PHANTOM FEAST
Dianna Barron
Barclay Books (September 1, 2001)
Pb 269 pages
ISBN# 1-931402-21-3
 

This is the story of 3 dwarfs, 2 midgets, an overly obese woman and a whole menagerie of wild man eating animals, and surprisingly enough, the animals are the ones that may not really exist. 

Erin is a woman who lives with her incredibly loyal dwarf friends in a small town. She is so obese that she can’t even leave her bed. Well, at least not physically. We find out early in the story that she does manage to get out for a bite to eat once in while but the menu isn’t one that would be featured at Spago.  Then when townspeople start dying horribly bloody deaths, sometimes right in front of the eyes of other people with no visible killer, Mickey, one of the dwarfs, figures out what’s going on and faces a moral dilemma. 

I did not enjoy this book at all. The story line had a lot of holes in it, and the bloody scenes were too much. The concept of Phantom Feast is admirable, but I was not impressed with final product. If you are having a problem with insomnia I recommend it otherwise, run like you’re being chased by a herd of invisible man-eating rhinos. 
 

Deanna Johnson

**Editor's note: I read the first half of this book and found the violence to be gratuitous and the plot absurd.  I wish to thank Deanna for taking on a book she obviously would not have finished if it hadn't been for my pleas and whines.