16 of 16 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Couldn't put it down, December 6, 2000
Clegg does it again. He is one of the most consistently effective horror writers I have ever read. In Never Land, we meet cousins Beau and Sumter summering at their grandmother's home on Gull Island. While the grown-ups drink and fight amongst themselves, the kids explore the island in search of adventure. Unfortunately, Sumter isn't exactly the most mentally healthy child, and he drags his cousins into some bizarre, frightening and dangerous games in his secret hideaway called Neverland. Communicating with another world, Sumter calls forth evil forces that threaten to destroy the family and the island. In the process, family secrets are dragged into the open, and Beau finds himself as the single person who may be able to save his family. Clegg has a knack for creating believable child characters who act in ways and say things that you would expect from a child. I absolutely could not put this book down until I finished it. It's creepy, suspenseful, and wickedly fun to read. Do what you must to track down these out-of-print Clegg novels; you won't be disappointed.
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12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Dark, Sweet, Terrifying, Touching, February 24, 2003
I'm a sucker for coming of age stories, where the main character (usually a young boy) steps out of childhood to enter manhood through a series of traumatic events that will leave him changed forever. This is exactly what happens to Beau in Douglas Clegg's brilliantly imaginative Neverland, a book that will leave you breathless and in complete awe.
Beau, his parents, his infant brother and his twin sisters leave for their annual summer trip down to the family island, where they will stay with Beau's aunt and her family and his grandmother for the following month. When he arrives, his cousin Sumter is already waiting for him. Sumter is a strange boy who has discovered something magical and yet terrifying in the old shack behind the house. A crate with something - or someone - trapped inside. Something that calls itself Lucy.
Soon enough, Beau finds himself trapped in a nightmare he can't get himself out of. They nickname the shack Neverland, the place where imagination runs free, a place where pain and sadness does not exist. But Neverland grows to be an entity of its own, and it wants something more than mere company. It wants blood.
Douglas Clegg's imgination is amazing, and he puts it to full use in this book. The things we used to dream as children - both good dreams and nightmares - come alive in this book. You soon find yourself trapped in playground from hell, where there are very few rules.
Beau will have to face his own personal demons as he will be pushed to the very limits of sanity by Sumter and Neverland. The last 150 pages of the book are a real roller coster ride, where everything goes to hell, and where Clegg really shows how great and brilliant his imagination truly is.
Not only is Neverland a great horror novel, it is one you won't soon forget. Douglas Clegg is the master of suspense, no dout about it. So do yourself a favor and pick on of his book up. I promise, you won't be disappointed.
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7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A wonderful 'Clegg experience!', February 28, 2005
Douglas Clegg is a master of fantasy and imagination. THIS plot is nothing simple; it turns out to be creative ,and unpredictable as hell, and I stand with applause for the hours he must have spent brainstorming this one.
Neverland is fun, twisted, gripping. I fell in love with the characters, I weeped with them, I feared for them. The setting with the old house, the creepy shack, the woods - all amazing, beautiful, unnerving. The pace is quick when it should be, slower when its appropriate, and overall ends with a stunning conclusion. Clegg writes with a hand that holds talent, knowing how to work its stuff.
Read Neverland for a good time, an imaginative roll in the hay. You won't be dissapointed.
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