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Author: Shan, Darren

Reading age: from c 9 years

Published on 2 January 2025 by HarperCollins Publishers (HarperCollins) in the United Kingdom as part of ‘The Saga of Darren Shan’ series.

Paperback | 192 pages
198 x 129 | 500g

A brand new 25th anniversary edition of the international bestselling phenomenon!

Darren is just your average schoolboy – or was, at least – until he and his friend Steve buy tickets to the outlawed, magical and macabre Cirque Du Freak. Packed with wonderfully grotesque characters – including a snake-boy, a wolf-man and, most exciting of all, an enormous performing spider – the boys are enchanted, fascinated and yet terrified by the show.

Darren, a total spider freak, decides to steal and train Madam Octa – an enormous tarantula owned by Mr Crepsley, so that he can train it to perform amazing deeds. But his daring theft goes horribly wrong, and soon Darren is caught up in a web of terror from which he cannot escape – and finds himself forced to make a terrible bargain with a creature of the night…

Atmospheric, funny, realistic, moving and terrifying, Cirque du Freak has been thrilling readers for twenty five years, and is now available in this stunning anniversary edition.