* CompleteMonster: The Matter Manipulator, a flesh sculpting "artist" that lives in the Circus funhouse, is not meant to be a likeable or funny villain. It says a lot that he's nightmarish even by the standards of the book, with [[EvenEvilhasStandards even the somewhat sadistic and easily angered Gonko finding himself creeped out by the MM]]. He "[[TortureTechnician disciplines]]" poor old Winston by [[ColdBloodedTorture merging a hot coal with the flesh of his stomach]] and is responsible for the creation of the Freaks, including the one who's ''[[BodyHorror constantly melting]].'' It's implied that some people ended up even worse off than that - recycled into living wallpaper and organic furniture for his studio.
* FridgeLogic: Why didn't [[spoiler: the Freedom Movement]] just break [[spoiler: Shalice's crystal ball]] instead of hiding it?
* NightmareFuel: It's a novel about an extradimensional CircusOfFear replete with {{Monster Clown}}s and BodyHorror (along other nasty stuff) whose goal is to [[YourSoulIsMine steal your soul]], kill you or [[FateWorseThanDeath worse]] through a DealWithTheDevil, all in service to a [[spoiler:whole race of {{Eldritch Abomination}}s]]. It's probably not meant to give you warm fuzzy feelings.