T. K. Harris

Phantom Dreams starts off from the perspective of Special Agent Jack Matthews. We're drawn right into his fast-paced, dark and chaotic world of hunting serial killers. Jack is an intriguing character, and I was under the impression the story would be his to tell.

The killer's point of view is fascinating and handled well. I felt his distorted emotions and could see his odd behavior playing out.

Five chapters in, we're introduced to Kathy Gilliam and the story shifts to her point of view. Here, the pace slows down considerably. We're provided with a lot of tedious detail about her workdays. I wanted to sympathize with her character, but I found her pretty dull.

This story turns out to largely belong to Kathy. Despite this, I never really connected with her. My mind wandered a lot during her parts. The transitions from one point of view to the next felt rough, almost as if these characters' parts were written by two different authors. While I thought Jack was the more interesting character, I never got to know him well enough to understand his motivations. For me, the character with the most dimensions, whose parts were written best, was the killer.

Overall, while a great concept, the pace was too inconsistent and the story too disjointed for me to get lost in.… (altro)