Cirque du Freak (Saga of Darren Shan #1) ~ Paperback ~ Darren Shan

'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. Author Biography Born in London in 1972, Darren O'Shaughnessy [writing as Darren Shan] moved to Limerick with his parents and younger brother. Returned to London to study Sociology and English then worked for a TV cable company. His first adult novel Ayuamarca has been published by Orion and his writing has been likened to Clive Barker and Iain Banks. He is now a full-time writer of TV scripts and novels. Cirque du Freak is his first title for children.