It is a rare gift when a writer can put her own spin on a timeless series of characters and make them as adventurous, if not more so, than the original tales themselves. It is also seldom that an author can bring an abundance of adventure to a small amount of words. K.R. Thompson is double-blessed with both talents. In turn, her readers are also twice blessed. Her latest volume, Jack, the fourth in her exciting Neverland series, takes you on a literary ride that is both as lighthearted as the Disney film take on Peter Pan and the dark sort of adventure offered in films like The Pirates of the Caribbean.
I seem to have a repeated pattern of comparing Thompson’s Neverland series to movies, but her words create such clear, vivid and colorful mental picture that any halfway attentive reader cannot help but feel as though a movie is playing out in their head. Her books would make brilliant film or local theater adaptations with Jack being no exception. It’s a shame that the Bland County native authors beautiful words could not have inspired the making of the Warner Brothers film Pan released last fall, which offers its own cinematic take on the beginnings of Neverland.
Nevertheless, this does not seem to have deterred Thompson in the telling of her own unique take on Neverland and its unforgettable inhabitants. Jack Pritchard is perhaps the most relatable lead character yet. A lost boy who is now a member of Captain Hook’s crew, he struggles with trying to recover his own identity, finding true love and discovering the things that truly matter in life. This is something all humans go through, but things like these are very taboo and unclear in places like Neverland.
But Jack isn’t falling in love with just anyone. His heart has been stolen by Lorelei, the sister to Nerida whom we met in Thompson’s previous installment, a mermaid who has been forbidden by her mother from mingling with the humans. Things aren’t much better for Jack above sea level. As soon as his boss discovers the romance, he knows he and his true love are in the gravest of danger.
It is quite a journey of twists and turns as Jack struggles to bring elements of truth and love to Neverland with plenty of magic to behold in both the good and evil camps. Plenty of adventurous duels between the eternal bought between Hook and Pan, along with their devoted allies, are to be had within the brief but riveting 140-page tale. As with its predecessor Nerida, Jack will often put you in mind of The Little Mermaid. Given that about half of the book contains dealings with characters and happenings beneath the sea, as the leading lady in the story is a mermaid, I suppose this is a fairly obvious comparison. Still, I can’t help but think that two pieces of timeless fantasy literature that were turned into Disney animated classics, couldn’t meld together so well purely by accident. K.R. Thompson has the ability and imagination as a writer for which geniuses like the late Walt Disney would have longed when searching for the subject of his next classic feature.
This may or may not be a compliment to the author depending on her personal vision for her own work. All I know is that my childhood would not have been the same without Disney magic. I’m grateful that my two year old daughter Bella is already growing up with the same mindset along with a deep love of bedtime stories. Thompson’s books are something I am glad I will be able to share with her in a few years and I think they are too good not to be brought to life in some form of tangible art.