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Carny
It’s 1976, and Duke Merritt is everything America wants its heroes to be.
Handsome, charismatic, and larger than life, Duke is the reigning king of professional wrestling, traveling from one smoke-filled arena to the next through a country still obsessed with the men it puts on pedestals. In every town, thousands scream his name. Promoters trust him. Wrestlers respect him. Fans believe they know him.
But something is happening between the arenas.
As Duke’s life on the road begins to fracture under the weight of fame, drugs, ego, and excess, a disturbing mystery begins to follow the wrestling circuit from town to town. Coincidences become harder to dismiss. Questions begin to surface. And the people closest to Duke start wondering how much they truly know about the man behind the championship belt.
Set against the wild, secretive world of 1970s territorial wrestling, CARNY is a slow-burning psychological horror novel about celebrity, masculinity, power, and the terrifying things a culture will overlook when it desperately wants to believe in its heroes.
SMALL TOWNS. BIG CROWDS. DARK SECRETS.
Handsome, charismatic, and larger than life, Duke is the reigning king of professional wrestling, traveling from one smoke-filled arena to the next through a country still obsessed with the men it puts on pedestals. In every town, thousands scream his name. Promoters trust him. Wrestlers respect him. Fans believe they know him.
But something is happening between the arenas.
As Duke’s life on the road begins to fracture under the weight of fame, drugs, ego, and excess, a disturbing mystery begins to follow the wrestling circuit from town to town. Coincidences become harder to dismiss. Questions begin to surface. And the people closest to Duke start wondering how much they truly know about the man behind the championship belt.
Set against the wild, secretive world of 1970s territorial wrestling, CARNY is a slow-burning psychological horror novel about celebrity, masculinity, power, and the terrifying things a culture will overlook when it desperately wants to believe in its heroes.
SMALL TOWNS. BIG CROWDS. DARK SECRETS.
302 pages, Paperback
Published September 22, 2026
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