In this horror novel, the author and protagonist share the same name—Darren Shan. With that crafty twist, the action gets underway fast and furiously. Young Darren is a half-vampire, torn between the worlds of the living and the dead. Though attached to Mr. Crepsley, who made him a vampire, Darren cannot bring himself to partake of human flesh. Quickly he is learning that vampires do not live on animal blood alone. Driven by loneliness, Darren and Mr. Crepsley hook up with the Cirque Du Freak, a freak show circus that features a snake boy, a bearded lady, and Cormac Limbs, a man who can grow arms, legs and fingers as fast as you can chop them off. Darren finds friendship in the snake boy, Evra, and in Sam, a local boy who longs to join the freak show. But an overzealous animal rights advocate is determined to set free the insanely violent wolf-man, and we know that a gory, bloody climax is just around the bend. Shan is uncannily skillful in sucking readers into his macabre world. Against all reason, we really do get the sense that this is real. With this book, the second in Shan's creepy "Cirque Du Freak" series, it won't take long to gain a faithful following.