Phantom by Susan Kay is a must read for anyone obsessed with the story of the opera ghost.

I adored this book start to finish. It is gut wrenching and sad, hopeful and beautiful. Every scene is painted so vividly I felt like I was watching a movie.

I loved the glimpse into Erik's past and what made him the mad genius we know from the original novel by Gaston Leroux. Kay does a beautiful job weaving the little facts we learned originally into her tale in a convincing way that makes me feel like I only knew half the story before finding this book.

There are a few points of violence which became rather uncomfortable for me and several typos later in the book that made me read a sentence two or three times before I understood it and pulled me out of the story for a moment which is the only reason this isn't a perfect 5 star novel in my opinion.