Douglas Clegg

I am diffidently a fan of Dean Koontz, Stephen King, Bentley Little and Robert R. McCammon...so this story was written for me. It was written also for you if you love the work of any of these authors. The account is told from the point of view of 10-year-old Beau Jackson. It's what occurred on his last vacation on Gull Island off the coast of Georgia. This is not anything like the Hawaiian Islands. No lovely oasis in sight...never has been and never will be. It's an unhospitable, show more unwelcoming, sparsely populated, humid, hot and swampy mess, but his "granny" lives there in her large, creepy old house. Beau is not alone. His cousin, Sumter, (I never want to meet this kid), shares his summer on the island. To say Sumter is strange and a little "off", is an understatement. At times he's just downright disgusting. I actually had chills and shutters to some of his antics...and nothing usually bother me unless an animal is being mistreated. Beau always seems to suffer from Sumter's actions, from following behind him through prickly bushes to the larger escapades that Sumter draws him into. The two boys may seem like opposites, but they share a gift...a startling, vivid imagination. The adults in this story are a classic example of why some people should never be allowed to reproduce under any circumstances...so the boys are basically on their own, and they take full advantage of it. I love creepy, scary movies but they don't scare me...this book, Neverland,DID! What existed in that shack the boys played in had waited eons for just the right souls to come along...and the two boys were perfect for IT...an innocent one and a tainted one. Neverland is one of the most compellingly creepy, horrific, stories I've ever read, and I have read hundreds by some really good writers but this one is...I can't find a word that truly fits it. show less

i enjoyed this book, and i look forward to the next two books in this series, but i cannot lie: this book read a little like slash fanfiction. that's not a bad thing -- allah knows i would read fifty retellings of arthurian legend from the point of view of a strong, smart homosexual protagonist; the fact mordred was gay lends an interesting angle to a story i've loved for a very long time. but hot damn, the prose was a little purple, and by 'a little' i mean 'a lot'.

My first Douglas Clegg book will not be my last. From this first experience I can say that he is quite a talented author. He told an exciting and complex story that was exceptionally well written.

Stony Crawford is on the road with a kidnapped child messiah. As he travels he remembers events from his own childhood in the New England town of Stonehaven. The Halloween Man is an ambitious horror tale that is not easy to sum up without including spoilers. I can say that it has very little to do show more with Halloween. If you are looking for a book to read in the last weeks of October that deals with harvest time, pumpkins and trick-or-treaters, this is not it. At its heart it is a tale of Satanism and black magic. That isn't entirely accurate, but close enough to give a spoiler-less idea for potential readers, I hope.

He was maybe a bit too ambitious with his story. It came off as muddled. I was impressed with the book while I was reading it but (until the end) it wasn't a book I would eagerly anticipate picking up again. I never felt... connected to it.

I was very impressed with Clegg's writing, but it would tend to get too lyrical at times. This was a problem for me especially at the beginning of the book. Doug throws you into the story as it is already underway. This setup can work very well, making the reader immediately feel unsafe and out of his depth. But a confused story coupled with overly ambiguous writing made the beginning of the book feel a bit like a chore.

He does a decent job of describing the town of Stonehaven, but the book was missing a real sense of time and place. It could be that I was extra sensitive, because I've just recently reread Stephen King's It and The Tommyknockers, two books that create completely detailed and believable New England towns. The Halloween Man's Stonehaven came off as much sketchier. I never got the sense of verisimilitude that the book wanted me to have.

Still, I did enjoy the book overall. As the story progressed I was drawn into it and was excited to see where it would go. I would have no problem suggesting Douglas Clegg to an interested reader, but I get the feeling this book probably isn't the place to start. show less

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, show more 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. show less