Book Review: Child Thief

Peter Pan is no longer painted as the cherub faced child once read about. In the "Child Thief" by Brom, Peter has escaped from his Disney prison and jumped into a macabre fairytale where he saves, or recruits, abused children. New York City is filled with guns and drugs and Nick, a fourteen year old boy, runs for his life from murderous drug dealers. He would have been killed, if it weren't for Peter and his mischievous bloody games. Peter promises Nick a new place, a secret place where there is fun and magic and never a fear of getting old... but it is not the Neverland Nick expected.

Peter dragged him through a dark haunting mist into a half dead land. Nick is recruited into the Devils, a band of lost and stolen children who are bloodthirsty and don't treat newcomers well. Suddenly he is training for a war against the monsters, the Captain and the Flesh-eaters. If they lose, the Neverland will truly die and will be lost forever.

Brom takes the classic Peter Pan character from Barrie and twists him into murderous child, seeking to save children who have been abused and use them as soldiers in his army. The story is set in the real world and in a fantasy Avalon-like world, but it is the real world scenes that are the most haunting. In the opening scene, a little girl fears her father will come into her bedroom again and since her mother committed suicide, there is no one left to save her from his wandering hands . Nick is swept up in a world of drugs and is almost murdered by dealers.These pieces of fiction are closer to reality than the savagery that occurs in the fantasy world. This story feels like an un-purified Brothers' Grimm fairytale where violence runs rampant and the hero isn't as pure as he is usually written.

Shelf Life Rating of : 5 out of 5!



ISBN-13: 9780061671340