The Phantom of Manhattan is a 1999 novel by British writer Frederick Forsyth, written as a sequel to the 1910 novel Le Fantôme de l'Opéra by Gaston Leroux. It is widely know to have been written at the request of Andrew Lloyd Webber as material for a potential sequel to The Phantom of the Opera.Forsyth's literary concept is that Leroux had recorded factual events but, in review, had apparently not checked his facts or viewed his sources with a critical eye. The novel can therefore be read as both a tribute to Leroux's novel, and also a satire of period novels.When explaining his inspiration and motivation to write it, Forsyth said "I had done mercenaries, assassins, Nazis, murderers, terrorists, special forces soldiers, fighter pilots, you name it, and I got to think, could I actually write about the human heart?" The beginning of The Phantom of Manhattan is narrated by an ailing Madame Giry, and set in the early 1900s. Famous individuals of the time, such as Theodore Roosevelt, are mentioned in the novel. The 2010 stage sequel to the 1986 musical The Phantom of the Opera, Love Never Dies, is based partly on The Phantom of Manhattan. Source: Wikipedia (en)