'fast paced and compelling, full of satisfying macabre touches -- Cirque du Freak explores the powerful fascination of the dangerous and unnatural and also, movingly, the obligations of friendship' J.

K. Rowling THE SAGA OF DARREN SHAN BOOK 1 Darren goes to a banned freak show with his best mate Steve.

It's the wonderfully gothic Cirque du Freak where weird, frightening half human/half animals appear who interact terrifyingly with the audience.

Darren -- a spider freak -- 'falls in love' with Madam Octa -- an enormous tarantala owned by the circus proprietor.

Darren determines to steal the spider so that he can train it to perform amazing deeds.

But his daring theft goes horrible wrong. The spider bites his best mate and Darren has to sell his soul to an evil vampire to get the antidote.

Something out of the ordinary is set against the background of children's normal lives to chilling effect.

Atmospheric, funny, realistic, moving and...terrifying.