What do you think?
Rate this book
The Freakshow: Rebirth in Drayton Falls
After a long dormant period, the Flaherty Brothers Traveling Freakshow & Carnivale has risen from the ashes to once again bring a bloody spectacle and carnage to remote corners of the land. Presided over now by the mysterious Dr. Midnight, the Freakshow’s latest stop is Drayton Falls, perhaps the strangest of all the towns it has ever visited, a place long accustomed to odd occurrences and strange phenomena. Will the Freakshow’s deranged new master of ceremonies emerge triumphant at the end of the long night of screams and psychotronic thrills, or will he meet his match in the citizenry of this haunted town? There’s only one way to find out—by once again paying the price of admission to enter … The Freakshow.
Contains two bonus
The Foot: A closet fetishist out for his daily stroll happens across a grotesque discovery that stirs a macabre and irresistible temptation.
No Such Thing: Professional grifter Colton Fisher doesn’t believe in ghosts, but maybe they believe in him.
Contains two bonus
The Foot: A closet fetishist out for his daily stroll happens across a grotesque discovery that stirs a macabre and irresistible temptation.
No Such Thing: Professional grifter Colton Fisher doesn’t believe in ghosts, but maybe they believe in him.
- GenresHorror
186 pages, Paperback
Published December 6, 2025
About the author
Bryan Smith
114 books791 followersBryan Smith is the Splatterpunk Award-winning author of more than forty horror and crime books, including 68 Kill, the cult classic Depraved and its sequels, as well as The Killing Kind, Slowly We Rot, The Freakshow, and many more. Bestselling horror author Brian Keene called Slowly We Rot, "The best zombie novel I've ever read."
68 Kill was adapted into a motion picture directed by Trent Haaga and starring Matthew Gray Gubler of the long-running CBS series Criminal Minds. 68 Kill won the Midnighters Award at the SXSW film festival in 2017 and was released to wide acclaim, including positive reviews in The New York Times and Bloody Disgusting.
Bryan also co-scripted an original Harley Quinn story for the House of Horrors anthology from DC Comics. He has worked with renowned horror publishers in both the mass market and small press spheres, including Leisure Books, Samhain Publishing, Grindhouse Press, Death’s Head Press, and more. His works are available wherever books are sold, with select titles also available in German and Italian.
68 Kill was adapted into a motion picture directed by Trent Haaga and starring Matthew Gray Gubler of the long-running CBS series Criminal Minds. 68 Kill won the Midnighters Award at the SXSW film festival in 2017 and was released to wide acclaim, including positive reviews in The New York Times and Bloody Disgusting.
Bryan also co-scripted an original Harley Quinn story for the House of Horrors anthology from DC Comics. He has worked with renowned horror publishers in both the mass market and small press spheres, including Leisure Books, Samhain Publishing, Grindhouse Press, Death’s Head Press, and more. His works are available wherever books are sold, with select titles also available in German and Italian.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
July 17, 2026
Mythology from Drayton Falls
This was a good idea! However, although I read everything that Bryan writes, I found all the stories a bit wanting.
Let’s start with the sequel for The Freakshow. It was okay, but the main characters were really hard to like, care about, and there was not enough meat on the villains. The new ringmaster, Dr.Midnight, was the best part, but you really did not get enough of him and about him. I enjoyed the original much more.
“The Foot” was an interesting tale about a fetish. It was fine, yet likely forgettable, although I liked that the story was about a fellow that no one would suspect was doing disturbing things behind closed doors. The fight with his soul and his compunctions was the most intriguing part.
“No Such Thing” has an awesome title and, in my humble opinion, was the best read. This tale hooked me from the get-go. The ending was a little flat, but I really enjoyed this story.
This was a good idea! However, although I read everything that Bryan writes, I found all the stories a bit wanting.
Let’s start with the sequel for The Freakshow. It was okay, but the main characters were really hard to like, care about, and there was not enough meat on the villains. The new ringmaster, Dr.Midnight, was the best part, but you really did not get enough of him and about him. I enjoyed the original much more.
“The Foot” was an interesting tale about a fetish. It was fine, yet likely forgettable, although I liked that the story was about a fellow that no one would suspect was doing disturbing things behind closed doors. The fight with his soul and his compunctions was the most intriguing part.
“No Such Thing” has an awesome title and, in my humble opinion, was the best read. This tale hooked me from the get-go. The ending was a little flat, but I really enjoyed this story.
January 1, 2026
Wild book! As a fan of the original, I'm really happy with how this one ended up . . . and I like that it stands on its own two feet for folks who may not be familiar with the first book. This book is one of those "feels like a nightmare on paper" sort of stories, and y'all know that's my favorite type of thing to read.
January 28, 2026
Bryan Smith’s The Freakshow: Rebirth in Drayton Falls is a fantastic, gruesome, and bizarre extreme horror read. The story is relentless, with a steady pace, impactful characters, and incredibly pervasive brutality. Check your sensibilities and triggers at the title page because you are in for a wild and wicked ride.
Rebirth in Drayton Falls is indeed a standalone story. There is sufficient insight to carry it forward, and the Freakshow has changed quite a bit anyway (something that is also noted). I haven’t read the original The Freakshow in quite some time (but will probably revisit it for fun at this point), and I highly recommend it if you haven’t read it, but I assure you it’s not necessary to read it first.
The Freakshow: Rebirth in Drayton Falls is not a typical carnival horror story, though it does seem to begin as such. The creative and provocative depravity and horrors exceed their setting and have just the right amount of cosmic/supernatural elements to blow your mind and turn your stomach. But the vivid multidimensional characters really bring it all together with a very disturbing poignancy.
You also don’t have to have read the first Drayton Falls book, which I hadn’t but now want to. Part of my new interest comes from the two Drayton Falls bonus stories that are included. “The Foot” is a compelling little tale that goes from intriguing to unnerving to jaw-dropping OMG WTF and does so impressively and upsettingly smoothly. “No Such Thing” has a main character I developed a desire to bitch-slap over the course of the story, and it has a shocking and twisted ending I did not see coming.
The Freakshow: Rebirth in Drayton Falls is a definitively brilliant extreme horror read but definitely not for those of more delicate (or normal) intestinal fortitude. Bryan Smith’s masterful, graphic, and evocative writing brings the extreme and the horror and weaves them into an upsettingly riveting and cohesive tale that extreme horror fans will love. Highly recommended, but (again) extreme horror fans only, please.
A Bibliophilia Templum review
https://bibliophiliatemplum.wordpress.com/2026/01/26/the-freakshow-rebirth-in-drayton-falls/
Rebirth in Drayton Falls is indeed a standalone story. There is sufficient insight to carry it forward, and the Freakshow has changed quite a bit anyway (something that is also noted). I haven’t read the original The Freakshow in quite some time (but will probably revisit it for fun at this point), and I highly recommend it if you haven’t read it, but I assure you it’s not necessary to read it first.
The Freakshow: Rebirth in Drayton Falls is not a typical carnival horror story, though it does seem to begin as such. The creative and provocative depravity and horrors exceed their setting and have just the right amount of cosmic/supernatural elements to blow your mind and turn your stomach. But the vivid multidimensional characters really bring it all together with a very disturbing poignancy.
You also don’t have to have read the first Drayton Falls book, which I hadn’t but now want to. Part of my new interest comes from the two Drayton Falls bonus stories that are included. “The Foot” is a compelling little tale that goes from intriguing to unnerving to jaw-dropping OMG WTF and does so impressively and upsettingly smoothly. “No Such Thing” has a main character I developed a desire to bitch-slap over the course of the story, and it has a shocking and twisted ending I did not see coming.
The Freakshow: Rebirth in Drayton Falls is a definitively brilliant extreme horror read but definitely not for those of more delicate (or normal) intestinal fortitude. Bryan Smith’s masterful, graphic, and evocative writing brings the extreme and the horror and weaves them into an upsettingly riveting and cohesive tale that extreme horror fans will love. Highly recommended, but (again) extreme horror fans only, please.
A Bibliophilia Templum review
https://bibliophiliatemplum.wordpress.com/2026/01/26/the-freakshow-rebirth-in-drayton-falls/
January 18, 2026
Bryan Smith is just fun. One of the few authors I check weekly to see if I missed a release. This book has 11 ratings when I am writing my thoughts. A bigger crime than the stuff that happens in this book. Seriously gross at times, exciting, wearing its heart on its sleve as in it knows what it is and does it perfectly, and even some legit lol moments with a tenacious disembodied head that reminded me, in a good way, of Laymon’s Resurrection Dreams. He’s just a damn legend. This is extreme horror at its best to me. Gross of course, nasty as your uncle when the cheap whiskey runs out, silly with a smile and a wink, but there is at least a damn plot and some time spent building toward the crazy so we care and appreciate. I like some Smith books more than others of course, but I have never been bored reading him and I always have fun to some degree. Reading a Bryan Smith novel is a bit like having some naked roly polies with your mom (who I am sure is a very classy and respectful human), in a giant tumble dryer with Slipknot being played in the background by extremely coked up cats in need of some string and innocent mice. … what, need me to further explain that? No you don’t. If you still do, go read something by Smith, preferably Slowly We Rot or The Killing Kind series and then come back to ask me to explain. You won’t because you will be too busy reading the rest of his books, or searching for classy moms, cats, the best Slipknot album, and industrial dryers.
January 20, 2026
I was super excited to check this out as it was nominated for a Splatterpunk award. I read the first one to get ready for this and I highly enjoyed the first and the second was just as much fun. The second one picks right up after the first and it does not dissapoint in keeping the story going. If you loved the first book, then you will highly enjoy the follow up.
December 25, 2025
Freakshow, carnival freaks come back to Drayton Falls in this great sequel. Also included a found foot on a trail, a real ghost. Both stories are in Drayton Falls and are great add-ons!
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews