The Jackson family seems to have spent every summer at Rowena Wandigaux Lee’s Victorian style mansion, a dismal home that is considered by no means a retreat to the Jackson family children. Located on Gull Island off the coast of Georgia, the place is home to superstition and lore that is older than the family realizes, but to Beau and his siblings the peninsular vacation spot is dull and uninviting. And, to make matters worse, the tension levels within the old home where their family insists on vacationing are very high. In order to escape the trauma of family deficiencies, young Beau follows his cousin Sumter into a remote part of the woods where they discover a well-hidden shack that invariably becomes a haven for the young members of the Jackson family. The fun begins innocently enough–the children have no idea that Neverland, the name the children ascribe to the shack they are using as a retreat, has a dark history. And when their cousin’s games start to go out of control, a nightmare is borne. The mystery surrounding the shack begins to unfold as the reality behind the strange creature of shadows that the children have begun worshiping starts to take shape. It is a reality that transforms Gull Island into a place of terror, and the children’s games are becoming very destructive.
Douglas Clegg invites us into a thrilling realm embedded within this horrifying southern gothic tale about secrets kept and a past that refuses to be forgotten. The award-winning author of Isis, Clegg has had no trouble carving a niche for himself in the suspense/horror industry with powerfully dark and disturbing works that easily capture the reader’s imagination. In his newest novel, Neverland, Clegg experiments with the principle of lost innocence in its most unsettling manifestations.
Neverland comes highly recommended for avid readers of suspense novels and horror fiction. Of course, if you enjoyed Isis, then Clegg’s newest novel should definitely be on your reading list for this year.
