Gaston Leroux is one of the originators of the detective story, and THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA is his tourde force,as well as being the basis for the hit Broadway musical. A superb suspense story and a dark tale of obsession, PHANTOM has thrilled and entertained audiences in adaptations throughout the century.

Gaston Leroux is one of the originators of the detective story, and THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA is his tourde force,as well as being the basis for the hit Broadway musical. A superb suspense story and a dark tale of obsession, PHANTOM has thrilled and entertained audiences in adaptations throughout the century.

This new translation--the first completely modern and Americanized translation unfurls the full impact of this classic thriller for modern readers. It offers a more complete rendering of the terrifying figure who emerges from the depths of the glorious Paris Opera House to take us into the darkest regions of the human heart. After the breathtaking performance of the lovely Christine Daae and her sudden disappearance, the old legend of the "opera ghost"becomes a horrifying reality as the ghost strikes out with increasing frequency and violence--always with the young singer at the center of his powerful obsession,Leroux has created a masterwork of love and murder--and a tragic figure who awakens our deepest and most forbidden fears.

Foreword, In Which the Author of This Singular Work Tells

the Reader How He Was Led to Become Certain that the

Opera Ghost Really Existed 1

1 Was It the Ghost? 6

2 The New Marguerite 16

3 In Which, for the First Time, Debienne and Poligny

Secretly Give the New Managers of the Opera, Armand

Moncharmin and Firmin Richard, the Real and Mysterious

Reason for Their Departure from the National Academy

of Music 27

4 Box Five 34

5 Continuation of "Box Five" 42

6 The Enchanted Violin 49

7 A Visit to Box Five 67

8 In Which Firmin Richard and Armand Moncharmin Dare

  to Have Faust Performed in a "Cursed" Opera House,

  and We See the Frightful Consequences 70

9 The Mysterious Brougham 86

10 At the Masked Ball 95

11 You Must Forget the Name of "the Man"s Voice" 106

12 Above the Trapdoors 111

13 Apollo"s Lyre 120

14 A Masterstroke by the Lover of Trapdoors 143

15 The Singular Behavior of a Safety Pin 154

16 "Christine! Christine!" 160

17 Astonishing Revelations by Madame Giry, Concerning Her

Personal Relations with the Opera Ghost 164

18 Continuation of "The Singular Behavior of a Safety

  Pin" 175

19 The Policeman, the Viscount, and the Persian 181

20 The Viscount and the Persian 187

21 In the Cellars of the Opera 194

22 Interesting and Instructive Tribulations of a Persian

in the Cellars of the Opera 210

23 In the Torture Chamber 225

24 The Tortures Begin 232

25 "Barrels! Barrels! Any Barrels to SellT" 238

26 The Scorpion or the Grasshopper? 248

27 End of the Ghost"s Love Story 257

Epilogue 266