Neverland

Neverland is a southern gothic tale of family secrets and games of innocence turned to darkness.

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For years, the Jackson family has 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 hidden shack in the woods–and christens this new clubhouse Neverland.

Neverland has a secret history, unknown to the children…

The rundown shack in the woods is the key to an age-old mystery, a place forbidden to all. But Sumter and his cousins gather in its dusty shadows to escape the tensions at their grandmother’s house. Neverland becomes the place where children begin to worship a creature of shadows, which Sumter calls Lucy.

All gods demand sacrifice…

It begins with small sacrifices, little games, strange imaginings. While Sumter’s games spiral out of control, twisting from the mysterious to the macabre, a nightmarish presence rises among the straggly trees beyond the bluffs overlooking the sea.

And when Neverland itself is threatened with destruction, the children’s games take on a horrifying reality–and Gull Island becomes a place of unrelenting terror.

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“Neverland is a masterpiece of dark suspense that will forever haunt your dreams.”

— Douglas Preston, New York Times bestselling author of Impact

“Douglas 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 Ice Cold

“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 The Shimmer

“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 of The Fire King

“Rich, complex characters and a hair-raising finale. Doug is a master of this sort of tale. 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 Ground Zero

“I’d put Neverland right up there with To Kill a Mockingbird as a classic modern novel that illuminates the human condition through the eyes of a child, that simultaneously explores the darkness of man’s soul and celebrates the goodness of the human heart….There’s an echo of Flannery O’Connor here, and more than a hint of Truman Capote, Tennessee Williams and the southern gothicists…”

— Bentley Little, bestselling author of His Father’s Son

“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. Compliments also to Glenn Chadbourne’s extraordinary art work, which likewise evokes classic traditions of horror. Neverland is scary stuff, the product of a skilled writer of horror, and best read with the lights on.”

— San Francisco Book Reviews

“Clegg (The Vampyricon) crafts a haunting story redolent with the influence of Arthur Machen, H.P. Lovecraft, and other classic horror writers. His credible rendering of the internal lives of children and their imaginations give this

flight of dark fancy a firm and frightening foothold in reality.”

— Publishers Weekly

“Fans’ desire for this title has given it collectible status, fetching three-digit prices for mint-condition copies. . . The book does well as an introduction to the author for new readers, particularly YAs.”

— Library Journal

“Neverland . . . features haunting interior illustrations by Glenn Chadbourne; the eerie, meticulously detailed images brilliantly complement the Southern Gothic story

. . . Clegg’s narrative is simultaneously an innocent coming of age tale replete with prepubescent imagery (consuming Yoo-hoo chocolate soda and Mallomar treats, old Playboys stashed away like hidden treasure, awkward first kisses, etc.) and a pulse-pounding, bladder-loosening horror featuring nightmarish monstrosities and gruesome action…”

— BookPage

“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

“Douglas Clegg is a talented horror writer who manages to creep out his audience with a very visual picturesque storyline so that the reader feels as if they are inside the storyline. This is dark atmospheric work, gothic in tone that makes the readers question whether the events Beau experiences have more than one explanation. 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. The child characters are refreshingly convincing, and Clegg falls into neither of the two most overused stereotypes in horror: the paragon of innocence that must be protected, or the adult/demon in a creepy child’s body. The real kicker of this book is its ambiguous nature. Good and Bad, Right and Wrong have no real place here. There is just the Bad Choice and the Worse Choice, giving the story a level of complexity that is utterly chilling. Neverland is due to be released in April, but it’s available now for preorder through Amazon. Now if you’ll excuse me, 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

Dear Reader,

This novel, my favorite of anything I’ve written, is about absolute innocence embracing the wildness—and darkness—of the imagination. I was able to explore the destructive nature of family secrets, and how children sometimes create rituals of power as an escape from the world their parents have made.

Set in the late 1960s — or thereabouts — it’s the story of two cousins who turn to a forbidden place — the bad place, as it were — to find their power when the storms of family rage around them. I hope you enjoy Neverland.

With best wishes,
Douglas Clegg

Click the image below to bring up a new window — and start playing the cool Neverland “Spot-the-Differences” Game, drawn from the illustrations by Glenn Chadbourne and, of course, from the novel itself.