see in the stores rarely come close to this storytelling greatness yet John Farris remains obscure? I just love to sink into a period story(this one from the 50's)with such detail and with a touch beyond the grave. Excellent story. Reminds me how I felt when I read the great Joe R. Lansdale's classic tales 'THE BOTTOMS' and 'A FINE DARK LINE' which both have similar themes and terrific storytelling magic. This is sure to be one of the best of the 2005.

John Farris should outsell us all

Phantom Nights is a masterpiece of a novel, which deserves to be read far more widely than it has been to this point. John Farris, long a master of the literary thriller, brings all of his many novelistic gifts to this latest effort, resulting in a read that is always engaging and ultimately deeply satisfying. Mally Shaw and her father, Dr. Ramses ValJean, people of color in a sleepy southern town of the 1950s, are complex and moving characters, rendered by a consummate artist who sees deeply into the human heart. Bobby Gambier, acting sheriff of the town, is equally complex and appealing, and his mute brother Alex is as powerful and sympathetic a portrait of a tormented young teenager as you will find in any novel, commercial or literary. The evil in this novel is made larger, more real and menacing, by its very smallness. No mustache twisting cardboard villains here. No flat character of any kind. There is not a soul in this novel who does not live and breathe and move us in some way. Farris has that ultimate gift from which all else in a great novel flows: we care about the people he brings to us. The prose itself is so fine, so polished, that we effortlessly fall through it into the beating heart of the novel, where the heat makes us sweat, and we taste the grease at the local diner. The phantom train, a motif which appears in other memorable Farris novels, becomes a vividly chilling device in this one. Among his fellow novelists, John Farris has long been known as the master. I've been published fourteen times without ever writing half so well, try as I might. If life were fair, John Farris would be a perennial best selling author. With his many other talents, we are lucky he's still bringing us these stunningly good novels. You're in the right place to order "Phantom Nights" right this minute. Do it! Then read it slowly if you can, for it is too soon over. And when you are done, spread the good word.

A tour de force from a literary master...

John Farris returns with Phantom Nights, a Southern Gothic told with the patience of Hemingway and the character insight of Cormac McCarthy. Phantom Nights might fall into genre fiction, but fans of Southern Lit, Horror, Mystery, and Literary Fiction (whatever that may be) will be hard pressed to deny Farris' talent for narrative, pacing, characterization, and wordplay. John Farris has been criminally underrated in recent years, and I challenge anyone to pick up Phantom Nights for themselves and not wonder why he's not competing with the Grisham's and Dan Brown's and Dean Koontz's atop the NY Times Bestseller list. Those writers can't hold a candle to Farris' immense talent. Find out for yourself.

Excellent Book Could Make a Memorable Film

John Farris does such a good job of drawing his characters in this novel that I had no trouble picturing them in my mind as I read. From villainous Leland Howard, to deputy sheriff Bobby Gambier and his mute brother Alex, to Mally Shaw and her father, Dr. Ramses Valjean, these are some of the more memorable and three-dimensional characters I've encountered lately. In the hands of the right person, this could make a great movie, with a very meaty role in Dr. Valjean and his forensics expertise. The story is a mixture of mystery and the supernatural and is handled with great expertise. It's nice to see Mr. Farris taking a break from the all-out horror pyrotechnics of his Fury sequels and turning his great talent to a quieter, though no less masterly tale. Very highly recommended!

A Masterpiece!

John Farris only writes excellent books, but Phantom Nights is his best in ages. It's a brilliant southern gothic ghost story, with a beautifully vivid setting in the 1950's deep south. Suspense and horror do not get any better than this!