Oh to be twelve-years-old again.  Reading this reminded me of reading all those Goosebumps stories and Alvin Schwarz’s Scary Stories series and all of that.  A bunch of my friends and I would collect books of scary stories (all different kinds) and share them during recess and at sleep overs.  I would have loved this then and dammit, I love it now!

The story focuses behind the eyes of the main character with the same name as the author (which I’m not sure how I actually feel about that) as he meanders along at school and in life.  Then the Cirque du Freak comes into play, a forbidden freak show that only two have passes to, that changes Darren’s life forever.  This isn’t your ordinary freak show by any means.  When the emcee of the show announces that you may get hurt, he’s not lying.

Aside from the overabundance of exclamation points (a few too many, really), the story is riveting and really captures the attitude of Darren.  It’s never stated just how old he is but I think it’s safe to say somewhere around twelve.  Could be a year younger.  But Darren is truly a vessel for his age at the beginning of the story but reshapes himself into an adult by the end when he has to decide which life is more important, his or his friend’s, Steve.

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