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A review by danjvrobertson
Phantom by Laura DeLuca
4.0
A portion of my review for my blog, The Reader's Commute. Find the whole thing here: http://thereaderscommute.blogspot.com/2012/11/phantom-by-laura-deluca.html
Rebecca, with the singing voice of an angel, lands the role of Christine in her high school's production of The Phantom of the Opera. She falls into her own personal love triangle between Tom, the dashing athlete who plays Raoul, and Justyn, the mysterious Goth who plays the Phantom. I was never that lucky! However, the story that follows is not just a typical romance; there are darker things at work, too. As the actors rehearse for the show, tragedies happen onstage and off. Rebecca receives threatening notes and phone calls that tie in with the disasters that happen in The Phantom of the Opera story. As the story progresses these tragedies escalate.
As a reader, I had to suspend my disbelief when I read about each "accident" that occurred. The serious nature of these happenings, told with a level of detail that made them much more chilling, had me asking myself, "Really? Would the show really go on after this?" I at least wondered why a guidance counselor or a police officer didn't speak to the cast. DeLuca knows what she's doing, though, because this disbelief did not keep me from reading. Another thing that took me out of the story were the rewritten Phantom lyrics scattered throughout the book. I'm sure the actual Andrew Lloyd Webber lyrics couldn't be used for copyright reasons, but I felt as if some of them were a little forced and silly. I did, however, get the actual lyrics stuck in my head as a result! Really, I must drive my friends and family crazy.
The characters in Phantom are expertly-crafted. As I hungrily sped through the 262 pages, I really felt like I knew Rebecca, Tom, and Justyn (who prefers to be called Lord Justyn, which really tickled my funny bone...). I also felt just as confused as Becca as I tried to unravel the mystery of the culprit's identity. Who was the one causing all of the accidents? One chapter had me suspecting a certain character, while another chapter had me changing my mind completely. I was flip-flopping up until the end - and when the identity of the one responsible was revealed, I was taken by surprise! While Phantom may have been (pleasantly) predictable as far as the love story goes, DeLuca did a wonderful job of keeping me on my toes as far as the mystery aspect was concerned.
Rebecca, with the singing voice of an angel, lands the role of Christine in her high school's production of The Phantom of the Opera. She falls into her own personal love triangle between Tom, the dashing athlete who plays Raoul, and Justyn, the mysterious Goth who plays the Phantom. I was never that lucky! However, the story that follows is not just a typical romance; there are darker things at work, too. As the actors rehearse for the show, tragedies happen onstage and off. Rebecca receives threatening notes and phone calls that tie in with the disasters that happen in The Phantom of the Opera story. As the story progresses these tragedies escalate.
As a reader, I had to suspend my disbelief when I read about each "accident" that occurred. The serious nature of these happenings, told with a level of detail that made them much more chilling, had me asking myself, "Really? Would the show really go on after this?" I at least wondered why a guidance counselor or a police officer didn't speak to the cast. DeLuca knows what she's doing, though, because this disbelief did not keep me from reading. Another thing that took me out of the story were the rewritten Phantom lyrics scattered throughout the book. I'm sure the actual Andrew Lloyd Webber lyrics couldn't be used for copyright reasons, but I felt as if some of them were a little forced and silly. I did, however, get the actual lyrics stuck in my head as a result! Really, I must drive my friends and family crazy.
The characters in Phantom are expertly-crafted. As I hungrily sped through the 262 pages, I really felt like I knew Rebecca, Tom, and Justyn (who prefers to be called Lord Justyn, which really tickled my funny bone...). I also felt just as confused as Becca as I tried to unravel the mystery of the culprit's identity. Who was the one causing all of the accidents? One chapter had me suspecting a certain character, while another chapter had me changing my mind completely. I was flip-flopping up until the end - and when the identity of the one responsible was revealed, I was taken by surprise! While Phantom may have been (pleasantly) predictable as far as the love story goes, DeLuca did a wonderful job of keeping me on my toes as far as the mystery aspect was concerned.