The Thief of Always

The Thief Of Always is a fable written by Clive Barker that may read like a children's book, but it's just as enjoyable for adults. It deals with temptation, growing up and mortality, and it has a few good helpings of High Octane Nightmare Fuel, as expected of Clive Barker.

Ten-year-old Harvey Swick is unsatisfied with boring, day-to-day life; he is sick of dealing with school, homework, nagging parents... Until a shady figure named Rictus appears in his room and offers him a stay at the "Holiday House", a paradise where kids don't age or ever have work. There are four seasons a day, every night is Christmas, and the House grants any wish, all made possible by a man called Mr. Hood.

Harvey quickly befriends the incumbent residents of the house: two other kids named Wendell and Lulu, kindly caretaker Mrs. Griffin and her seemingly sentient cats, and two of Rictus' "siblings". However, some sinister hints are dropped, such as the collection of children's clothes in the attic, the forbidden lake behind the House, and mentions of a fourth member of Rictus' family called "Carna". Above all, who is Mr. Hood and where does he get his power from? Eventually, Harvey's curiosity and growing suspicions about the House lead him to discover some unpleasant truths...


 * Adults Are Useless: Due to Hood's magic, only children can find the house. When adults try, all attempts to find the House fail.
 * Animorphism
 * Bad Future:
 * The Barnum:
 * Be Careful What You Wish For: The book's premise
 * Big Brother Is Watching:  is listening to you.
 * Bittersweet Ending:
 * Blood On Your Hands: Said by Rictus to, but the latter is unfazed.
 * Body Horror:
 * Chekhov's Gun
 * Cheshire Cat Grin: Rictus
 * Cool Old Lady: Mrs. Griffin
 * Dark Is Evil: But it's hard to spot the darkness at first...
 * Deal with the Devil
 * Delicious Distraction: Harvey doesn't fall for it, but Wendell does.
 * Disney Villain Death (doubles as Karmic Death): Hood is killed when he falls, which agonisingly destroys him.
 * The Ditz: Wendell
 * The Dragon: Carna
 * Earn Your Happy Ending
 * The Faceless: Mr. Hood does, but his true face is never seen.
 * Fantastic Fragility: To defeat the Big Bad, Harvey . This ends up destroying the House and draining the Big Bad's power.
 * The Fog of Ages: Mrs. Griffin
 * Foreshadowing: Harvey's transformation into a vampire for Halloween
 * Giving Them the Strip: Henry is grabbed by the back of the jacket, so he slips out of his jacket to escape.
 * Growing Up Sucks: Played with. It's definitely a theme in the beginning of the novel.
 * Happy Place / Lotus Eater Machine: Holiday House
 * He Who Must Not Be Seen: Mr. Hood, for the majority of the book
 * Hoist by His Own Petard:
 * Immortality Immorality
 * Impossibly Delicious Food: Every night is Halloween, then Thanksgiving.
 * Involuntary Shapeshifting: When
 * Jedi Mind Trick:  can be very persuasive for the Weak-Willed.
 * Kid Hero
 * Kindhearted Cat Lover: Mrs. Griffin
 * The Little Shop That Wasn't There Yesterday
 * Loners Are Freaks: Wendell believes that Lulu qualifies for this trope, but once Harvey gets to know her she's quite nice. Unfortunately, there's a reason (see Body Horror) why she keeps to herself...
 * Master of Illusion:
 * Meaningful Name: Marr, Jive, Rictus
 * More Teeth Than the Osmond Family: Carna, Rictus.
 * Names to Run Away From Really Fast: Carna
 * Not So Different: See Title Drop.
 * Strictly speaking,  is completely correct in this assessment; they've both stolen things that make a person what they are -- things that should never be taken by anyone.   The difference comes in why they did it -- Harvey did it , while   The difference between heroism and villainy sometimes isn't in what you do, but why you do it. Not the sort of thing you tend to see in a children's book.
 * Older Than They Look: The residents of the House
 * One-Winged Angel
 * Our Souls Are Different:
 * Our Vampires Are Different
 * Quirky Miniboss Squad: Rictus and his family
 * The Renfield: Rictus is revealed to be one.
 * Reset Button Ending: Sort of.
 * The Reveal
 * Right Behind Me:
 * Ripple-Effect-Proof Memory
 * Strange Girl: Lulu, lampshaded by Wendell.
 * Title Drop: In a Not So Different moment,  tells Harvey he is a "Thief of Always" just like him.
 * Trapped in Another World
 * The Trickster: Rictus appears to be this at first, but later on it's shown that Harvey fits the heroic variation.
 * Voluntary Shapeshifting: Played with. Marr has the ability to transform other people, she uses it to turn Harvey into a giant bat at his request. However...
 * Weak-Willed: Wendell
 * We Can Rule Together:  plays this straight with.
 * What Do You Mean Its Not Symbolic
 * What Year Is This?
 * Who Wants to Live Forever?: Mrs. Griffin
 * You Have Failed Me... / You Have Outlived Your Usefulness:
 * Your Princess Is in Another Castle
 * What Do You Mean Its Not Symbolic
 * What Year Is This?
 * Who Wants to Live Forever?: Mrs. Griffin
 * You Have Failed Me... / You Have Outlived Your Usefulness:
 * Your Princess Is in Another Castle
 * Your Princess Is in Another Castle