‘THIS BOOK IS EVERYTHING . . . an ode to Tod Browning’s Freaks, Kathryn Dunn’s Geek Love, and Ray Bradbury’s Something Wicked This Way Comes . . . Grotesque, creepy, and celebratory, Freakslaw is sure to be one biggest books of the year (and possibly, one of the defining novels of the century).’ —CrimeReads
An LGBTQ Reads Most Anticipated 2025 • A CrimeReads and Goodreads Most Anticipated Horror Novel of 2025 • A Storizen and Read Jump Scares Best Horror Book of April 2025 • An Autostraddle Most Anticipated Queer Book of April 2025
In this riotous horror debut, a traveling carnival of troublemakers arrive in a small Scottish town and perform their favorite pastime: revenge.
It is the summer of ‘97 and the repressed Scottish town of Pitlaw is itching for change.
Enter the Freakslaw—a travelling carnival of deviant queers and architects of mayhem. There’s Gloria, fortune teller and worm charmer; her daughter Nancy, a contortionist witch; big-hearted tightrope walker, Werewolf Louie; not to mention illusionists and conjoined twins, Cass and Henry, and tattooed human pincushion, the Pin Gal. Against Pitlaw’s miserably grey landscape, the carnival shines electric and bright, and it doesn’t take long for the town’s teenagers to be seduced by its neon charms and the possibility of escape.
But beneath it all, these newcomers are harboring a darker desire: revenge. Revenge for being cast out, never allowed to settle, punished for purely existing. And as tensions reach fever pitch between the stoic, unwelcoming locals and the dazzling intruders, a violence that has been bubbling for centuries is about to be unleashed . . .
Katherine Dunn’s Geek Love meets Angela Carter’s Nights at the Circus in this sizzling debut by a writer as captivating as she is incisive, as wild as she is precise. Read this and try not to run away with the Freakslaw. Go on. We dare you.
Genre: Horror
An LGBTQ Reads Most Anticipated 2025 • A CrimeReads and Goodreads Most Anticipated Horror Novel of 2025 • A Storizen and Read Jump Scares Best Horror Book of April 2025 • An Autostraddle Most Anticipated Queer Book of April 2025
In this riotous horror debut, a traveling carnival of troublemakers arrive in a small Scottish town and perform their favorite pastime: revenge.
It is the summer of ‘97 and the repressed Scottish town of Pitlaw is itching for change.
Enter the Freakslaw—a travelling carnival of deviant queers and architects of mayhem. There’s Gloria, fortune teller and worm charmer; her daughter Nancy, a contortionist witch; big-hearted tightrope walker, Werewolf Louie; not to mention illusionists and conjoined twins, Cass and Henry, and tattooed human pincushion, the Pin Gal. Against Pitlaw’s miserably grey landscape, the carnival shines electric and bright, and it doesn’t take long for the town’s teenagers to be seduced by its neon charms and the possibility of escape.
But beneath it all, these newcomers are harboring a darker desire: revenge. Revenge for being cast out, never allowed to settle, punished for purely existing. And as tensions reach fever pitch between the stoic, unwelcoming locals and the dazzling intruders, a violence that has been bubbling for centuries is about to be unleashed . . .
Katherine Dunn’s Geek Love meets Angela Carter’s Nights at the Circus in this sizzling debut by a writer as captivating as she is incisive, as wild as she is precise. Read this and try not to run away with the Freakslaw. Go on. We dare you.
Genre: Horror
Praise for this book
"I don't think I've read anything quite like Freakslaw before. A wild, fun house of horrors - whip smart, the sharpest writing, funny, visceral and filled with vengeance. I loved it!" - Rachelle Atalla
"A shimmering blade of a book. Every sentence is honed for high delight - a captivating cast of characters, dazzling language, and so funny - but there's a smart and dangerous bite to all the campy, glittery glory. Freakslaw makes space for feminist, queer anger... and shows it a great time. We've never been so happy to roll up, roll up." - Mikaella Clements
"Delightful, delirious and transgressive, this book is the wildest of carnival rides, an open-mouthed kiss with the lingering taste of candyfloss and smoke. Jane Flett has created a queer punk masterpiece and we should all be so lucky to have our lives turned upside down by a visit to the Freakslaw." - Leon Craig
"A stampede of literary brilliance, a riot of filthy delinquency, Jane Flett's Freakslaw is - like the funfair whose story it tells - on a mission to liberate and unnerve. A well-plotted, page-turner where an unforgettable cast of characters bathe in the glow of her linguistic fireworks, Freakslaw is a one queer roller coaster you won't want to get off." - Victoria Gosling
"Freakslaw is a cornucopia of the carnivalesque, where freaks are fabulous and weird is wonderful. Flett's sumptuously technicolour prose is as startlingly original as it is compulsively moreish." - Carole Hailey
"Part block party, part call to arms, Freakslaw is almost a new kind of genre. Wild, raunchy, brutal - a madcap funhouse with heart." - Liska Jacobs
"A strong spiritual successor to Katherine Dunn's Geek Love, Freakslaw gorgeously captures the desire to get away from places that can't contain you-and the complications of looking for escape." - Heather Parry
"Holy hell, I loved this book. A carnivalesque tale spun in luscious, crackling prose, Freakslaw is the glittery punk offspring of Katherine Dunn's Geek Love and Angela Carter's Nights at the Circus. You know those books you want to roll around in, rub on your skin, and clasp to your heart? Freakslaw is one, and I can't wait to see what Jane Flett does next." - Chelsea G Summers
"A shimmering blade of a book. Every sentence is honed for high delight - a captivating cast of characters, dazzling language, and so funny - but there's a smart and dangerous bite to all the campy, glittery glory. Freakslaw makes space for feminist, queer anger... and shows it a great time. We've never been so happy to roll up, roll up." - Mikaella Clements
"Delightful, delirious and transgressive, this book is the wildest of carnival rides, an open-mouthed kiss with the lingering taste of candyfloss and smoke. Jane Flett has created a queer punk masterpiece and we should all be so lucky to have our lives turned upside down by a visit to the Freakslaw." - Leon Craig
"A stampede of literary brilliance, a riot of filthy delinquency, Jane Flett's Freakslaw is - like the funfair whose story it tells - on a mission to liberate and unnerve. A well-plotted, page-turner where an unforgettable cast of characters bathe in the glow of her linguistic fireworks, Freakslaw is a one queer roller coaster you won't want to get off." - Victoria Gosling
"Freakslaw is a cornucopia of the carnivalesque, where freaks are fabulous and weird is wonderful. Flett's sumptuously technicolour prose is as startlingly original as it is compulsively moreish." - Carole Hailey
"Part block party, part call to arms, Freakslaw is almost a new kind of genre. Wild, raunchy, brutal - a madcap funhouse with heart." - Liska Jacobs
"A strong spiritual successor to Katherine Dunn's Geek Love, Freakslaw gorgeously captures the desire to get away from places that can't contain you-and the complications of looking for escape." - Heather Parry
"Holy hell, I loved this book. A carnivalesque tale spun in luscious, crackling prose, Freakslaw is the glittery punk offspring of Katherine Dunn's Geek Love and Angela Carter's Nights at the Circus. You know those books you want to roll around in, rub on your skin, and clasp to your heart? Freakslaw is one, and I can't wait to see what Jane Flett does next." - Chelsea G Summers
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