This week for the Fiction Friday feature, I am reviewing the young adult horror novel, Cirque du Freak: A Living Nightmare by Darren Shan. This book was originally published in January 2000 by HarperCollins with a page count of 192 pages. The audiobook is 5 hours & 34 minutes in length and read by Ralph Lister. The following overview is provided from the B&N page: A young boy named Darren Shan and his best friend, Steve, get tickets to the Cirque du Freak, a wonderfully gothic freak show featuring weird, frightening half human/half animals who interact terrifyingly with the audience. In the midst of the excitement, true terror raises its head when Steve recognizes that one of the performers—Mr. Crepsley—is a vampire! Steve remains after the show finishes to confront the vampire—but his motives are surprising! In the shadows of a crumbling theater, a horrified Darren eavesdrops on his friend and the vampire, and is witness to a monstrous, disturbing plea. As if by destiny, Darren is pulled to Mr. Crepsley and what follows is his horrifying descent into the dark and bloody world of vampires. This is the beginning of Darren’s story.
I enjoy this take on vampires and their lore. It’s different than a lot of the vampire books I have read. The dynamic between Mr. Crepsley and the freak show is interesting. I like how that is how he hides in plain sight from the human world. I find the tasting of the blood and being able to tell that someone is bad is an interesting concept. However, I have a feeling that announcing to a person that you won’t blood them because they have bad blood would bring about a bad reaction from the person who asked. I am looking forward to seeing how Mr. Crepsley and Darren’s relationship changes over time. I also can’t wait to learn more about the vampire world and Mr. Tiny. Mr. Tiny reminds me of Raymond Reddington in Blacklist. Always making moves for specific reasons but not giving the people involved enough information for them to be fully informed on what they are involved in.
I give this novel 4.5 out of 5 stars.
Tomorrow for the Missing Person Saturday feature, I am highlighting the missing person’s case of Yvonne Lopez. Next week for the Fiction Friday feature, I am reviewing the mystery novel, Salford World War by Mike Scantlebury. Until then keep reading on; Nerd out!
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