Lost Boys: A Novel [Mass Market Paperback]

Orson Scott Card (Author)

Book Description

Release date: January 25, 2005

For Step Fletcher, his pregnant wife DeAnne, and their three children, the move to tiny Steuben, North Carolina, offers new hope and a new beginning. But from the first, eight-year-old Stevie's life there is an unending parade of misery and disaster.

Cruelly ostracized at his school, Stevie retreats further and further into himself -- and into a strange computer game and a group of imaginary friends.

But there is something eerie about his loyal, invisible new playmates: each shares the name of a child who has recently vanished from the sleepy Southern town. And terror grows for Step and DeAnne as the truth slowly unfolds. For their son has found something savagely evil ... and it's coming for Stevie next.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

A withdrawn eight-year-old in a troubled family invents imaginary friends who bear the names of missing children in this absorbing thriller.
Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal

Science fiction writer Card ( Abyss , Pocket, 1989) turns to suspense with this offering. Step Fletcher, his wife DeAnne, and their children have just moved to Steuben, North Carolina, where there has been a rash of mysterious disappearances. Plagued by various problems, the religious Fletcher family slowly adjusts to the community. Eight-year-old son Stevie, however, spends all his spare time with his imaginary friends. Preoccupied with settling into their new home, Step and DeAnne fail to understand the connection between Stevie's friends and the young boys' disappearances. Almost too late, Stevie makes the ultimate sacrifice to convince his family that his imaginary friends are real and to reveal the boys' murderer. Card skillfully uses terror as a background to everyday family life. For Stephen King fans and those who like their suspense mixed with the supernatural.
- Grant A. Fredericksen, Illinois Prairie Dist. P.L., Metamora
Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Mass Market Paperback: 528 pages
• Publisher: HarperTorch (January 25, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0061091316
• ISBN-13: 978-0061091315
• Product Dimensions: 4.2 x 1.2 x 6.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 11.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (182 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #107,966 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Orson Scott Card is the bestselling author best known for the classic Ender's Game, Ender's Shadow and other novels in the Ender universe. Most recently, he was awarded the 2008 Margaret A. Edwards Award for lifetime achievement in Young Adult literature, from the American Library Association. Card has written sixty-one books, assorted plays, comics, and essays and newspaper columns. His work has won multiple awards, including back-to-back wins of the Hugo and the Nebula Awards-the only author to have done so in consecutive years. His titles have also landed on 'best of' lists and been adopted by cities, universities and libraries for reading programs. The Ender novels have inspired a Marvel Comics series, a forthcoming video game from Chair Entertainment, and pre-production on a film version. A highly anticipated The Authorized Ender Companion, written by Jake Black, is also forthcoming.Card offers writing workshops from time to time and occasionally teaches writing and literature at universities.Orson Scott Card currently lives with his family in Greensboro, NC.

Amazon Author Rankbeta 

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#20 Overall (See top 100 authors)

#2 in Books > Science Fiction & Fantasy > Science Fiction

#2 in Kindle eBooks > Literature & Fiction > Science Fiction

#4 in Books > Science Fiction & Fantasy

#20 in Books

#26 in Books > Literature & Fiction

#2 in Books > Science Fiction & Fantasy > Science Fiction

#2 in Kindle eBooks > Literature & Fiction > Science Fiction

#4 in Books > Science Fiction & Fantasy

#20 in Books

#26 in Books > Literature & Fiction

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

66 of 70 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars All the Reviews are On-Target February 15, 2001

By jimnypivo VINE™ VOICE

Format:Mass Market Paperback

Every so often I see a film or read a book that 'disturbs' me for several days. Symptoms including a dazed/off-center mental state and a distraction from 'reality' possessed me in the days after seeing. 'Schindler's List', 'The Sixth Sense', and reading Malachi Martin's 'Hostage to the Devil'. This 'disturbance' has its good and bad qualities. Best of all, it is stimulating, helps clear my mind and provoke deep thoughts. So I was surprised when 'Lost Boys' affected me the same way.

If you're a parent, this book will disturb you in many ways. OSC puts in writing every nightmare a parent has over the sanity and safety of his/her kids--- kids getting lost, adjustment problems at a new school and town, creepy people whom you're not quite sure to trust your kids with, the evils of computer/video games, child predators...

On a par with 'Ender's Game', 'Lost Boys' has good plot and fine 3-D characters. For you Ender fans, OSC spins a different kind of story here---one about the mundane issues of everyday family life. However, as you turn the pages, you care more and more about what happens to the family, while suspense and creepiness build higher and higher. Card skillfully moves the story and mood along. You also get an interesting and frank look at husband-wife relationship dynamics that portrayed each's side very well.

Some OSC readers (or the uninitiated) may criticize the way he weaves 'Mormonness' into his work. I always found the tie-in of his Faith to his books as interesting and informative adjuncts to his story, and not as 'missionary work' for his Church. 'Lost Boys' is no exception. Faith and Family are important elements of this story, and Card gives us a little more than a peek at what Life-As-a-Mormon is all about.

I agree in part with the reviewer who loved all but the ending. True, the pace is sluggish for the first half, and then increases steadily. The ending comes hard and with a jolt.

But that's not all bad. Because at the end, that 'disturbed' feeling hit me, and I reflected long and hard about things I hadn't seriously thought about before.

19 of 21 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars Blindsided! May 31, 1999

By A Customer

Format:Mass Market Paperback

That's how I felt when I finished THE LOST BOYS. I've read O.S. Card's Earth series, his Alvin series, the Ender series, even Stone Tables, but nothing prepared me for this seemingly lighthearted tale of a Mormon family. Like others before me, I recommend that you save a large block of time for reading the last 100 pages--you won't want to put it down. Yes, you have to meander to get to the end, but it is a pleasureable journey, getting to know Step, Deanna, and the kiddies. Just when you think you've figured out the bad guy, WHAM! you get blindsided by what feels like a freight train. For days, I was shell-shocked. I shared the book with my teenage son (a Stevie-like boy who reads far too much to often be impressed by a book), and he had the same reaction. To be kind, we shared it with his father who called our son "Stevie" while reading it and could only hug him and cry when he finished the story. Then we shared it with a best friend who wouldn't speak to us for days after having her heart broken. Read it and weep! It is the most disturbing book I've ever read, but sometimes it's good to have your emotions shaken!

18 of 20 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars A heartbreaking yet uplifting tale of family love. November 5, 1997

By [e-mail]

Format:Mass Market Paperback

I'm not a science fiction fan, so I almost missed this one. But having read another Card book (Saints), I took a chance on this one, and I'm very glad I did. I read Lost Boys about two years ago, and I'd read it again if I thought I could handle it. It's a beautiful story of a family being subjected to terrible hardship and stress, a family whose faith and love strengthen and keep them together through the worst kind of sorrow. A word of caution: if you have ever buried one of your children (as I have), be careful with this one. You don't have to be a Mormon to enjoy this novel. The doctrine is presented as part of the story, it's easy to understand. The plot is rather complicated, but basically concerns a recently relocated software designer and his family who find themselves facing religious prejudice, serious problems with the husband's new employer, self-righteous busybodies, a severly disabled newborn, and a serial killer. All at the same time. They are blessed with a truly exceptional eldest child, Steven, who seems to be a conduit of supernatural forces. Yes, the ending is wrenching, and yes, you will cry, but that is the essence of life, isn't it? If you want to escape to a place where all the endings are happy, don't read this book. If you want to experience a slice of Mormon theology mixed with suspense and tragedy, then don't miss this one. You'll find yourself counting your blessings and hugging your children a little more tightly afterwards. I'm glad I read Lost Boys, and I recommend it to anyone with an open mind and a tender heart.