Written by Clive Barker in 1992, The Thief of Always is a horror-adventure novel for middle-grade readers. A young boy visits a house filled with happy pleasures for children but discovers that something deeply sinister is going on behind the scenes. The widely praised work has also been adapted into comic-book form.

This guide refers to the e-book version of the 2013 edition.

Content Warning: The source material contains the potentially distressing death of a pet cat.

Plot Summary

On a cold, rainy day in February, 10-year-old Harvey Swick stares through his bedroom window, bored until a well-dressed man named Rictus flies in through the window and invites Harvey to join him for a vacation in a fun and wonderful place. When Harvey asks to know more, Rictus warns him not to ask so many questions. Promising to return soon, Rictus flies out the window. He returns several days later as Harvey is walking to school and leads the boy through the mist-shrouded town to a brick wall made of fog. Together, they walk through the wall and emerge atop a sunny, grassy hill, where they see a beautiful, old four-story building called Holiday House, which is owned by the mysterious Mr. Hood, who never appears in person, and run by Mr. Hood’s four servants: Rictus, Jive, Marr, and Carna.

Inside Holiday House, Harvey meets the cook, Mrs. Griffin, and a girl named Lulu who has been there for many weeks. After breakfast the next morning, Harvey steps outside into a spring day and befriends Wendell, another child visitor, with whom he works to repair a treehouse. At lunch, a cat jumps up onto the stove, lights its tail on fire, upsets a pan full of boiling water, and falls dead, burned and boiled. Mrs. Griffin is upset, but she sends Harvey outside to play, and the boy realizes that the morning’s springtime has changed to summer. He wants to go swimming; Wendell knows of a lake but says it’s a bad place. Harvey struggles through undergrowth and discovers the shadowy body of water. He finds Lulu staring into the depths, but she runs away. Harvey looks into the lake and sees large fish who swim past, staring balefully up at him.

Back at the House, fall already has set in as the day wanes. Wendell explains that every night is Halloween. The boys dress up in costumes and masks, and once outside, Wendell scares Harvey by leading him to a tree where a mannikin hangs from a noose. The effect scares Harvey, who promises to get back at Wendell for his trick. That night, snow falls, and Harvey finds a beautiful Christmas tree in the front hallway. Underneath is a present for him: It’s an exact replica of the toy ark that his father made for him years earlier. Long since lost, this is just the gift Harvey wished for.

Harvey learns that each day reflects the turning of the seasons with springtime mornings followed by summer noons and fall twilights, while winter sets in at night. Harvey takes the toy ark to the lake and floats it on the water’s surface. A giant fish rises to eat it, and when Harvey tries to retrieve the boat, he slips and falls into the lake. The ominous lake convinces the boy that something is wrong with Holiday House, and he decides to learn its secrets. In response, the House redoubles its efforts to please Harvey. In the evening, he meets Jive, a skinny, agitated servant who invites him onto the roof, where Marr, a huge and “slovenly” woman, magically reshapes Harvey into a vampire so that he can scare Wendell. The magic works so well that Wendell doesn’t recognize him and offers to bring Harvey as a substitute sacrifice. Harvey is miffed by Wendell’s betrayal, but although Jive urges him to drink Wendell’s blood, he refuses.

The next day, Wendell, thoroughly frightened of Holiday House, tries without success to leave through the foggy wall. The boys decide to escape together that night, and near midnight, Harvey encounters Lulu, who returns several toys from the lost ark, thanks him for being a friend, and says it’s too late for her to leave. She transforms into a fish and dives into the lake. The boys manage to escape through the wall with the help of Mrs. Griffin’s cat. Dodging the attacks of Carna, a large, ferocious beast from the mansion, Harvey and Wendell head for their homes. When Harvey knocks on his front door, an elderly couple answers. They’re his parents, who are 31 years older—one year for each day Harvey spent at Holiday House. They are overjoyed to see him, but as Harvey tries to explain what happened, his memory is clouded. He and his father search for the way to Holiday House but cannot find it. When Wendell visits, he is upset because his parents are divorced and old. He hates all the changes to the town and wants to regain his old life. The boys realize that they must return to the House to fix things.

Because they are unaccompanied by adults, the wall of fog becomes visible, and they are able to re-enter the Holiday House grounds. However, Wendell quickly becomes enchanted again and wanders off, while Rictus and Jive greet Harvey happily. Stew-Cat leads him to the cellar, where he finds Mrs. Griffin imprisoned in a coffin and frees her. Marr arrives and tries to change Harvey into a worm, but because he no longer believes in the House’s magic, the spell rebounds onto Marr, who collapses in a puddle of goo. Harvey heads upstairs, hoping to confront Mr. Hood, but Jive interrupts him with a tempting bowl of pie and ice cream. Harvey refuses it, knowing that it’s really made of dust. When Jive takes a bite and swallows it to show that it’s harmless, the fake food turns Jive into a cloud of ashes. Harvey climbs up into the attic and finds Mr. Hood’s face spread across the ceiling. Hood scolds Harvey for taking the lives of the servants, declares that both he and Harvey are Thieves of Always, and asks the boy to rejoin him. Harvey refuses, so Hood calls for Carna to kill the boy. Still wounded from its visit beyond the wall, Carna lurches forward, but Harvey puts his hand gently on its head, and the beast sighs and collapses into a thousand dusty pieces.

Finally, Rictus tempts Harvey with all kinds of riches, but Harvey ignores him. He steps outside and learns that Wendell has gone to the lake, perhaps to become a fish. Harvey demands to speak to Mr. Hood again, and Rictus tells him to talk to the House because Mr. Hood is the House. In an attempt to exhaust the magic of the House, Harvey demands a plethora of complicated gifts, and as the House, strains to fill all the requests, it begins to crumble. When Harvey requests all the seasons at once, the House delivers, but the resulting storms destroy it. All the fish change back into children, and the lake begins to drain away in a huge whirlpool.

Rictus appears and states his plans to steal Hood’s magic, restore the House, and enslave Harvey. A hand reaches up from the ruins and grabs Rictus by the throat. It’s Hood, who demands that Rictus return the magic to the soil. The servant does so, and debris from the ruins quickly shapes itself into Mr. Hood. He stands and twists off Rictus’s head; the servant’s body shrinks away into nothing. Harvey runs toward the lake, pursued by Hood. Hood tries to grab the boy, but Harvey instead tears away the robe of curtains that covers Hood’s body, revealing an empty hole where Hood’s heart should be. Lulu hits Hood with a piece of timber, and Hood falls into the whirlpool and is swept away.

The children return home through the fog wall, each to their own time. Harvey arrives home to his still-young parents. They don’t believe his story, so he takes them to the hill where the House once stood. The area is now a neighborhood park, and no sign of the House remains. A man comes forth and corroborates Harvey’s tale. He points to a woman in the distance: his wife, who has already told him that Harvey is a hero. The woman smiles at Harvey but doesn’t approach. Harvey realizes that she is Lulu, now an adult.