Carnival of Fear

by J.G. Faherty

It was supposed to be a night of fun...they ended up trapped in Hell!


The Halloween carnival seemed like the perfect way to spend a Friday night, but when a group of teenagers find themselves trapped in the haunted mansion, they learn the awful truth about the carnival, and the demons that run it.


Now they're stranded in an alternate reality, fighting their way through a maze of torturous attractions, where vampires, werewolves, aliens, and other monsters come to life, eager for human blood. As the body count rises, friendships are made and lost, and unlikely heroes emerge.


The final showdown takes place in Hell, where the ultimate battle between good and evil will determine their fate.


The Carnival of Fear...where the price of admission is your soul!

Genres: Horror, Halloween, Fiction, Novels

310 pages, Kindle Edition

First published October 10, 2010

About the author

JG Faherty is a Bram Stoker Award® and ITW Thriller Award nominee and the author of six novels, nine novellas, and more than 50 short stories. He writes adult and YA horror/sci-fi/fantasy, and his works range from quiet, dark suspense to over-the-top comic gruesomeness.

His novels and novellas, all of which are listed on Goodreads, include THE CURE, CARNIVAL OF FEAR, GHOSTS OF CORONADO BAY, CEMETERY CLUB, THE BURNING TIME, LEGACY, CASTLE BY THE SEA, FATAL CONSEQUENCES, THIEF OF SOULS, THE COLD SPOT, and HE WAITS.

He enjoys urban exploring, photography, classic B-movies, good wine, and pumpkin beer. As a child, his favorite playground was a 17th-century cemetery, which many people feel explains a lot. His personal motto is "Photobombing people since 1979!" You can follow him at www.twitter.com/jgfaherty, www.facebook.com/jgfaherty, http://about.me/jgfaherty, and www.jgfaherty.com.

Reviews

[Schizanthus Nerd · Rating 3 out of 5]

Trigger warnings for sexual assault and a school shooting.

I was looking forward to a fun B grade horror experience with this book and that’s mostly what I got. It’s almost Halloween and ‘Carnival of Fear’ is in town for one night only. Advertisements promise “Terror! Blood! Mayhem! Monsters, Ghouls, and Murderers! Experience the agony of the damned!” and “The World’s Most Terrifying Haunted Mansion! Enter At Your Own Risk!” They’re not lying!

Several groups of high school students are amongst those who are inside the Castle of Horrors at midnight when hell begins to literally break loose on the town of Whitebridge.

“It’s not like a regular haunted house. There’s only one exit, and you can’t get out until you go through all the rooms. You can do them in any order you want, except for the last one. That’s where the exit is.”

The characters are so clichéd that they’re essentially caricatures. You’ve got the jocks, the cheerleader, the nerds and the goody two shoes. I eagerly anticipated a lot of the characters’ death scenes from our first meeting, particularly those who spouted derogatory homophobic, racist, ableist, misogynist word vomit. I was also keen for the date rapist to be dispatched with the ample blood spatter he deserved.

I had planned on keeping track of all the deaths in the book in order to provide a body count in my review. There were so many that I decided to make up rules about which deaths could be included. They had to happen on page, so no dead bodies that were stumbled upon once they’d already started cooling, and I had to know their name for them to count. Before I made it a third of the way through the book I had already reached double digits so I decided to abandon my tally and just sit back and enjoy the bloodbath instead.

I grinned as B grade horror glory unfolded in front of me. There were some really entertaining over the top deaths. I witnessed a Jason Voorhees/Leatherface mashup, scenes from Alien and every alien invasion movie ever made, witch trials, Frankenstein at work, werewolves and zombies. I was really enjoying being ringside but then, just before 70%, I almost stopped reading. I’m all for slasher bloodshed. I’ll happily cheer on decapitations, limbs getting twisted off bodies, disembowelments and impalements, especially when they happen to a character I love to hate. It’s all part of the fun of B grade horror.

However, the story stopped being fun the moment the vampires started raping at whim. Both male and female characters experienced this, with some rapes happening in full view of the rest of the characters. I hesitated in the beginning when one of the main characters was described as a date rapist but tried to ignore this and simply looked forward to their demise. The story lost me at the first gratuitous sexual assault and while I continued reading until the end, I never got the fun back. This may not impact on the enjoyment of the story for other readers but personally I felt the topic wasn’t dealt with sensitively at all and didn’t belong in the book in the first place. Its inclusion transformed Carnival of Fear from a fun Halloween read into something I would no longer recommend, which is a shame because the rest of the book was entertaining. Without those scenes I would definitely recommend it to people who enjoy B grade horror.

I may have missed something but it seemed like the castle rules changed after midnight. Early on we find out that in order to enter the final room you have to have already completed every other room. There isn’t a single character who enters every room after midnight, yet once at least someone has survived each room those who are left are all allowed to enter the final room.

This book would benefit from a proofreader and some further editing. Some of the writing was fairly crude and there are quite a few typos that hadn’t been corrected in the 2015 version I read. For example, ‘lightning’ is spelt correctly twice. I found it spelt ‘lighting’ once and ‘lightening’ four times. Some repetition also stood out, including “like a shark eats a seal” in chapter 8 and “Like sharks attacking a seal” in chapter 18.

Thank you to NetGalley and Victory Editing for the opportunity to read this book.

[chucklesthescot · Rating 5 out of 5]

*I received a free copy of this book in return for an honest review*

The Carnival has come to town and everyone is eager for a night of fear filled fun. The biggest queue is for the Castle of Horrors and once inside, the people must visit every room before they can exit. But behind each door, a very real terror awaits and only the strongest will survive.

This was a brilliant horror story, one of my favourite ever in this genre. I like reading about these scary carnivals but this author manages to do something completely different with a popular concept, turning it into something new and fresh. It's not just zombie monsters chasing you through a dark funhouse. Behind each funhouse door is a room which depicts a gory waxwork scene involving a supernatural or human monster-but when the door closes, the people in the room are transported to a real life version of that nightmare where you need brawn and brains to survive. Behind the doors you will find the vampire castle in the middle of nowhere, the mad scientists lab where you are the next experiment, a pack of werewolves trying to get into the castle to eat you, the deadly witch trials where you are to be killed, a mad serial killer at summer camp chasing you through the cabins, a full scale alien invasion in your town, the zombies breaking into the shopping mall...to survive you must find a way to defeat each monster and return across country to find the door. If you die in these rooms, you die. Survive and you are back in the Funhouse with more doors to open and only when all rooms have been explored and defeated do the survivors get a chance to escape. So you are getting lots of exciting mini adventures within a main story, which I LOVED!

The author does not waste time on long winded descriptions or massive amounts of background information. Instead you are told just enough to understand the characters before you are thrown into the plot and they are put in the Funhouse. Character development does occur through the story and interaction with each other, so there is no need for big info dumps or slow scenes, which I hate in horror books. There is nothing slow in this book! The writing style is uncomplicated and free flowing, the plot moves at rapid speed between the action in each room, hardly giving you time to catch breath and there is the perfect blend of tension, terror and gore. All my favourite horror monsters and scenarios are featured here and I enjoyed every single one. If you like chainsaw psychos and classic film monsters, you'll love this. You just don't quite know what is around the corner (or behind the next door!). Will your favourites survive?

So was there anything in the book that I didn't like? Simply put, no. I don't do many 5 star reviews for horror books and I've read a lot in the genre but this really reserves the accolade. It was action packed, full of tension, gory deaths, psychological scares and a wonderful storytelling flair. JG manages to combine every element of great horror into one compelling novel. This is the second book that I have read of his and it will not be the last. I have already ordered my own print copy so I can re-read this many times. Have I mentioned yet that I totally love this book?!!

There is sexual content, mega violence and gore and the usual language you would expect in the genre.

I seriously hope that this will be made into a film!

[David Watson · Rating 4 out of 5]

For any small town a traveling carnival is a huge event. This traveling carnival is a little different because not everyone will survive this one. This carnival's Castle Of Horrors is the real deal. Aliens, zombies, vampires and werewolves. They're all here and waiting for the unsuspecting townspeople. When JD Cole and the other kids from the local high school entered the castle they thought it would be fun, instead they have to count on each other to survive.



Carnival Of Fear by J.G. Faherty is the type of book that to me shouts: "Read Me Now!" Monsters, a traveling carnival and a bunch of teenagers who can't get along, what's not to like? This book was really a mixed bag though, it kind of felt like a YA novel but with more violence. It has its moments though, I liked the idea that all these kids from different social backgrounds had to work together to survive and because of this they grew and changed. On the bad side there was so much going on in this book it bordered on ridiculous. If you can suspend your disbelief though this is a fun book.

[J.G. Faherty · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved it....but then, I wrote it!

[Mylene · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 to 4 Stars

Well…this story took an abrupt left turn I did not see coming!

It’s the first book I’ve read from JG Faherty, but now that I have perused his other book summaries, it seems that he enjoys writing about people who enter other dimensions to beat evil.

I read that other reviewers DNF because they found there were too many characters to keep track of. I see what they mean because you are introduced to a wide variety of characters early on, but once the story gets going, the author makes it easy to track each one based on their adventures.

I think the weakest part of the book was the start, as the story really gets going, and gets much darker, by the time that they reach the vampires and hell.

I also read that someone complained that the book is misogynistic and racist. Honestly? The author is detailing how selfish teens speak to one another. If you don’t think American teens talk trash, then you are not listening to any of them.

All in all, it dragged a bit in places (notably the start of the adventures although the alien room was fun) but eventually took off halfway through the book. I think more context related to the Proprietor could have been included but not a bad read and would try another story from this author.

[Karen · Rating 2 out of 5]

Special thanks to Net Galley for the opportunity to read and review this book. Unfortunately it was just "ok." I liked the story concept from the beginning and the ending was great, but everything in between was slow and a tad confusing. I couldn't keep the characters straight in my mind and then when they were going into the different rooms, and the book would jump from room to room, I was lost. I wanted to enjoy this more than I did but it just fell flat for me.

[Amber Ross · Rating 1 out of 5]

I couldn’t finish this one. While the horror elements were certainly interesting and scary, I can’t just sit here and happily read a novel that exacts so many racist and sexist stereotypes. The dialogue is horrendous and it really turned me off to the story.

[Sue Wallace · Rating 4 out of 5]

The carnival of fear by JG Faherty.
The carnival is in town... What was supposed to be an evening of fun and laughter for JD Cole and the other students of Whitebridge High turns into a never-ending night of terror. Trapped inside the Castle of Horrors by the demonic Proprietor, good friends and bitter rivals must band together to make it through the maze of torturous attractions, where fictional monsters come to life, eager to feast on human flesh. Vampires, zombies, werewolves, and aliens lurk around every corner as JD and his friends struggle from one room to the next, fighting for their sanity, fighting to survive, fighting to escape ... The Carnival of Fear.
This was a fantastic read with some great characters. It was a little slow in places. 4*.

[Elke · Rating 3 out of 5]

What at first glance sounded like a straight-forward 'horror at the carnival' story evolved into a journey through most well-known horror genres, including aliens, zombies, werewolves, vampires and more. We follow a group of high-school kids as they visit the Halloween carnival that has come to town, and once they enter the house of horrors, the true nightmare begins as they have to fight for their lives against very real monsters.
While I was truly impressed by the elaborate plot and the construction of the horror house, once people entered it I was not that surprised anymore. Each scenario felt predictable and stereotyped like a copy of some well-known novel or movie. At first, I was overwhelmed by the multitude of characters and struggled to distinguish them from each other, though later on I understood that the story required a lot of 'cannon fodder', while some main characters remained. In the end, the book felt like a collection of loosely connected short stories covering the top horror genres.

[Amy Eye · Rating 5 out of 5]

Pick a fear, your worst fear. Is it vampires? Warewolves? Zombies? How about dealing with Hell? The Carnival of Fear has a fun house that promises to be the biggest and best scare you have ever had! Come on in...if you dare....

A small New York town is abuzz with excitement this Halloween. A carnival has set up shop overnight and the citizens are ready for some Halloween thrills and chills. No one is immune to the pull of having the pants scared off of them on this holiday, it's a tradition...it's your right...and you're going to have fun, even if it kills you. And, in this carnival, you may just want to die.

As in any high school, you run into the jocks, the nerds, the stoners, and the artsy kids. None of them hang out together, but they all have seen each other, picked on each other, and crushed on each other. None of these groups planned on spending any time with any of the “other” groups. That just isn't how things are done. They never knew that in the span of less than an hour, these groups will have suffered what seems an eternity together.

As midnight approaches, several kids from each of these groups enter into the Castle of Horrors with the Proprietor silently watching on. Once you enter, the kids learn, you cannot leave until you have visited every room in the castle. Every nightmare imaginable lays in wait inside the castle. The kids will enter eagerly anticipating a good scare. Soon after they will be running for the exit, screaming for their lives. Can they really survive all the Proprietor has in store for them?

Carnival of Fear has something for everyone’s horror taste. There is blood, gore, dismemberment, and a special fear for just about everyone. I loved this book because it took me back to the good old days of horror. We see all of our favorite horror style characters in this book, and it kept me wanting to keep entering the next room, even though I knew I wouldn't be able to turn my bedroom light off for a while.

The book is written in parts, and each part is from the view point of one of the teenagers trapped inside the castle. This really helps you bond with each of the characters, and you being to even like the characters you really thought would be the perfect person to be decapitated. All of these kids learn to work together and get past their differences if any of them are to survive. Unfortunately, some of them do not learn this lesson quickly enough.

This book is not for the squeamish. There are certain scenes that are quite brutal if you have a vivid imagination. There are several times I was quite grateful I had chosen to read during the daytime. Otherwise, I would have NOT been sleeping for a while! I give this book 5 stars, and will definitely be picking this up again to make sure that there was nothing I missed! No tickets necessary for this carnival, but I guarantee one Hell of a ride.

[Mia · Rating 1 out of 5]

1.5 stars

Ugh, where do I even start. First lets talk about the good things. This book could have easily left out the carnival and the premise would have worked since 90% of it takes place in the carnival's haunted house attraction, but the set-up of the teens working their way through each of these themed rooms was fun and worked pretty well in it's execution. And despite not necessarily needing the Carnival theme, I did like the bits you got with the evil carnies. They were suitably gross and creepy.

And now, everything else. The characters were initially fun to read about even though they fell into every stereotypical caricatures of teens, but the farther into the book the more annoying they became. There was no depth or character growth. What you see is what you get and unfortunately what we got were sexist and racist stereotypes. Seriously, the asshole bully rapist was a black kid from the hood who spoke in AAVE (sort of) the entire time. And the only girl with any attitude was a "fiery" latinx girl who spoke in a random mix of English and Spanish.

And now let's talk about the sexism. An actual line from the book, "Even the girls put up more of a fight than you". At every turn the girls are depicted as needing protected. They never participate in planning, keeping watch, and almost never part of the fight unless they're being attacked. Every time one of the girls attempts to help in a situation one of the boys undermines her and the one time one of the girls is the one to figure out how to get out of a room, she has to sacrifice herself for everyone else.

And do I even need to discuss the vampire room? It was literally 50 pages of these kids being raped, one at a time. It was awful.

[Wendy-Lynn · Rating 5 out of 5]

It's Hallows Eve in a small farming town in New York. In the fog descends evil beyond your imagination in the form of a carnival. All of the townspeople learn about this carnival that's come to town in the middle of the night. The teenagers are ramped up and ready to go. Little do they know what they will encounter once they get there. The carnies in attendance all have red eyes and slithery tongues and are in need of their next meal. Once midnight comes and it's Halloween, all are trapped in the Castle of Horrors. They are left in this otherworld to face their worst nightmares. Carnival of Fear by JG Faherty was one awesome ride. I loved the campy teen 80's horror movie feel which gave this novel that extra something that not all horror novels today have. Will read again. Highly recommended.

[Steven Jorgenson · Rating 2 out of 5]

I was very disappointed with Carnival of Fear. I found at least one character description to be very disturbing. While the plot is sound I noticed more than a few times a word was left out of a sentence. I can not recommend Carnival of Fear.

[Jessica (Read book. Repeat) · Rating 4 out of 5]

I received a copy from the publisher via netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

Carnival of Fear happens in one night, it follows a bunch of teenage school kids through their worst fears after they all attend the same mysterious Halloween carnival, and if they don't succeed and overcome what they fear the most, the carnival could very well destroy the town, maybe even the world. Once in the carnival they all end up heading for the haunted castle attraction, gaining admittance just as the midnight bell tolls. The students find themselves in a castle with various doors, all with their own theme, from the Salem witch trials, to a zombie apocalypse, and even an alien invasion among others. To exit, they must go through every room and make it out. Can they do it?

So, when I first started reading this I was ready to straight up give it a 2 out of 5, the last quarter of the book has me bumping that up to a 3.5. The beginning moved kinda slow, but once the story hit roughly the 35% mark, the pace picked up a bit. Though I still feel like it took a stupid amount of time to get through the book, even when the pacing picked up. I'm not sure why that is...

In the beginning, we're introduced to a few different groups of kids, the stereotypical ones, you have the jocks and cheerleaders, the nerds, the stoners, and the perfect couple. When we're meeting all of these characters, I couldn't help but wonder why there was so many, even after finishing it, I'm still not too sure why there was so many, but I guess it kinda worked. Along with the stereotypical cliques, we had some stereotypical characters that grated on me pretty bad. We had the 'gangsta' African American jock, who seemed to take please in sexual harassment and rape, and who's dialogue was written in the stereotypical way, using words along the lines of "a'aight" and so on, which really annoyed me, I'm not really the biggest fan of writing accents like that in, that said, I believe that Hagrad's works perfectly and shouldn't be written any other way, so I'm not entirely sure why it pissed me off. We also had the Latino girl who's dialogue was peppered with "papi", "chica" etc, this also irritated me, see above. I just felt that this was pigeon holing these characters SO much, that they were pretty one dimensional, I understand that the author wanted to get his visions of these characters across, but it just didn't work for me.

At the start, the story has SO many paths in it that I had a little trouble keeping up, once the pace picked up around 35%, I found the stories easier to follow and they seemed to have become more linear, which made it easier to read. There was so much happening in this book, and I did enjoy it, but feel like the author could have gone over the story again and maybe done it differently? I'm not sure how it would've worked though because if each of the rooms in the haunted castle were divided up into individual novellas, I would've been so annoyed at not being able to follow straight on, yet it felt like there was sometimes too much going on in the novel. Once the characters all end up together it worked even better, and it was a great display of people being able to show their true colours in a life threatening situation, and realising that there is more to life than what happens at school.

I actually first thought that this might've been written for a younger audience, or perhaps been a creative writing assignment for school, then I realised that this was first published in 2010, and it began to make a bit more sense, I'm sure that the author has developed their voice a lot since this story's original release. The realisation that this wasn't written for a younger audience hit me in the face when the swearing made an appearance, and then shortly after, the various instances of rape. I had an "oh my" moment, then realised "yep, this is definitely geared towards an older audience."

I found myself becoming attached to a few of the characters and was rooting for them through the last two thirds of the book. The creatures were well written, and the individual room themes themselves were very well thought out and diverse which was great.

I'd be interested to read something more recent by this author as I feel they have a brilliant imagination and are not afraid to 'go there' with their horror themes.

[Mark · Rating 3 out of 5]

SLOW BUILD, SLIGHT PAYOFF

In looking into the author of this book, J.G. Faherty, I found that the book is a reissue of his first novel. That would explain a lot and make the flaws with the book understandable. As the book itself progresses it gets better. My feelings are that the same holds true for Mr. Faherty’s other novels.

The story involves a carnival that appears every Halloween in a different town, populated by demons in search of souls and longing for the midnight hour when their powers grow. Also helping them to gain power are the souls that they devour. In particular this night is a group of teens, all having those normal teenage difficulties ranging from ex-boyfriend/girlfriend, social status in the group and more. The way they behave and the choices they make will determine if the carnival has the ability to devour the entire town or if it will be limited to the few souls it takes should the group come out on top.

It’s an interesting concept and works well one the journey through the castle of horror style ride the kids enter begins. Each room there offers a different style of horror for them to confront. The thing is the concept has been used similarly in the movie WAXWORK. But if you enjoy horror novels you can excuse that.

The issues I found with the book were in the earlier pages. To begin with it felt like there were far too many characters being discussed. This was followed up by them all being the stereotypical type of characters we’re all too familiar with. The jocks are jerks, the cheerleaders pretty and snobs, the tech guys geeks and the hero and heroine as close to perfect as you’ll find in these type of groups. The familiarity might help with some but for me felt like the easy way out.

The carnival itself is a nice idea to use for the roaming evil to move from town to town. The images of an evil carnival barker or worker are easy to imagine. But little time is spent with them, more often asides rather than the focus. That is held for the castle of terror type ride.

In the end the book was enjoyable enough but if your qualms rank with mine you’ll find it slow going at first. My recommendation is that you stick with it and the end product will not disappoint by the end as much as you might fear it will at the start. Fewer clichés and more of the original stuff will make Faherty a better writer and my hope is that this is what happened after this first effort. Writing is a difficult task and one has to give him credit for presenting us this piece of work.

[Krista Silsby Ruthstrom · Rating 4 out of 5]

Description
What was supposed to be an evening of fun and laughter for JD Cole and the other students of Whitebridge High turns into a never-ending night of terror. Trapped inside the Castle of Horrors by the demonic Proprietor, good friends and bitter rivals must band together to make it through the maze of torturous attractions, where fictional monsters come to life, eager to feast on human flesh.

Vampires, zombies werewolves, and aliens lurk around every corner as JD and his friends struggle from one room to the next before their final showdown with Satan himself. In the end, the few who survive are left wondering if they have defeated the Carnival forever, or if it will be back next year.


Was it spectacular? No. Was it a fun, spooky read for a Sunday afternoon? Yes
I take books like these in the spirit in which they were written. Fun, engaging, and a little silly. It was fun, had all the right monsters, and maybe even a lesson or two.

Thanks to Netgalley for the review copy. My reviews are my own

[Sue Wallace · Rating 4 out of 5]

The carnival of fear by JG Faherty.
The carnival is in town... What was supposed to be an evening of fun and laughter for JD Cole and the other students of Whitebridge High turns into a never-ending night of terror. Trapped inside the Castle of Horrors by the demonic Proprietor, good friends and bitter rivals must band together to make it through the maze of torturous attractions, where fictional monsters come to life, eager to feast on human flesh. Vampires, zombies, werewolves, and aliens lurk around every corner as JD and his friends struggle from one room to the next, fighting for their sanity, fighting to survive, fighting to escape ... The Carnival of Fear.
This was a fantastic read with some great characters. It was a little slow in places. 4*.

[Skyla · Rating 3 out of 5]

This had a decent, atmospheric buildup that felt very ‘halloweeny’. But the cheesy dialogue, racist/ sexist stereotyped characters and a cliched final act is ultimately what let this book down for me.

[Trigger Warning Database]

Trigger & Content Warnings:

Sexual assault
School shooting

[Zimbellina · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great amusement park horror. Enjoyed it a lot.

[WendyB · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really enjoyed most of the story but could have done w/o the rape scenes.

[Alex Frangiosa · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good, spooky, light read. Kept me engaged the entire time.

[Mister Hookman · Rating 1 out of 5]

Too many characters to keep track of, awkward dialogue, slow pacing. All kisses of death that made me put this down around seventy or so pages in.

[Dex · Rating 4 out of 5]

This came like a very good surprise to me. I'm a big fan of horror, specially the kind that reminds of the films from the eighties, and this feels very much like what could be a nice horror movie.

I won't say the premise is original because there's plenty of haunted fairs stories out there. But that doesn't mean I didn't like it; I did and much. It reminds me (sort of) Stephen King's "Needful things" because of the evil that arrives to town choosing a different place each time. We have some of the high school stereotypes here: the jocks, the stoners, the nerds... but still, most of them have something interesting about them. And unlike other stories, is not very much predictable. Even though you hope for the "good guys" to defeat evil and make it so they are changed forever from then on, without spoiling, I can say you'll get a satisfactory ending.

There's just one thing that bothered sometimes and it was JD. Though he's one of the more predominant characters, I felt he seemed like the ever-good-clean-cut-boy who wouldn't kill a fly. He faces a lot of challenges and all but to me it balanced from plot device element to unidimensional. Still, the story has more weight to me so I won't whine too much about it.

Some people dislike stories where the point of view jumps from one character to another but I liked the way the different scenarios were paralely described. A "choose your adventure" kind of thing. Tense at times, gory, funny at others, I can say I enjoyed my way through the carnival of fear.

I can't recommend it enough to horror fans. Wish I had read it on Halloween.

[Meri Elena · Rating 5 out of 5]

I was sent a copy of this book in return for an honest and thorough review. While I'm on the subject, I would like to apologize for taking so long to finish. Sorry J.G.!

It is a rare talent that can take a bunch of cliches, work his magic, and turn them into something original and uniquely high-quality. There were a few hiccups. For instance, there are three chapters in a row where different groups of major characters are all introduced to the supernatural in essentially the same way, and have pretty much the same reaction. That got a little tiresome. However, as a whole the story was well-crafted and pleasantly horrific. Just about every overdone horror story was incorporated into the body of an impressive umbrella horror story. The descriptions of difficult-to-image scenes (the inner sanctum of hell, for one) are written in lifelike detail. The characters are believable and easy to identify with, and react to their plight in fascinating ways.

Faherty does not skimp on the horror here. Not everyone can handle that amount of harrowing battles and flesh-mangling monsters. Personally, I found the mix of gore, interpersonal drama, and good old fashion creature features as near perfect as I've ever seen in a horror novel. My hero Stephen King comes to mind as I think about it. While the faint of heart should steer clear, just about any true fan of the frightening and macabre should give Carnival of Fear a go.

[Carl Alves · Rating 5 out of 5]

The concept behind Carnival of Fear is cool and innovative. A mysterious horror carnival arrives in an upstate New York town. Naturally the high school kids in town feel the need to check it out. Little do they know that all of their worst horrors are there to greet them. The cast of characters are fairly typical. You got your jocks, your stoners, your cheerleaders, your brainy, nerdy types, and then there is JD, the all American, all around good guy, and his girlfriend. Inside of the carnival is a haunted castle containing rooms with all different kinds of horrors, each one a different challenge for our cast. There are werewolves, a Salem type town conducting with trials, zombies, vampires, aliens, and just about any kind of nightmarish monstrous scenario, including a trip to hell in the finale. In order to get out alive, the kids have to enter each of the room and defeat the enemies that await them. The end result is a real page turner where I kept wanting to find out what was going to pop up next, or how JD and company were going to get themselves out of the next situation. JG Faherty is a highly skilled writer and he managed to artfully guide the reader through this carnival of terror. This is a book worth reading.
Carl Alves - author of Two For Eternity

[Birgit · Rating 4 out of 5]

After having read JG Faherty's Ghosts Of Coronado Bay, I was admittedly a bit worried how I would like this book as I really disliked the former.
This horror novel could be best described as heavily influenced by Waxwork - the 1988 movie, not the one with Paris Hilton - and a touch of the goriness of Final Destination. It's a sort of B-movie type of book with stereotypical yet well written teen characters who try to escape from the Haunted House in a carnival from Hell (literally). Full of suspense and creepiness that make it hard to put the book down, the author throws the reader into all kinds of horrific scenarios (werewolves, witch hunt, etc), and does not even spare lead characters from bone chilling death.
Despite the teenage cast, I have a hard time imagining the book suitable for young readers, especially the vampire episode, while not too explicit, was taking it a bit too far even for my adult taste.
In short: Wholeheartedly recommend to every horror fan!

[JeanBookNerd · Rating 4 out of 5]

Carnival of Fear by JG Faherty was a fun and exciting read. It had that “What would you do in this situation” feel to it. I love how the book is written in parts with the point of view of several characters. The way it’s written had that nostalgic experience of the glory days of horror. It had a great story line, with a very creative and unique style.

Faherty’s unique writing style made you bond with each of the characters. He has an excellent control of words and the dialogues between characters were finely detailed. I even started to care for characters that I surely thought would be dismembered from the beginning. It’s a book that’s very alive and has that vibrant energy that sucks you into the story.

There are a lot of details in this book and might not be for the delicate reader. Some scenes can be brutal if you let your imagination run wild. Just be ready when you pick up this book. Make sure you have a lot of time as you won’t want to put it down.

[Kel · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was provided a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Carnival of Fear by JG Faherty : I found this book to be very interesting. It reminded me of a cross between 'The Goosebumps' series meets 'Are You Afraid of the Dark' show that used to be on TV. I was hit with a wave of nostalgia, and I loved every minute of it.

An uber creepy carnival comes to a small town and a handful of high school students decide to visit it one night for an evening of thrills and chills, but they get a whole lot more! I found I was holding my breath thru the more intense moments, and just marveling at the imagery that JG Faherty worked. The students had to fight their way thru different situations and against different monsters and evil creatures.

[Shirley · Rating 5 out of 5]

I had only one word in mind, when i finished reading this book ...WOW!!! If anyone has ever wondered what would happen if all the evil things in the world come together, well this book is your answer. It's breathtakingly fast, smooth and exciting. Everything fits into its proper place. Cleverly written and easy to read... you would not want to put this one down, even for a moment. And it's really scary. You fear for the lives of the characters, whether good or bad. Everything that goes bump in the night,that you ever imagined or feared, comes alive here and that too with a vengeance. There's no where to go except through it all.

I would recommend it to all. It's worth the time.