It was written sometime between 1980 and 2003, and underneath its dust jacket it's green with gold lettering (the hardcover version of course).
In the story, there is a boy who is convinced to go to this house where children get to play all day and not have any rules. I think the title is the name of the guy who owns the house and runs everything.
There is a full cycle of seasons in each day, and the children have Christmas with presents not long before going to bed. The boy (and somebody else) starts to notice odd things, such as the creature/kid swimming in the lake, and they try to escape.
They try to walk out the exit, but there's a fog and it does some weird thing so when they try to walk through it they end up walking back inside.
Eventually the boy escapes, and when he goes to his parents' house finds out that it has been thirty years and not thirty days since he left.
Towards the end I think he goes back and defeats Mr whateverhisnameis.
I really hope somebody else remembers the name of this book, it was a great story.
I found it!
It's a book called "The Thief of Always" by Clive Barker. I thought it was named after the 'bad guy' of the story, Mr Hood.
Had to browse a list of authors until I recognised a name...
In the story, there is a boy who is convinced to go to this house where children get to play all day and not have any rules. I think the title is the name of the guy who owns the house and runs everything.
There is a full cycle of seasons in each day, and the children have Christmas with presents not long before going to bed. The boy (and somebody else) starts to notice odd things, such as the creature/kid swimming in the lake, and they try to escape.
They try to walk out the exit, but there's a fog and it does some weird thing so when they try to walk through it they end up walking back inside.
Eventually the boy escapes, and when he goes to his parents' house finds out that it has been thirty years and not thirty days since he left.
Towards the end I think he goes back and defeats Mr whateverhisnameis.
I really hope somebody else remembers the name of this book, it was a great story.
I found it!
It's a book called "The Thief of Always" by Clive Barker. I thought it was named after the 'bad guy' of the story, Mr Hood.
Had to browse a list of authors until I recognised a name...