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Peter is quick, daring, and full of mischief—and like all boys, he loves to play, though his games often end in blood. His eyes are sparkling gold, and when he graces you with his smile you are his friend for life, but his promised land is not Neverland.
Fourteen-year-old Nick would have been murdered by the drug dealers preying on his family had Peter not saved him. Now the irresistibly charismatic wild boy wants Nick to follow him to a secret place of great adventure, where magic is alive and you never grow old. Even though he is wary of Peter's crazy talk of faeries and monsters, Nick agrees. After all, New York City is no longer safe for him, and what more could he possibly lose?
There is always more to lose.
Accompanying Peter to a gray and ravished island that was once a lush, enchanted paradise, Nick finds himself unwittingly recruited for a war that has raged for centuries—one where he must learn to fight or die among the "Devils," Peter's savage tribe of lost and stolen children.
There, Peter's dark past is revealed: left to wolves as an infant, despised and hunted, Peter moves restlessly between the worlds of faerie and man. The Child Thief is a leader of bloodthirsty children, a brave friend, and a creature driven to do whatever he must to stop the "Flesh-eaters" and save the last, wild magic in this dying land.
The Child Thief
A Novel
Chapter One
Child Thief
In a small corner of Prospect Park, in the borough of Brooklyn, New York, a thief lay hidden in the trees. This thief wasn't searching for an unattended purse, cell phone, or camera. This thief was looking for a child.
In the dusk of that early-autumn day, the child thief peered out from the shadows and falling leaves to watch the children play. The children scaled the giant green turtle, slid down the bright yellow slide, laughed, yelled, teased, and chased one another round and round. But the child thief wasn't interested in these happy faces. He wasn't looking to steal just any child. He was particular. He was looking for the sad face, the loner... a lost child. And the older the better, preferably a child of thirteen or fourteen, for older children were stronger, had better stamina, tended to stay alive longer.
The thief knew Mother Luck had smiled on him with the girl. She'd been a good catch, too bad about her father. He smiled, remembering the funny face the man had made as the knife slipped into his chest. But where was Mother Luck now? He'd been hunting for two days. Nothing. He'd come close with a boy last night, but close wasn't good enough. Grimacing, the thief reminded himself that he had to take it slow, had to make friends with them first, gain their trust, because you couldn't steal a child without their trust.
Maybe Mother Luck would be with him tonight. The child thief had found city parks to be good hunting grounds. Strays and runaways often camped among the bushes and used the public restrooms to wash, and they were always looking for friends.
As the sun slid slowly behind the cityscape, the shadows crept in—and so did the thief, biding his time, waiting for the falling darkness to sort the children out.
Nick darted into the warehouse entryway, pressed himself flat against the steel door, his breath coming hard and fast. He leaned his cheek against the cold metal and squeezed his eyes shut. "Fuck," he said. "I'm screwed. So screwed." At fourteen, Nick was slender and a bit small for his age. Dark, choppy bangs spilled across his narrow face, emphasizing his pallid complexion. He needed a haircut, but of late his hair was the last thing on his mind.
Nick dropped his pack to the ground, pushed his bangs from his eyes, and carefully rolled up one sleeve of his black denim jacket. He glanced at the burns running along the inside of his forearm and winced. The angry red marks crisscrossing his flesh crudely formed the letter N.
He tried to put the nightmare out of his mind, but it came back to him in heated flashes: the men pinning him to the floor—the floor of his own kitchen. The sour, rancid taste of the dish sponge being crammed into his mouth. Marko, big, thick-necked Marko, with his beastly grin, smirking while he heated the coat hanger against the burner. The wire smoking then turning red then... the pain... red-hot searing pain. God, the smell, but worse, the sound, he'd never forget the sound of his own flesh sizzling. Trying to scream, only to gag and choke on that gritty, soggy sponge while they laughed. Marko right in his face, Marko with his long, straggly chin hairs and bulging, bloodshot eyes. "Wanna know what the N stands for?" he'd spat. "Huh, do you fuckhole? It's for Narc. You ever say anything to anybody again and I'm gonna burn the whole fucking word into your tongue. You got that you little prick?"
Nick opened his eyes. "Need to keep moving." He snatched up his pack and unzipped the top. Inside the pack were some chips, bread, a jar of peanut butter, a pocket knife, two cans of soda, a blue rabbit's foot on a leather cord, and about thirty thousand dollars' worth of methamphetamines.
He dug through the hundreds of small clear plastic bags until he found the blue rabbit's foot. The rabbit's foot had been a gift from his dad, the only thing Nick had left of him now. He kissed it, then slipped it around his neck. He needed all the luck he could come by today.
He leaned out from the entryway, glancing quickly up and down the busy avenue, keeping an eye out for a beat-up green van. He'd hoped for some congestion to slow the traffic down, help him make it to the subway alive, but currently the traffic chugged steadily along. The day waned and soon the van would be just one more pair of gleaming headlights in the night.
Nick slung the pack over his shoulder and ducked out onto the sidewalk, weaving his way between the thin trail of pedestrians as he jogged rapidly up the block. There was a bite to the wind and -people had their collars up and their eyes down. Nick pulled up his own collar, skirted around a cluster of elderly men and women lined up in front of an Italian restaurant, and tried to lose himself among the thin stream of returning commuters.
You fucked up Nicky boy, he thought. Fucked up big. Yet part of him was glad, would do about anything to see the faces of those sons-of-bitches when they found their stash gone. It would be a long time before Marko was back in business.
A horn blew behind him. Nick jumped and spun—heart in his throat. But there was no green van, just someone double-parked. He caught sight of the trees and felt a flood of relief. Prospect Park was just a block away. He'd be hard to spot in the trees. He could cut across the park and come out at the subway station. Nick took off in a run.
The Child ThiefAnaMardoll
Posted December 28, 2010
The Child Thief / 978-0-061-67133-3 I usually save the 'parental warnings' in my reviews until the end, but "The Child Thief", as compelling and fascinating as it is, nonetheless requires some upfront warnings. If you are thinking of buying this novel for a child, perhaps on the grounds that it is a Peter Pan story and therefore child-friendly, be warned that this is an incredibly dark and violent novel. I'm not exaggerating when I say that nine out of every ten pages contains a depiction of rape, child molestation, violence, murder, torture, or several instances of the F-word. I certainly wouldn't say that no child or teenager on earth would be able to appreciate this novel, but I do strongly advise that you read this book yourself, beforehand, to determine whether this level of violence will be disturbing to the intended recipient. With that out of the way, let me say that I am quick to condemn books that rely on violence, sex, and profanity in an attempt to divert the reader's attention from the fact that there is no actual plot. "The Child Thief" is not one such novel - every incidence of violence within this novel acts in service to the plot, and the end result is an incredibly compelling story that is both a re-imagining of the classic Peter Pan tale, but also remarkably true to the original in many of the details (lest we forget that Barrie's version contained quite a bit of death and murder behind the scenes). Brom has taken the premise that Peter Pan steals children away to Neverland and has expanded the concept to fit within our dark reality. Here, Peter Pan does not steal away babies who fall out of their prams - he steals away children who are victims of abuse, neglect, molestation, and all the other such evils of our world that children should never have to endure. But the Neverland that Peter promises to lead these victimized children to is not an escape in the classic sense - it is supremely dangerous, and no longer in the exciting "but-we-always-escape-in-the-end" kind of danger that the Disneyesque Neverland fostered. The neglected children are given a family and an emotionally safe haven, but every moment of their days are spent in training, in the hopes that once they leave the confines of their home they will not die immediately in this hostile world. Brom has woven a masterful tale here, with both the real world and the Neverland/Albion world realistically rendered, with both the good and the bad. There is not a single character in this novel which could be described as flat or two-dimensional; even the most minor and ancillary characters are vivid, complex, and contain their own unique mix of perspectives and motivations. I would deeply recommend "The Child Thief" to anyone who enjoys morally ambiguous tales with complex, three-dimensional characters. If you won't be offended by the incredibly violent and profane nature of the writing, and if you won't be upset by the characterization of a beloved childhood story character as something much less perfect and much more human, then "The Child Thief" is definitely worth looking into. ~ Ana Mardoll
12 out of 12 people found this review helpful.
Was this review helpful? Yes NoThank you for your feedback. Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.MercedesMud
Posted January 2, 2011
This book is dark, bloody, and nothing like Disney. Did I mention it's also great?! Peter finds the unwanted kids, kids with horrible pasts that need a new life, he takes them home to Avalon. There they join the Devils and are trained as warriors. Little do the kids know they are going to be sent to war with the flesheaters, that's the whole reason Peter brings them home to his strange land.
You'll meet several characters you will love, but as this is a dark novel don't expect them to survive the entire story. There isn't really a bad guy in this book, as everyone in it has some dark history. Excellent book and worth the read, and the art is snazzy too
6 out of 7 people found this review helpful.
Was this review helpful? Yes NoThank you for your feedback. Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.This is not only one of the longest books I've read recently, but also one of the most anticipated. I was lusting after this book and really did my best to get my hands on an ARC, but had to settle for borrowing it from the library. Was worried that it might let me down as I was looking forward to it so much, but am happy to report that it was just as good as described! So good that I'm going to buy my own copy, which I rarely do with library reads.
The Child Thief is Peter, a wild child who found refuge on the mythical island of Avalon. Found it interesting that Brom combined the Peter Pan myth with Arthurian legend. Variations of the Lost Boys, Captain Hook, and The Lady of the Lake show up, but in a much darker format. Pretty sure that this book is destined to become a classic, as the story is just that good! Brom is an extremely talented storyteller as well as being a gifted artist.
During this story, we learn Peter's history as well as follow his struggle to "save" lost children. We also join him on his quest to serve his Lady, try to save Avalon, and defeat Avalon's enemies. Any more details would probably contain spoilers, so I'll leave it at this: Read this book and you will not be disappointed! Gave it a 5 out of 5, as I found the book totally captivating! Go! Now! Get yourself a copy!
5 out of 5 people found this review helpful.
Was this review helpful? Yes NoThank you for your feedback. Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.The Child Thief (2009) is a dark reinterpretation of the world of Peter Pan by writer and illustrator Brom. His adult novel offers a chilling alternative to the Disney version of Peter Pan which, according to the author's note, is more in keeping with the original text of Peter Pan as written by J. M. Barrie.
Brom's Peter prowls the streets of New York City each night looking for haunted, lost children that he can lure away to a secret place far away. It's impossible to actually steal a child, the mist won't allow that, but you can lead a child. That's what Peter does. In many ways a lost boy himself, Peter finds children who think they have nothing left to lose; victims of violence, abuse and neglect looking for a way out. What these lost children soon learn is that there is always something else to lose.
There have been a lot of comparisons drawn between The Child Thief and Gregory Maguire's Wicked. I can't comment on that having not read the latter novel. What I can say is that The Child Thief will make your skin crawl. Like its cover, the novel is peppered with beautiful, grim illustrations of the characters. The writing is no less bleak. Peppered with violence, cursing, and an overwhelming sense of hopelessness, I can see why other reviews have said this book is not for the faint of heart.
While brilliantly illustrated, the writing often felt less polished. And though certainly innovative, The Child Thief failed to enchant me. The old fairy tales, the original ones by Grimm or Andersen and apparently Barrie, were meant as cautionary tales for young children. Since then the stories have changed into entertainment: light-hearted, sugar-coated stories for boys and girls. I find, without fail, that I prefer the newer version which is probably why I could not fully embrace this novel. However the biggest problem for me is that the world of The Child Thief, possibly unintentionally, seems to be founded on the assumption that all people are amoral, opportunistic, mean and that the world they inhabit runs on violence and brutality--two assumptions I refuse to believe.
2 out of 2 people found this review helpful.
Was this review helpful? Yes NoThank you for your feedback. Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.Anonymous
Posted November 16, 2011
Wonderful story. Imaginative. Interesting. A favorite.
2 out of 2 people found this review helpful.
Was this review helpful? Yes NoThank you for your feedback. Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.There are some books that are instant classics this is one of them. It is a version of Peter Pan that I found unable to put down. Some books you have to get through the first couple of chapters to get into it. I have to say this book had me hooked from the first chapter. I felt like I was in one of Brom's paintings.
2 out of 2 people found this review helpful.
Was this review helpful? Yes NoThank you for your feedback. Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.What can I say about this book? It was dark, gritty, gory, realistic, nightmarish and difficult to read at times. But it was quite good, too. Brom did an admirable job of gathering many myths, legends, and fairy tales into one cohesive and mostly believable world. There were a couple of things I couldn't really buy into, but that's not unusual when an author is building a new world (or an alternate world) and this one was better than many.
For the most part there was a decent balance of good and bad in the characters. Few were black or white and several surprised me with what they showed themselves to be capable of (both good and bad) once I thought I'd gotten a good read on them. But even though I was surprised, it didn't feel forced or unrealistic. I could totally buy that the 'bad' characters were sometimes decent and the 'good' characters had weaknesses and/or darker spots too, and that's an accomplishment for any author.
The one case where this wasn't true was with those who represented Christians. (I think to the author they were Christians, but they certainly weren't truly Christians to me.) They were all rotten to the core; judgmental, unaccepting, unforgiving, full of hate for anyone and anything different and willing to do horrible things in God's name. As a Christian, this hurt and saddened me. I know that things like that have happened and people like that have claimed the name of Christ and there's a reason some people see God's Church this way, but that breaks my heart because that's not the true Church and those people will receive their just reward. But in the case of this particular book, I would have liked to have seen even just one Christian who wasn't horrid. I know they exist because I don't think I'm horrid, and it made the book weaker that that particular set of characters were all bad through and through, without any sort of balance at all.
And now I really must read J.M. Barrie's Peter Pan.
1 out of 2 people found this review helpful.
Was this review helpful? Yes NoThank you for your feedback. Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.Cephius
Posted December 27, 2009
I loved this book. A very original look at Peter Pan and faeries. There is content of an adult and violent nature so I would recommend parental guidance.
1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.
Was this review helpful? Yes NoThank you for your feedback. Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.Child Theif is probably the best book i have ever read. It was genious and thought provoking the whole way through. Beginning to end the dark portrayol of Peter kept me on the edge of my seat. I would never have thought to put such a well loved character into that context but it worked perfectly. Neverland is like nothing we could have imagined and more. I highly reccomend you read this book, all my friends are begging to borrow it and every single one of them has turned the last page to find that they loved it and wanted more of it! I don't reccomend this book for children though, it does get very violent and gruesome.
1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.
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Posted November 12, 2009
I Also Recommend:
Lots of action and drama. I would recomend it to anyone with a dark imagination. One of my new favorite books :)
1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.
Was this review helpful? Yes NoThank you for your feedback. Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.Anonymous
Posted May 8, 2013
This puts a whole new meaning to Peter Pan for me. I couldn't put it down!!! I was appalled but I wanted to know what was going to happen next. A must read for those looking for something with a twist.
Was this review helpful? Yes NoThank you for your feedback. Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.Anonymous
Posted April 4, 2013
So this was my second book by Brom, my first book being Krampus. Which I loved! I got The Child Thief second because I knew it was Brom’s first book, so I had some reservations about reading it first. I am glad I waiting until after I finished Krampus. Although the Child Thief was good I did not think it was as strong as Krampus. The Child Thief promises a dark version of Peter Pan where Peter seduces abused, neglected, and rejected children, promising them wonders but instead delivering them into something unspeakably awful. The first few chapters are hazy and threatening, and could lead into a great book. But what The Child Thief actually delivers is quite different: a half-fey boy who recruits lost children to join him in the fight to save a dying magic land. Peter is portrayed in his usually charismatic and selfish way, but with a much more sinister angle. He is fully taken in by his queen and will stop at no cost in order to restore her power. Most of the other major characters are all drawn from western European mythology. From the witchy Ginny Greenteeth to the elder troll Tanngnost, Brom has weaved a dark magical story. A certain sword from Arthurian legend also makes its way into this tale. Despite the magical setting, there's little magic in the book. My biggest gripe about the nook edition of this book is the fact the pictures are thumbnails. If you get the book version they are whole pages, and beautifully done. So I am just bitter because my nook pictures are tiny and do not do justice to Brom’s art, so I had to buy the book version too. Overall, I do recommend this to horror and even dark fantasy fans. It is an original take on a classic children's tale, reminding us that many medieval fairy tales were not meant for children.
Was this review helpful? Yes NoThank you for your feedback. Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.Anonymous
Posted March 14, 2013
Absolutely amazing. A refreshing tale of Peter Pan and the Lost Boys - the adult version. While I absolutely loved everything about this tale - the characters, the plot, the depth - there were some spots where it seemed to drag on forever and I had to set the book down and come back to it later. As a whole, though, it offers a breathtaking story.
Was this review helpful? Yes NoThank you for your feedback. Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.MissRune
Posted January 23, 2013
Brom's weaving of the original Peter Pan story and old mythology feels flawless and was a delicious read. I was immersed in his vivid world and dragged in entirely. This gritty, gory, frighteningly realistic rendition reminds us that there is no clear line between "good" and "bad", and that bad can always go to worse.
My only disappointment was the rich complex character building stopped at the main characters. The antagonists were disappointingly flat. In particular I was annoyed at how little development went into Peter's Rival, Lord Ulfger. His total lack of real character development left me feeling like he was just a black-faced tool for the author to make things happen, and not a legitimate thinking-feeling character of his own.
Anonymous
Posted December 11, 2012
I totally enjoyed this book. It's always good to look at a story from a different perspective.
Was this review helpful? Yes NoThank you for your feedback. Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.kajunbabie
Posted October 26, 2012
Very slow start. Lost interest and didn't finish it.
0 out of 1 people found this review helpful.
Was this review helpful? Yes NoThank you for your feedback. Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.Anonymous
Posted September 20, 2012
Positively NOT Disney! A very dark bloody must read! I love this book. 411 pages that you wont want to put down. Puts Peter Pan in a new light. A darker light, a, wonder about his sanity light. I highly recommend this book.
Was this review helpful? Yes NoThank you for your feedback. Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.Anonymous
Posted July 18, 2012
This was a fantastic re-telling of Peter Pan.
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Posted July 10, 2012
Dark and ominous scary and violent.....just what the childs run away life reality should be! This is a must read
Was this review helpful? Yes NoThank you for your feedback. Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.Cornilius
Posted July 2, 2012
I think the main reason I keep reading Brom's stuff is because I respect the man's desire to be a writer, as well as the days I thought his art was the most innovative, coolest, imaginative stuff I'd ever seen. Now as an adult Brom looks like just another dark fantay hack with a bondage fetish, and unfortunately this is kind of the case with The Child Theif. This book will promise you big things in the first half of the story; characters abusive stories are compelling, the enemies are vicious, and the magical world of Avalon dazzles at every turn. Then we get to the second half of the book, and finally the very disappointing end. When the smoke settles, and the pile of bodies are stacked high you can't help but feel a lot of the death, and darkness could have been avoided had any one in the story been written with common sense! Further more everything in the final chapters of this story is very predictable and follows the formula of "there are no happy endings in real life" that one might expect from some one like Brom, who probably wouldn't know how to write something that wasn't full of angst, fetish leather, and hanging subplots.
Devils Rose was Ghost Rider with Cowboys, Plucker was Toy Story meets The Excorsist, this book just Peter Pan meet Battle Royale. I wouldn't recommend it but there's bound to be some one out there who thinks this is cool.
0 out of 1 people found this review helpful.
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Overview
Fourteen-year-old Nick would have been murdered by the drug dealers preying on his family had Peter not saved him. Now the irresistibly charismatic wild boy wants Nick to follow him to a secret place of great adventure, where ...