Darren Shan is an ordinary boy and when his friend finds a leaflet for Cirque Du Freak (The Circus Of Freaks), a banned freak-show, they all decide to go. But when they find out that they can only get two tickets per leaflet they're pretty annoyed. They decide, as they already have two tickets, that two of them should go. It turns out to be Darren and his best friend Steve. But Darren has no idea that Cirque Du Freak is going to change his life forever.

Not for the best either. He ends up giving up his life for his best friend.

I really enjoyed the book: it's not romance-y, so it was a bit of a new thing for me to read. I really enjoyed it. It was quite creepy but it kept your attention the whole way through the book.

I'll be interested to know what happens in the rest of the series and if there are any new characters. I really liked the way it didn't all happen really quickly. It all happened quite slowly - but not to slowly that you got bored with it! There was always something exciting going on in the book. Both boys and girls would enjoy it.

In some places, it's a bit creepy; in others, a bit sad; in other places, it's a bit gruesome. Overall, it's a very gloomy and dark sort of book. I was up very late reading it one night because I just couldn't put it down! I really enjoyed its excellent storyline and kept you interested at all times.