A Child Thief

So I came across The Child Thief by Brom over at Kim Harrison’s blog and wanted to share. I love it when authors put new twists on old fairy tale classics and Brom takes a more gruesome, manipulative approach to Peter Pan. Check it out, what do you think?

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. He appears to lonely, lost children-the broken, hopeless, and sexually abused-promising to take them to a secret place of great adventure, where magic is alive, and you never grow old. But his promised land is not Neverland. . . .

With this haunting, provocative, relentlessly thrilling reconsideration of a timeless children’s classic, the acclaimed artist Brom dramatically displays another side of his extraordinary talent. Exploring the stygian blackness that gathers at the root of the beloved Peter Pan legend, he carries readers into a faerieland at once magically wondrous and deeply disturbing.

Fourteen-year-old Nick would be lying dead in a Brooklyn park-murdered by drug dealers–had Peter not sprung out of the trees to save him. Now the irresistibly charismatic wild boy wants Nick to follow him into a strange and unsettling mist swirling around the bay. Even though he is wary of Peter’s crazy talk of faeries and monsters, Nick agrees. After all, nowhere in New York City is safe for him now. And what more can 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. He must learn to fight or die as he struggles to fit in with the “Devils”-Peter’s savage tribe of lost and stolen children.

Here, Peter’s dark past is revealed: left to wolves as an infant, despised, tormented,and hunted, Peter moves between the worlds of faerie and man, struggling to understand what he is and where he belongs. The Child Thief is a leader of bloodthirsty children, a brave friend, and a creature driven to do whatever he must to kill the dreaded Captain and stop his murderous crew of “Flesh-eaters” before they blight every trace of magic left in this dying land.

Beautifully illustrated by the author with haunting portraits and indelible images, Brom’s The Child Thief is a daring novel of darkest contemporary fantasy that will, at once, haunt and exhilarate any reader who agrees to follow Peter on his desperate crusade.

If you want a peek at the story, Harper Collins has the first chapter up at their site.

About Jackie 3282 Articles
I am a 30-something SAHM with two adorable boys and a supportive husband who is very tolerant of my reading addiction. I love to read and easily go through about a dozen books a month – well I did before I had kids. Now, not so much. After my first son was born, I began to take my hobby of reviewing a little more serious and started Literary Escapism to help with my sanity. I love to discuss the fabulous novels I’ve read and meeting all the wonderful people in the book blogging community has been amazing.

4 Comments

  1. This sounds amazing! I’ve added it to my wish list and thanks for the heads up on the first chapter preview. This really makes me want to check out his other books too…and finish the one I currently own by him. :p

    ~ Popin

  2. Wow! Sounds absolutely amazing, but I think I’d have to be in the right mood for this one. Even the concept is simply blowing me away right now!

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