523 reviews for:

Phantoms: A Thriller

Dean Koontz

3.72 AVERAGE

jvzyxx's review against another edition

5.0

adventurous mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Complicated

Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

badseedgirl's review against another edition

3.0

---

I saw the movie before I read the book. I hate when that happens, but it is what it is. But because of that I am going to compare the changes in the book to the movies. I loved the movie because it was so damn creepy and I had a bit of a crush on Liev Schreiber, I still think he is a fine looking man, but I'm too old to crush on anyone, save Jason Statham. Both the book and the movie embraced the creep feeling of a deserted town especially one in which the departure of all the characters was abrupt. Rose Mcgowan's character, Lisa Pailey, made no sense in the movie, her actions were that of a spoiled teen. This makes much more sense when one realizes that, in the book she is 14 years old.

the Ancient Enemy is the name given to the creature responsible for the disappearance of the town. I will not go into much detail to avoid spoilers, but there is a Lovecraftian element to the creature in the book. I found this a compelling aspect to the story.

This book is not perfect. I spent the entire book thinking the male lead was black because the characters were so interchangeable and , I sometimes confused her with her adult sister at one time, Koontz described one of the other deputies as black. Unless they were talking about how old Lisa was. Plus there was this whole storyline with an escaped prisoner and a biker that just did not make sense and had an abrupt unsatisfactory ending.

In spite of all that, the creature was so well written, it made up for it and that is why it was a 3.5 star review for me but I am rounding it down for goodreads.

kelly_22's review against another edition

3.5

dark mysterious sad tense medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: No

halhenn's review against another edition

2.0

dark tense slow-paced

stephaniez's review against another edition

4.0

---

Thrilling story that had me hooked. I genuinely couldn't put it down. What a terrifying concept and wonderful conclusion. The only issue I had with the book was that most of the gun references were wrong. It seemed like someone that knows nothing about guns tried to write a book with gun details that were entirely inaccurate.

fran_fran_'s review against another edition

4.0

dark mysterious tense fast-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: No

grexios13's review against another edition

4.25

adventurous dark mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: No

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

karleighreads's review against another edition

3.0

---

What a spooky and gory book it was giving moth man. I hated the way one character acted reminded me of Stephen King's writing but an all-around solid horror book.

hi_itsmaryah's review against another edition

4.0

adventurous dark mysterious reflective tense fast-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Plot

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: No

pageturnermagic_01's review against another edition

2.75

slow-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Plot

Strong character development: No

Loveable characters: No

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: No