The Freakshow
by Bryan Smith
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Book Summary Information
Author: Bryan SmithEdition: Mass Market Paperback
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 2007-04
ISBN: 0843958278
Number of pages: 324
Publisher: Leisure Books
Book Reviews of The Freakshow
Book Review: A Gore-Fest.....Not for the Faint Hearted!
Summary: 3 Stars
"The Freakshow" is a horror comic in novel form. It is a rollercoaster ride through seven levels of Hell that will remind you of sitting through a splatter movie with that sense of astonishment that says "oh my gawd, what can possibly come next?" The book literally follows a circus of bloodthirsty, other worldly freaks that practice and engage in every sort of sexual, physical, and emotional depravity imaginable.
The Flaherty Brothers Traveling Carnivale and Freakshow has selected Pleasant Hills, Tennessee as its next stop on its road to conquer our earth at the leisurely pace of one small town per year. You see, the freaks exist in a neighboring dimension called the Nothing and once a year "crossover" to our dimension for the "Assimilation", a gory conquest of the community where its inhabitants are slaughtered, tortured, eaten, experimented with medically, etc., all for the sadistic joy of the "freaks". Ultimately, the freakshow leaves with the town full of clones which is where things get murky and purposely unclear.
The book can be a fast paced, almost frenetic read that will especially appeal to the reader's more prurient interests in sex, violence, and gore...often at the same time! The basic plot has greater possibilities than were realized in this novel. A thicker back story incorporating more information about the freaks' society in the Nothing, why it is dying, and how they discovered the portal to our dimension would have been an illuminating and fascinating addition to what we have in The Freakshow.
And perhaps the fundamental weakness is the poorly developed one dimensional characters that this reader just could not seem to get interested in or care about. For instance, just when I would begin to find myself getting a bit interested in Jinx or Heather, they would totally disappoint or degrade my sense of their character. I could muster little sympathy or even empathy for any of the humans caught up in this comic book like frenzy. I wish even the Freaks had had more characterization and back story; for instance, was there more we could have learned about the Pirate and the Ringmaster, perhaps how the Ringmaster came to his position etc.? How did Braddock and Shiela, among others, become pawns of the Freaks? Ultimately, the most memorable as well as horrible character in the book is Miss Monique, a sexually alluring Circe (although two-headed...go figure) who is the apparent leader of the Freaks and exercises incredible mind control to move the humans and the plot. All in all, "The Freakshow" is a book for readers in a narrow niche of the horror genre.
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