Solid quick read. [Phantom on the Scan by Cullen Bunn]

Twenty years ago, a comet fell to earth. Since that night, Matthew has been haunted – haunted by a spirit that gives him incredible psychic abilities. But these abilities come with a price…and payment is due.

Every time Matthew uses his gifts, he draws closer to death, and other psychics – all of whom gained their powers on the night the comet fell – are dying in the most horrible of ways. To save himself, Matthew gathers a group of psychics to solve the mystery of their powers before it’s too late.

A new dimension of horror brought to light by master storyteller Cullen Bunn (DARK ARK, UNHOLY GRAIL, BROTHERS DRACUL, PIECEMEAL) and illustrated by Mark Torres (Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Judge Dredd, The Shrinking Man), the team responsible for the psychological terror thriller, Cold Spot

I appreciate that this would be the first book I finish in 2022. This isn't my first rodeo with a Cullen Bunn work. Last I read Knights Temporal, which I liked. Prior to that I read Roku, which I didn't like so much. Bunn's Phantom on the Scan was an unoriginal jaunt of a story, with psychics and shadow corporations, that I felt could have been longer. The adult results of childhood experiments gather together to try and stop what's killing them. Along the way, and very hastily if we're talking story pacing, they discover some version of the truth and kill two other victims of the shady corporations' illegal experimentation scheme. And then it ends. What?

We get light background into only one or two of the gathered group of psychics, which I supposed makes sense because most of the others die before contributing whatever deus ex machina action they were written in for. Who was I supposed to root for? Am I just anti-murder? There were no real attempt to hold anyone accountable on the part of the main group, it was just, let's avoid death for everyone. Yes, that is a noble goal, but it doesn't make for a compelling story. 

All in all, I didn't dislike this story, I just found it lacking. Per Bunn's introduction, I thought we'd get more horror, psychological or otherwise. The ending confused me. As a positive it was a quick read, easy to get through. But it was easy to get through because there wasn't so much story to get through, its biggest negative for me. 3 out of 5 stars from me. This was also an Edelweiss+ read, perhaps a portent for the rest of the year's reading?

Phantom on the Scan (ISBN: 9781949028805) was published December 14, 2021.