The original Phantom : Before the Andrew Lloyd Webber"s musical, there was Gaston Leroux"s original novel "The Phantom of the Opera". If you have never seen the production stage, and know only a few things of the story, then. . . when you reach the middle of the narrative you will be surprised because it is totally different from what you will expect. And it is a great surprise. More than a love story, "The Phantom of the Opera" is a gothic tale of obsession -leading to madness. The Paris Opera House and its hidden rooms, and underground are the perfect place to develop a horror story. Leroux noticed this potential. His descriptions of the place are creepy and in the end we start wondering if it is not a true story indeed. Leroux was very smart, writing a novel like he was only reporting something -and not creating a work of fiction. Therefore there are police reports, newspapers" scraps, witness interviews. More than a narrator, the person who is telling the story is only gathering useful information for the reader. His characters are real human beings -even the `ghost", of whom throughout the narrative we realize that he is the one with most human characteristics. Sometimes, Christine is a little stereotypical, mostly when she says she wants to be `the mistress of her faith" or something like it. And so is Raoul -but that doesn"t diminish the qualities of this engaging novel. All in all, this is a French classic that is highly recommended.