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Neverland
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From Douglas Clegg, award-winning and New York Times bestselling author of The Priest of Blood and The Hour Before Dark, comes a supernatural gothic thriller of family secrets and innocence turned to darkness.
For years, the Jackson family vacationed at Rowena Wandigaux Lee's old Victorian house on Gull Island, a place of superstition and legend off the southern coast of the U.S. One particular summer, young Beau follows his cousin Sumter into a shack hidden among the brambles and windswept trees near the bluffs overlooking the sea.
The rundown shack called Neverland is the key to an age-old mystery, a place forbidden to all. Inside it, the children's games soon turn deadly and dangerous as they begin worshipping a god of shadows they call "Lucy."
And all gods demand sacrifice...
"Neverland is a masterpiece of dark suspense that will forever haunt your dreams." - Douglas Preston, New York Times Bestselling Author of Impact and (with Lincoln Child) of Relic and Gideon's Corpse.
"Douglas Clegg's Neverland is an unforgettable novel that combines creeping horror and psychological suspense. It starts like a bullet and never slows down." - David Morrell, New York Times Bestselling Author of Murder as a Fine Art.
“This is a powerful and thrilling tale, Douglas Clegg’s best novel yet. The novel builds in whispers and ends in a scream. You will never forget Neverland.” - F. Paul Wilson, New York Times Bestselling Author of Nightworld and the Repairman Jack series.
"From start to finish, Neverland is a haunting and tragic masterpiece. A powerful, thrilling tale, Douglas Clegg tells Beau and Sumner's incredible story with a subtle blend of humor and sadness that resonates with the reader long after the novel ends.” - Marjorie M. Liu, New York Times Bestselling Author.
“A brilliant novel that grows richer with each reading, a multilayered marvel that will one day be recognized as one of the classics of supernatural literature.” - Bentley Little, Bestselling Author of The Influence and The Haunted.
"Clegg's stories can chill the spine so effectively that the reader should keep paramedics on standby." - Dean Koontz, New York Times Bestselling Author of Odd Thomas and Innocence.
"Clegg knows exactly what scares us, and he knows just how to twist those fears into hair-raising chills. Neverland is Clegg at his best." - Tess Gerritsen, New York Times Bestselling Author of Girl Missing and the Rizzoli & Isles series of novels.
“Douglas Clegg . . . could have hung out with (in a better world) Robert R. McCammon, Bentley Little and Stephen King. These are guys who know America, and know how to literally scare up the best and worst aspects of the American character and slap them into a ripping yarn full of monsters, terror and enough action to keep the pages turning late into the night.” - Rick Kleffel, book commentator for NPR
“Combing elements of H.P. Lovecraft, Stephen King, southern gothic, and adolescent angst, Douglas Clegg subsumes us in horror with Neverland, a tale so chilling it infected my dreams. Clegg builds horror in rich detailed layers. It is a testament to Clegg’s gifts that we can’t turn away; scary though the trip may be, the fright reaches out from the pages and pulls us along...Neverland is scary stuff, the product of a skilled writer of horror, and best read with the lights on.” - San Francisco Book Reviews
“I can tell you without hesitation that Neverland is a true gothic masterpiece. I am incredibly impressed with it. This is a remarkable piece of literature.”- Scott A. Johnson, Dread Central.com
"Neverland is a scary work written by an author soaring to the top of his game." - The Merry Genre Go Round Review.
“Neverland delivers . . . delicious slow horror...I’m going to put a library hold on one of Clegg’s other novels, because if they’re anything like this one, I’m an instant fan.” - Sci-Fi Saturday Night
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Start ReadingBook Information
Neverland
Description
From Douglas Clegg, award-winning and New York Times bestselling author of The Priest of Blood and The Hour Before Dark, comes a supernatural gothic thriller of family secrets and innocence turned to darkness.
For years, the Jackson family vacationed at Rowena Wandigaux Lee's old Victorian house on Gull Island, a place of superstition and legend off the southern coast of the U.S. One particular summer, young Beau follows his cousin Sumter into a shack hidden among the brambles and windswept trees near the bluffs overlooking the sea.
The rundown shack called Neverland is the key to an age-old mystery, a place forbidden to all. Inside it, the children's games soon turn deadly and dangerous as they begin worshipping a god of shadows they call "Lucy."
And all gods demand sacrifice...
"Neverland is a masterpiece of dark suspense that will forever haunt your dreams." - Douglas Preston, New York Times Bestselling Author of Impact and (with Lincoln Child) of Relic and Gideon's Corpse.
"Douglas Clegg's Neverland is an unforgettable novel that combines creeping horror and psychological suspense. It starts like a bullet and never slows down." - David Morrell, New York Times Bestselling Author of Murder as a Fine Art.
“This is a powerful and thrilling tale, Douglas Clegg’s best novel yet. The novel builds in whispers and ends in a scream. You will never forget Neverland.” - F. Paul Wilson, New York Times Bestselling Author of Nightworld and the Repairman Jack series.
"From start to finish, Neverland is a haunting and tragic masterpiece. A powerful, thrilling tale, Douglas Clegg tells Beau and Sumner's incredible story with a subtle blend of humor and sadness that resonates with the reader long after the novel ends.” - Marjorie M. Liu, New York Times Bestselling Author.
“A brilliant novel that grows richer with each reading, a multilayered marvel that will one day be recognized as one of the classics of supernatural literature.” - Bentley Little, Bestselling Author of The Influence and The Haunted.
"Clegg's stories can chill the spine so effectively that the reader should keep paramedics on standby." - Dean Koontz, New York Times Bestselling Author of Odd Thomas and Innocence.
"Clegg knows exactly what scares us, and he knows just how to twist those fears into hair-raising chills. Neverland is Clegg at his best." - Tess Gerritsen, New York Times Bestselling Author of Girl Missing and the Rizzoli & Isles series of novels.
“Douglas Clegg . . . could have hung out with (in a better world) Robert R. McCammon, Bentley Little and Stephen King. These are guys who know America, and know how to literally scare up the best and worst aspects of the American character and slap them into a ripping yarn full of monsters, terror and enough action to keep the pages turning late into the night.” - Rick Kleffel, book commentator for NPR
“Combing elements of H.P. Lovecraft, Stephen King, southern gothic, and adolescent angst, Douglas Clegg subsumes us in horror with Neverland, a tale so chilling it infected my dreams. Clegg builds horror in rich detailed layers. It is a testament to Clegg’s gifts that we can’t turn away; scary though the trip may be, the fright reaches out from the pages and pulls us along...Neverland is scary stuff, the product of a skilled writer of horror, and best read with the lights on.” - San Francisco Book Reviews
“I can tell you without hesitation that Neverland is a true gothic masterpiece. I am incredibly impressed with it. This is a remarkable piece of literature.”- Scott A. Johnson, Dread Central.com
"Neverland is a scary work written by an author soaring to the top of his game." - The Merry Genre Go Round Review.
“Neverland delivers . . . delicious slow horror...I’m going to put a library hold on one of Clegg’s other novels, because if they’re anything like this one, I’m an instant fan.” - Sci-Fi Saturday Night
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Reviews
This book was in the book bag of novels received through an exchange with another reader. I have abandoned effort in trying to finish this novel. I persevered for several days but when you have limited time to read and multiple titles that you can't wait to read, it seemed silly to continue when at halfway through my only reaction to this novel was one of dread to pick it up again during my precious reading time.
I read this book last year and found it mostly enjoyable. From what I recall, it was entertaining and it wasn't badly written. But, looking back on it now, I think it's just sort of okay as a horror novel. I tend to judge horror stories on how much of an impact they make, and I think the best ones leave the reader with something that resonates long after they've closed the book. It can be a tense or brutal scene, a surreal image, even a line of dialogue or description that seems to encapsulate what it is about the book that freaks you out. I'll acknowledge this is very subjective criteria, but since I mostly just get this vague notion of "stuff happens" when thinking about this book, I can't really recommend it.There is some little boy with powers of some kind who's supposed to be creepy, but I mostly remember him as being annoying or pathetic. As the story progresses, his powers get stronger, people start dying and soon a family member will have to sacrifice him/herself to stop the bad thing from killing everyone. (I think there's also a magical piece of land and a teddy bear involved.) I realize this is a Southern Gothic-type horror story (which tend to be more convoluted), but it still felt sort of muddled by the end.
A killer Teddy Bear!? Really? Just horrible.
What can I say about this book but awesome!? I've previously read Douglas Clegg's work and enjoyed it so when I saw this one I knew I'd have to check it out. I'm glad I did because it went above and beyond my expectations!How does a person say that a story was totally wicked and twisted but totally engrossing? Wickedly awesome? That's probably the best way for ME to describe Neverland. It's a contemporary gothic horror (IMO) that brings out the childhood fears and puts them in an adult perspective that will give you the Heebie Jeebies!Basically I thought it was just fantastic and I recommend it highly
Three pages into this book, I knew that I was going to like it. The story starts with a family on their way to Gull Island, GA for summer vacation. They're in their station wagon....two 12 year old girls (twins) a 10 year old boy, a baby, and the parents. It is a typical road trip with the kids squabbling and carrying on and their parents trying to intervene and keep the peace. This story is narrated by 10 year old Beauregard (Beau). I love stories narrated by kids.....their descriptions of things are so hilarious and true. The way he describes the members of his family, including his Grandma Weenie who is crabby, wheelchair bound, and carries and silver-handled brush on her lap that is often used for spankings, is very detailed. I could picture her in my mind, as well as the other characters. I laughed out loud several times while reading this...especially when Beau is teasing his sister about her dead hamster!Beau's family vacations every year on Gull Island GA at his grandmother's house. His Aunt Cricket and Uncle Wayne join them, along with their son, Sumnter. Sumnter is strange, and Beau and his sisters are reluctant to join in any of his games. Sumnter chooses an old gardening shed which is strictly off-limits, to make into a clubhouse. There is a password to the clubhouse....and there is a god of the clubhouse. Before they know it, Beau and his sisters are sucked into Sumnter's weird world of games and hallucinations. He claims to have a god by the name of Lucy, in a crate in the clubhouse. Lucy must be fed....and by fed, he means sacrifices. The kids go along with Sumnter for awhile, but then things start to get out of hand. One evening they all experience "flying" up into the sky, and Sumnter begins to sacrifice small animals to Lucy's crate. From inside the crate there are sounds of scratching and growling. Sumnter swears the other kids to secrecy, but Beau confides in his mother about what's been going on.....but did he let her know too late? Lucy is expecting a very large and promising sacrifice; a human sacrifice; and she has asked Beau to get it for her so that she can come out to play.This Southern-Gothic type horror story is one of the best that I have ever read. It kind of reminds me of Boys Life by Robert McCammon, which is one of my favorites. Douglas Clegg does an excellent job weaving this twisted tale. I highly recommend horror lovers everywhere to check this out.
The first and, up until now, only book I've read by Douglas Clegg was Isis and that wasn't all that long ago. I enjoyed Isis immensely and planned on picking up some more of the award-winning author's work. Luckily for me, I was offered a copy of Clegg's Neverland for review which I readily accepted and looked forward to reading. Neverland was first published as a mass market paperback in 1991 by Pocket Books. In 2010, Vanguard Press reissued the novel in a lovely trade paperback edition which incorporates a scattering of marvelous illustrations by Glenn Chadbourne, the same artist who lent his skills to the 2009 Isis reissue. I've seen nothing but good things about Neverland and the new release is getting great reviews. Guess it's time to get my word in, too.Every summer, Beauregard Jackson and his family travel to his maternal grandmother's home on the Georgian coast to spend vacation together. He, his parents, his baby brother, and his twin sisters pack themselves into the car to make the grueling, un-air-conditioned drive to Gull Island to meet up with his aunt, uncle, and their son. Beau more or less gets along with his cousin, but Sumter has always been more aggressive. This year is no different, although Sumter is acting more strangely than usual and has started playing in the old abandoned shed in the woods--the one place they are forbidden to go. Calling it Neverland, the children claim it as their own, a world away from the adults. Beau and his sisters get swept up in Sumter's creation of Neverland, triggering a chain of events that lead to tragedy and the revelation of dark family secrets.One of the greatest things about Neverland is the ambiguity between what is real and what is simply the overactive imagination of a ten-year-old. Many of the events are probably even more frightening if there isn't anything supernatural going on. And that is what makes Neverland work so well for me. It is creepy and chilling because the kids act like kids, the grown-ups act like grown-ups, and terrible things happen as a result. Other than occasionally being more articulate than I wold normally expect, I think that Clegg captured the attitudes and behaviors of the children quite well, including their inherent distrust of the adults and growing up. I really enjoyed Beau as a narrator and he had a great voice that for the most part felt authentic to me. His interactions with his siblings and cousin, and with his older family members, were believable and real. I really felt for this guy who was forced to come to terms with some very hard truths and responsibilities before he really should have had to.I've not read much horror fiction yet, so I'm not sure how Neverland compares, but I can honestly say that I thoroughly enjoyed the novel. Clegg skillfully maneuvers along a fine line between kids just being kids and something much more sinister, making the storytelling very effective. One example is the children's co-option of fairly common religious language and rituals which comes across as eerie and perverse. I found it easy to identify with Beau and his family, having taken my fair share of vacations in the south. While his family certainly isn't perfect, and there's a fair amount of conflict among its members, they do love each other. There is something very heartfelt about Neverland. Still, the wonderful moments of nostalgia are punctuated by horrific actions and events that are difficult to determine to what extent they are true and how much is just in Beau's head. Either option is terrifying in its own way. The final chapters are intense and I found the epilogue to be very touching and beautiful. I'm glad I got another chance to read and review another of Clegg's books and I still plan on tracking down some more in the future.Experiments in Reading
This book was in the book bag of novels received through an exchange with another reader. I have abandoned effort in trying to finish this novel. I persevered for several days but when you have limited time to read and multiple titles that you can't wait to read, it seemed silly to continue when at halfway through my only reaction to this novel was one of dread to pick it up again during my precious reading time.
This was my first from Clegg and it wasn't too bad. It won't go down as a classic but it was a solid work that kept me reading (which I guess is ultimately the point.) The concept was good and the story fast paced. What I think didn't work as well, is I never felt any kind of dread or horror, I was never drawn into the story like so many other novels will. The ending got a little weird for me and while the entire novel led logically to that point, it still just did not work for me.Clegg is a talented writer and I don’t the problems that I had with this novel reflect necessarily on him as an author, but more on me as a reader not connecting with this particular story. I have other works of his on the shelf and will be picking them up soon enough. If you’re already a fan, then this is worth the read, but a new reader may want to start elsewhere.