It's 1997 and a circus/carnival/freakshow rocks up in a small Scottish town. At first the inhabitants are horrified but soon their curiosity wins out and they're lured in both by the magic of the incomers and their own needs. It was dark & very entertaining.

i love books set in scotland and i liked the initial cast of characters. i just didn't connect much with them after a while and wasn't invested.

Freakslaw by Jane Flett takes us back to 1997, where the carnival has just rolled into the small town of Pitslaw, Scotland.

The residents of Pitslaw have mixed feelings about it - some are intrigued, some are disgusted, some are terrified, and some, like teenagers Ruth McNamara and Derek Geddes, are intoxicated at the prospect of some excitement...and maybe a way out of Pitslaw.

But this is no ordinary carnival. Teen witch Nancy and her family have an agenda - four hundred years ago, 36 "freaks" were killed in the village square. The gang are out for revenge - but first, they want to have some fun.

Look, any book that opens with a quote from "The Craft" already has me hooked, and when you name one of your main characters Nancy, there are big boots to fill. I loved the setting of late 90's Scotland, I loved the descriptions of the carnival, and I loved how the families were written. Derek and Ruth's stories were brilliant, both really evoked the feeling of growing up in a small town dreaming of escaping but being hindered by family circumstances.

The Nancy thing - parts of her story made me really uncomfortable, especially considering her age. I get that there was a need to make her as intimidating and powerful as possible, but I did wish she was just a couple of years older.

I loved the overall vibe of it, I mean what's not to like about a dreary small town in the the 1990's becoming obsessed (for better or worse) with a travelling group of queer, witchy, revenge-obsessed performers?! Derek's story was my favourite, and I'd happily read a standalone book about him.

[3.75]

What a debut! I love weird books about strange people, so there's little surprise that I enjoyed Freakslaw.

Set in 1997, the Scottish town of Pitlaw is rocked when the travelling circus Freakslaw sets up base and the town will never be the same.

It's vibrant and grotesque and oddly heartwarming. The writing is also incredible: bold and, for want of a better word, aggressive. But in like, the best way.

Already looking forward to this authors next work!

I love everything circus / carnival and so I knew I would really enjoy this !!!

The writing was fantastic and I really felt as though I understood the characters. I thought the different POVs were great and really fit the tone of the book.

My only criticism is that it was too short ! I would have loved a more concluded ending, however, I do feel like the ending was true to the book, therefore, it’s only a lil tiny thing.

Really really enjoyed my time reading this !

Thanks to #NetGalley and publishers for an #ARC of #Freakslaw.

I honestly don't know where to begin describing this book, weird, wonderful, quirky and fabulous! It is an intriguing read, leaving the reader wonder where it might be leading.

Utterly fabulous but might be hard to recommend with certain scenes in the book (animal cruelty, violence), but I would certainly read again.

Thank you to NetGalley for this ARC. An interesting read with good character development. Unfortunately it failed to capture my interest in the second half as it did in the first half. However would definitely recommend to anyone who likes wants to read a varied and unique story

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ out of 5

Thoroughly enjoyable read with all the fun of the freaky fair! Absolutely loved this quirky read. Loved the setting of Scotland in the 90’s. Loads of characters in and out of the fair to become familiar with. Stand outs for me were Nancy and the relationship of Derek and Zed.
Gorgeously written, I would definitely recommend this and will look out for future stories by Jane Flett.

It's 1997 and the conventional town of Pitlaw in Scotland is about to be hit by a whirlwind.
The Freakslaw travelling funfair is coming to town!
All manner of people are represented fortune tellers, deviants, witches amidst many others.
The town isn't ready for it or for the ensuing chaos.
Staunchly traditional in their views this is too much for them to handle.
Yet insidiously the carnival folk intertwine with the locals and lure them to the funfair.
The teens are entranced especially Derek and Ruth, longing for a chance to escape their hundrum and often violent family backgrounds.
But the newbies have darker machinations and their motives are bent on revenge.
It's Pitlaw against the Freakslaw but who will win and also, who will survive?
A really clever idea for a story, deliciously creepy and in a way left open for a sequel.
The ONLY comment I make against it, as it's a personal trigger for me is the level of animal cruelty mentioned.
I get the violence aspect of it but it added nothing to the story and actually detracted from it a little so skipped certain paragraphs.
But I have to give an honest review and my triggers won't be the same as other readers, so basing it all in context this was a good, creepy read.

A wild and crazy read, this book is all about what happens when the fair comes to a quiet and nondescript town. The culture clash , the dark secrets and repressed emotions all come to the fore in this glorious collection of exploits. The free natures of the self-described 'freaks' of the show in contrast with the staid and locked-in personalities in the town leads to some very dark places but has an underlying sense of joy and freedom that can't be shaken too easily.

Sassy and fun!
Exciting, intriguing, compelling, disturbing...
So many ways to describe this fantastic story. I loved it!
Written in a fast-paced style which draws the reader deeper into the mysteries of the travelling fun fair.
The show is full of freakish, quirky characters who live together as a 'family' - moving from one town to the next to bring joy and pain to the residents.
The town is full of strange characters who each have emotional and psychological issues to deal with.
Pitlaw is a sleepy place which is soon woken up by the experiences from the spectacle in town - some enjoyable, some unpleasant,some desired and some unwanted,
Everything is unexpected - and they don't realise that the fair folk are seeking revenge for the wrongdoings of the townsfolks' ancestors...
The town is changed dramatically when the fairground closes up, packs it's bags and heads for another group of unsuspecting victims.
I enjoyed this story immensely - it was vibrant and colourful.

I was sent a copy of Freakslaw by Jane Flett to read and review by NetGalley. Wow! What a fantastic book, in many senses of the word! It’s compelling, magical, erotic, exotic, engrossing, and beautifully written. I absolutely adored it! I was hooked from the very first page and didn’t want to put it down. There is a great array of really interesting characters and the sense of place, both within the fairground and the town, is fantastic. The novel deals with a range of pertinent issues including bigotry, racism, sexism and bullying, to name but a few, and does it in style. My only complaint is that I have finished the book and would dearly like to still be amidst the Freakslaw!

If you're a fan of "American Horror Story" and "House of 1000 Corpses," this book is perfect for you! It's dark, depraved, shocking, and gruesomely satisfying in every way possible.

I really enjoyed this book! It was creepy and weird and a little disorienting, just what I wanted
This book definitely captured the worst parts of life in small Scottish town in the 1990s and added magic and curses
I had a fantastic time with this book and will be reading more books by the author
Thank you NetGalley for providing me with a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review

I took my time reading this book and I'm SO glad I did- I was a bit wary after reading other reviews that I would find the amount of characters overwhelming but I think this just made me pay more attention and give the characters the time they deserve. The descriptions were so vivid and vibrant and grotesque, and the conservative rural Scottish setting worked so well with the storyline.
If you love characters like Maeve Fly, you will absolutely adore Nancy!
Between the cover and the descriptions of this book as queer, punky horror, this book would absolutely be something I would run to buy if I saw it on a shelf. This is the kind of book that would make a marvellous movie, with its fast pacing, huge personalities, and the way it forces you to reflect on small-town mentalities and facing the past.

It isn’t often that you can truly describe a novel as a visceral rollercoaster ride but perhaps that isn’t quite sufficient to describe what happens in the sleepy – and unpleasant – Scottish village of Pitlaw! From the first paragraph, when the funfair rolls into town with trucks ‘like a parade of chorus girls with dirty knickers’ the story rolls along at speed.

The fairground people are apparently the ‘freaks’ of the book title with extraordinary appearances and even more extraordinary skills and attributes but much more freakish are the violent, reactionary and unpleasant villagers. The stage is set for confrontation.

Behind these events is a history where the village had an old tradition of burning witches. There are people in this fair bent on revenge.

The unravelling of the story is extraordinary, the style consistently colourful and extreme and the characters sympathetically drawn. It’s a fabulous read.

I loved how unique this book is!
A great funfair atmosphere, mysterious characters, the narrative of a dark past at the centre of the unrest, and the tug-of-war over who the real bad guys were.

Some great twists that I didn't see coming and definitely a read that I will remember

3.5 ⭐️
Very dark and can have a lot of hard scenes to watch, so do check the trigger warnings before reading.

As a romande reader but a horror movie watcher I can say I surprisingly enjoyed this, not enough to put 4 stars but better than 3. When reading this, I was always thinking of American Horror Story in the back of my mind.

At first you don’t really know what to expect, there are many many characters and you don’t really understand why everyone is so important or why in every chapter it’s always a different person. Although I enjoyed some of the plot (loved Zed and Derek and in a very weird way Louie and Shona) but I did get confused sometimes with all the information. I also couldn’t really relate to most characters (not that I really wanted to) but it made it hard to understand them on a deeper level and made the reading that bit harder.

Other than that, I do recommend to anyone who enjoys a creepy, magically, circus themed book.

Thank you to netgalley for sending me an arc in exchange for an honest review.

Yep, queer funfair horror. Set in the 90s in a small Scottish town.

Add in the bold, eye-catching cover and I truly didn’t need any more encouragement on that at all, especially considering my recent kick with literary horror (which I wrote about right here).

A travelling funfair of seductive troublemakers arrive in a repressed Scottish town. What could possibly go wrong?

It’s the summer of ’97 and the Scottish town of Pitlaw is itching for change.

Enter the Freakslaw – a travelling funfair populated by deviant queers, a contortionist witch, the most powerful fortune teller, and other architects of mayhem. It doesn’t take long for the Freakslaw folk to infiltrate Pitlaw’s grey world, where the town’s teenagers – none more so than Ruth and Derek – are seduced by neon charms and the possibility of escape.

But beneath it all, these newcomers are harbouring a darker desire: revenge.

And as tensions reach fever pitch between the stoic locals and the dazzling intruders, a violence that’s been simmering for centuries is about to be unleashed…


Novels that feature characters with disabilities or physical differences and the presence of a funfair, carnival or freakshow is a worry and a cause for trepidation as it’s not always sensitively approached, but I think it was done really well in ‘Freakslow’. I am not disabled myself so my reading of it could very well be coming from a point of complete privilege and I’m intrigued to see the reception from the disabled community when the book comes out.

All of the members of the Freakslaw revel in their differences and the freedom that they find in their lifestyle and existing outside of the constraints of society, either by circumstance or by choice. It’s not just disabled people, it’s also those with supernatural abilities: Nancy is a witch and Gloria can tell the future and speaks with the ancestors, but everyone in the Freakslaw family feel apart from society. The way that they are all pitted against the town of Pitlaw is very clearly at the fault of the violence, ignorance, anger and misogyny of the town’s residents, and even in the acts of violence that are carried out against Pitlaw, it feels valid and like a necessary revenge.

Every character bursts off the page, even the most hateful ones, and their stories are fleshed out and vivid in Flett’s extraordinary writing. You know those books where you’re reading and come across a sentence that makes you stop and have a physical or audible reaction? ‘Freakslaw’ is brimming with them. This is a debut novel and the calibre of Flett’s writing has me incredibly excited for what has to be a long writing career ahead of her, because I want more of her writing and her stories.

Through the novel, Flett casts a really vivid portrait of the small, working-class, abandoned Northern towns abandoned in this period by the government and the changing social and political landscape. The feeling of being stuck and the boiling frustration of the residents is palpable; it echoes in the way they spend their time, the options available to them, and the rigid ideas of what’s okay and what’s acceptable - it feels like it’s stuck a time warp.

It’s only with the arrival of the Freakslaw that characters such as Ruth and Derek have the opportunity to experience life outside of Pitlaw, in a very extreme way, and way could lay in wait for their futures, though there is a few hints of the lifelong impact of both growing up in Pitlaw and experiencing the thrills and horrors of the carnival. This is especially true for the Ruth, as if usually is for the women in all situations and stories, so her ending is a little bittersweet.

‘Freakslaw’ is a visceral, delicious, and extraordinary debut about freedom and the victory of the disenfranchised over those who have made them suffer in the past. A truly wonderful literary horror novel.

Thank you to NetGalley and Transworld for the review copy.

Written by Sophie

The blurb tantalisingly hints at the chaos and mayhem that ensue as the Freakslaw folk, with their neon charms and dark desires, infiltrate the grey world of Pitlaw. While the premise is intriguing and the blend of horror and queer punk elements is certainly refreshing, the execution occasionally falls short. The attempt to transplant an Americanised version of funfairs and freakery into a UK setting feels somewhat forced, and the nuances of British freakery could have been more subtly woven into the narrative.

Flett’s decision to include a glossary of characters is helpful but perhaps indicative of a larger issue. If the characters had been more deeply explored within the story, they would have been easier to remember and connect with.

Freakslaw is a wild, raunchy ride that delights in its transgressive nature. It’s a novel that promises much and delivers a fair share of thrills, even if it doesn’t always hit the mark.