Darren Shan's gruesome stories sell by the millions, testifying to the huge appetite that children have for all things scary. His big breakthrough came with his first children's book, Cirque du Freak, which became the first in the phenomenally successful 12-part series, The Saga of Darren Shan. Now Shan, who lives in rural Ireland, is enjoying massive success with his latest, The Demonata.The action in book three, Slawter, takes place mainly on the film set of a horror movie. Grubbs, who featured in Lord Loss, gets involved with the film but discovers that the monsters of the fictional town of Slawter are not quite as fake as most of the cast and crew believe.These books are blood-curdling fun, which are bound to appeal to young people with a taste for horror stories.