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    The Thief of Always
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    The Thief of Always
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    The Thief of Always
    Ebook210 pages2 hours

    The Thief of Always

    By Clive Barker

    4/5

    ()

    Currently unavailable

    Currently unavailable

    About this ebook

    Mr. Hood's Holiday House has stood for a thousand years, welcoming countless children into its embrace. It is a place of miracles, and blissful rounds of treats and seasons, where every childhood whim may be satisfied...

    There is a price to be paid, of course, but young Harvey Swick, bored with his life and beguiled by Mr. Hood's wonders, does not stop to consider the consequences. It is only when the House shows it's darker face — when Harvey discovers the pitiful creatures that dwell in its shadows — that he comes to doubt Mr. Hood's philanthropy.

    The House and its mysterious architect are not about to release their captive without a battle, however. Mr. Hood has ambitious for his new guest, for Harvey's soul burns brighter than any soul he has encountered in a thousand years...

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherCrossroad Press
    Release dateAug 30, 2013
    ISBN9781301821709
    Unavailable
    The Thief of Always
    Author

    Clive Barker

    Clive Barker was born in Liverpool in 1952. His earlier books include ‘The Books of Blood’, ‘Cabal’, and ‘The Hellbound Heart’. In addition to his work as a novelist and playwright, he also iilustrates, writes, directs and produces for stage and screen. His films include ‘Hellraiser’, ‘Hellbound’, ‘Nightbreed’ and ‘Candyman’. Clive lives in Beverly Hills, California.

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    Reviews for The Thief of Always

    4/5

    816 ratings41 reviews

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    • 4/5
      A book filled with suspense. Readers will enjoy figuring out the house on the hill along with the main character, Harvey. A great book for those who like spooky stories!


      *Longer review to come.
    • 5/5
      This was the first Clive Barker that I ever read and it's still good in the re-reading years later. Quick, riveting read that is dark fantasy or maybe entry horror. Just enough level of creepy and disturbing without being overtly violent, profane, or dystopian. Kind of a Tales from the Crypt or Twilight Zone feel.. Safe for teens and mature tweens who can handle a bit of supernatural and dark magic. There's a lot to like about young Harvey, the child hero of the book. Would be a solid pick for a teen book club. The book can be enjoyed on its surface, but there are positive themes and messages to be dug out and explored for those who want to go a little deeper. Recommended!
    • 5/5
      This book seems to get mixed reviews, at best. Certainly it's not the typical Barker tale...but then, what is? I have no problem recommending this.
    • 5/5
      With this book Mr. Barker has proven that he can cater to any literary crowd. Probably the most tame of anything he has written but with that signature Barkeresque touch. Barker is known for his extreme violence and explicit sexual tone. But this is truly a children's book. Just remember don't go and grab something like Coldheart Canyon or Everville and attempt to read it to your children. THOSE are not children's books.
    • 4/5
      I know a few people who consider this to be Clive Barker's masterpiece, but I'm afraid my heart will forever lie with the sprawling madness of Abarat. That said, Thief of Always is a wonderful and tightly written story that I would recommend to anyone, and, like any quality children's book, it need not necessarily be read by a child.
    • 5/5
      I read this book to my beautiful wife. Will always be a favorite. A wonderful, creepy tale.
    • 5/5
      This is my favorite story from my childhood! I was really glad to see it available on here!
    • 5/5
      One of my favorite stories of all time <3 love it!
    • 4/5
      This was a great novel: a fable for both children and adults. It managed to keep me entertained, on my seat, and thrilled throughout its duration and the lasting effects, characters, and plot-line proved to be inspiring and worthwhile. There is much to like here, and Clive Barker proves himself to be a master of prose here.4.25 stars- well worth the read!
    • 4/5
      Really great "children's" story here. Once again, poor old Clive seems criminally overlooked! What the hell?...Barker's writing is eons better than Stephen King's.
    • 4/5
      I've never read any of Barker's YA and at first I thought this book was a little too juvenile for me. The main character Harvey Swick was just a little too annoying in the beginning, but maybe that was on purpose? I kept with it and it turned out to be pretty good. Harvey is bored to tears with the February blues - Christmas was too long ago and Easter is too far away. He's hoping and wishing for something to happen, and of course it does - he gets invited to the Holiday House, where he gets everything he wishes for and more. And of course, there's a catch.
    • 4/5
      Young Harvey is trapped by the great gray beast February and wishes to be released. A mysterious personage arrives to bring Harvey to the Holiday House, which at first seems fantastic and wonderful, celebrating every holiday every day. Unfortunately, there is something much more sinister afoot and Harvey must muster up all of his courage to return to a life he once found dull and gloomy. The subtitle professes that this is a fable, which is very accurate. Harvey has a Great Adventure which teaches him a Valuable Lesson. I'm not certain this book is suitable for children, as there are some very dark and gory passages, but tweens and teens might find it enjoyable.
    • 4/5
      I tend to veer away from any book that is considered to have any elements of horror contained within it because I am a very non-violent person and prefer my reading material to have that same philosophy, but a friend recommended this book and let me borrow it so who was I to turn it down. I will say I was pleasantly surprised by how well this book was written and how developed the main character was for a children's book. I also enjoyed Barker's creation of side characters that made you feel for them, which is hard to do when y ou have this for several characters at all the same time. He did it successfully for me with many characters like Lulu and the cook character with all the cats. It is hard sometimes for me to feel for 2-dimensional characters in a book, but Barker had me feeling for all the characters contained within which means in my opinion he weaved more magic than Mr. Hood would ever be capable of.
    • 5/5
      This is a hauntingly well written book. I don't usually go for horror fiction writers because I am particularly easy to scare, but this was outstanding. Barker is brilliant, disquietingly brilliant.
    • 4/5
      Summary: Ten-year-old Harvey Swick has grown bored with his life - school and home and homework and chores, nothing seems really exciting anymore. And then he receives a visit from a strange man who promises him a vacation at the nearby Holiday House. Harvey takes him up on his offer, and at first, the Holiday House is everything he could wish for - a perfect summer day every day, followed by Halloween at dusk and then Thanksgiving and Christmas at night, all powered by the mysterious Mr. Hood. But the longer Harvey stays there, the more suspicious he starts to get. What's really at the heart of the Holiday House? And what will happen when he wants to go home?Review: This book is aimed at mid-grade readers, so it was pretty fast fare for an adult. (large print, plus a fair number of Barker's great illustrations.) I'm a little ambivalent about this book - it was sort of half-creepy and half-cute, and I sort of found myself wishing it would commit to being one or the other. Basically, I spent a lot of time wishing things were more developed than they were - the characters, the underlying mythology of the house, the complexity of the plot, the scary parts, the sad parts, the sweet parts, etc. I realize that it's a mid-grade book, and the level of development for most of these things is probably spot-on for that level. But as an adult reader, it wasn't entirely satisfying.I actually found myself put in mind of some of Ray Bradbury's work, particularly The Halloween Tree. The Holiday House does pretty effectively capture the childhood nostalgia with the tinge of creepiness that Bradbury's so good at. But Bradbury's more subtle with his scares, they're more psychological than visceral, so the comparison between the two was not always in The Thief of Always's favor. Barker is a good writer, though, no doubt - even at the lower age level he's got some finely crafted turns of phrase. And there's obviously plenty of imagination there. I just found myself wanting to go a little deeper than the story would allow. 3.5 out of 5 stars.Recommendation: If you'd handed this to me around the time that I first discovered Bradbury as a kid, I would have eaten it up. (Conversely, if you know a kid who liked this book, give 'em some Bradbury... maybe Something Wicked This Way Comes.) As an adult reader, it was a fun and unchallenging way to pass a few hours, although I think I would have enjoyed it more if it had been skewed somewhat older.
    • 3/5
      Who doesn't get bored with their mundane lives? Who doesn't want to live somewhere where excitement and fun and immediate wish-fulfillment is the norm? Well, that's what the kids in this story were all looking for and see where it got them. Classic tale of the grass is greener.
    • 3/5
      My (13 year-old) loved this. I thought it was pretty good. Barker owes a lot to Bradbury for this. Everything about it reminds me of Bradbury's writing and I read a lot of Bradbury when I was younger so it kind of brought me back. Now I'm wondering if we should try Barker's other YA stuff (Arabat etc...)
    • 4/5
      A wonderfully spooky kids’ story that feels like a love child between Gaiman’s Coraline and Bradbury’s Something Wicked This Way Comes. Perfect for fans of either one, and would be a good introduction to horror for kids. (In my opinion, it’s not as scary as Coraline, so this may be good for kids nine or ten years old).
    • 3/5
      I wasn't expecting a kid's story when I read this, or rather, not the fairy-tale like story that I got. In a similar tradition to the gingerbread house that hides a witch, a young boy longs for a cure to his February boredom and finds the way to a holiday home where everything is wonderful. Unexpectedly, the story turns dark, but not too dark for the younger set, especially when compared to traditional fold or fairy tails in their original form.This book has a similar feel to Gaiman's Coraline, and I expect those who enjoyed that work will enjoy this as well. The illustrations are slightly sinister but also amusing, somewhat reminiscent of The Nightmare Before Christmas. Good book for those who enjoy the creepy side of life.
    • 4/5
      This was a fantastic children's book, for the right kid. Quite dark, but in a way that doesn't glorify the evil but it does to some creepy places. The illustrations by Barker really put it on another level.

      I bought this when I was twelve years old at a bookstore in Regina and it was hidden away in a box on my shelf for the last 19 years. Finally read it and I'm glad I did. An enjoyable read for anybody, but like seeing the Goonies in your twenties, best enjoyed as a youngster.
    • 3/5
      A fascinating fairy tale, a sinister Never-Never Land slipped in between the alleys and houses of a familiar city.
    • 5/5
      I remember browsing through Booksale, sorting through a lot of books, then looking down at what I'm holding (which were books I was considering to buy), and wondering how on earth "The Thief of Always" got there. Seriously, I felt this book had magical powers or something, and I still suspect that, after almost 5 years. Funny how I only remembered this book just now, since I think it's one of the most amazingly written and illustrated books I've read (and that was just by chance).

      I'll have to ponder more on how to review this book, since it's the books I love that are really hard to review. For now, isn't it just enough to say that this book was lumpin bloobalooby?
    • 4/5
      My son started reading this one in school and kept telling me how much he was enjoying it. When he was done he absolutely insisted I read it. So, I did. This was a much darker book than what I would have thought would have appealed to my 10 year old son...although what can you expect from this author.For myself, I found the book to be well written, thrilling and easy to read. It certainly doesn't talk down to the younger reader which I think must be part of its appeal. In this story 10 year old Harvey is bored with his life and when a strange character appears and tells him that he can take Harvey to a wondrous place full of sunshine and wishes Harvey jumps at the chance. At the same time the story never assumes that Harvey has a horrible home life or hates his parents, in fact, the story always emphasizes how much Harvey cares for his family which is an attribute I really liked.This is a great story for grownups appreciative of horror-light (like me) and obviously appealing to the older elementary/middle school child as well, as evidenced by my son's love of the book. He was particularly struck by the first line, which he quoted to me when he kept telling me about the story, “The great gray beast of February had eaten Harvey Swick alive.”
    • 3/5
      I would give this story 3.5 stars if I could! A Five for the illustrations (Barker's own), a Three for the story itself. I love the personfication of evil as a illusory house. I liked the structure of the story. What let me down was the atmosphere of fear. The protagonist and a few of the supporting characters should have been very scared and the text says they were, but they don't act like they are! Well illustrated: Yes! Entertaining: Pretty Much. Scary: No. Unusual setting well drawn: Yes. Truly Evil Bad Guys? Sort of, Sort of Not. Lump in your throat dangerous situtations: No because it is hard to fear for these characters as they don't act very scared!
    • 4/5
      This was my first Clive Barker book, and now I really will read Abarat. What a wonderful, scary story and cautionary tale. Young Harvey Swick is bored. A man suddenly flies into his bedroom with an offer of a 'vacation'. I will only say that all is not as it seems at Holiday House, and Harvey finds himself dealing with much more than he could possibly have imagined. A very exciting and scary adventure follows. Young readers will keep on to see what will be the next strange turn of events.
    • 5/5
      "The great gray beast February had eaten Harvey Swick alive." So begins Clive Barker's The Thief of Always. This book is, at its heart, a fairy tale. It is a story of glamours and cantrips, of innocence lost and regained, and of the sudden slips and starts of the passage of time. To say more would be to undermine the wonder inherent here, so I will leave it at this:Read this book.
    • 5/5
      One of my favorite books when I was a kid. Still good when I read it now. Should be a staple of all classroom and school libraries. I'm going to try not to read too far into my desire to get children to read books that are likely to give them horrible nightmares . . .
    • 5/5
      This was a wonderful story. A ten year old boy is bored and wishes for something he thinks he wants. That's all you need to know. Most people are saying this is for kids, but I think it is for any age. Just because a person is older doesn't mean they can't learn a lesson. Not every book has to be fluffed up with important words and ideas. Sometimes the simple ones can be treasures. A very quick read with a nice little moral to it.Clive Barker is known for his graphic horror which I've never read but I am familiar with through some of the movies adapted from his work. Just because you see his name on this book, do not be misled. Charming, enchanting with just the appropriate dash of scary, I am so pleased to recommend this book.
    • 3/5
      Electronic sex. The book is a conversation between a male caller and a tele-sex working female. It's a curio...mildly erotic towards the end...
    • 4/5
      (Might contain mild spoilers.) I couldn't have been more pleasently surprised reading The Thief of Always. I sat down with it and finished it in one sitting. If I had to sum it up in one word, I would call it enchanting. The book demands a suspension of disbelief as it helps you back into your ten-year-old shoes and takes you along on your childhood nightmare. It touches on a few of the bigger horrors most kids have, from feeling trapped to warped monsters. Whether you're a child, a teenager, or an adult, there are days where you'd just like to escape to your perfect paradise. And that's exactly what the protagonist, Harvey Swift, gets to do. But what happens when that escape turns...sour? On the whole, the book was fun. Light and easy to read, but not to be dismissed as a 'juvenile' work. On to the review: I liked the first half of the book better than the second. It's not like the storyline was unpredictable--I could pretty much guess where the story would end up--but it stayed fresh and entertaining. The first half, though, was more suspenseful. The first half is able to keep the mindset of a trapped ten-year-old while the second half forces the reader to grow up a bit. Not that this is a bad thing, but I personally enjoyed the mystery element of the first half more. The protagonist, I felt, was believable as a ten-year-old. There was just the right balance of selfishness and thoughtfulness. There were times in the book where I felt like he was a little bit underdeveloped for a main character and I would have liked to get into his head a little bit more (maybe a first person narration would have been better?) but Barker did such a wonderful job of driving the story that it was excusable. If you need a quick read, The Thief of Always is nice story crammed into a small package. (My copy of the book was about 270 pages with large print, and about a third of those pages taken up with illustrations.) If you're a young horror fan or you can appreciate good young adult horror, I'd recommend The Thief of Always.