Scabby the Clown and (what's left of) one of his victims.
Night of the Freaks is a 2022 extreme splatter horror novel by Harrison Phillips.
When a young couple are violently murdered in the seaside town of Winsmouth, Cornwall, Detective Inspector John Andrews and Detective Sergeant David Harris investigate the murders. Shocked at the brutality of the deaths, Andrews immediately suspects the owner of a local traveling show called William Wilson's Wonderful World Of The Weirdos to be behind the murders, especially when more bodies turn up. Meanwhile, Heather and her two friends head to Winsmouth to attend a beach party during their road trip. However, when a few locals they run into go missing during the trip, they soon suspect the same traveling show are behind their disappearances as well and decide to do their own investigation.
Night of the Freaks provides example of:
- Added Alliterative Appeal: The freakshow attraction is called William Wilson's Wonderful World Of The Weirdos. For bonus points, it's run by Willie Wilson.
- Better to Die than Be Killed: Heather quickly and painlessly kills herself by blowing her brains out with a shotgun. Her alternative was letting herself be captured by the freaks, being raped by all the men until she was impregnated, and then dying in childbirth or dying after successfully giving birth to another freak and being killed once Willie deemed her useless.
- Big Bad: Willie Wilson, the ringleader of the eponymous freaks who go around kidnapping and/or killing pedestrians in their way.
- Crippling Castration: Linda bites off Scabby's penis while performing fellatio.
- Diabolus ex Machina: Heather and Alan's demise boils down to the two of them begging a wayward driver for help while they're running away from Willie and his carnies. Not only is the driver the same guy Corey fought off after he sexually harassed Linda in a bar, but he also happens to be Willie's nephew. Instead of helping the duo, he murders Alan and gives Heather up to Willie.
- Downer Ending: DI John Andrews, his partner, David Harris, and all of Heather's friends are killed by the freaks. Heather later ends up killing herself to avoid being captured and endlessly raped by Willie and his freaks.
- Even Evil Has Loved Ones: In spite of Willie's depraved nature and gruesome acts, he genuinely considers all of his carnies to be abnormal people and a surrogate family to love and care for. He's even openly distraught after Scabby is abruptly killed towards the end.
- "Everybody Dies" Ending: None of the protagonists live.
- Fate Worse than Death: The women who are captured by the freaks. All of the male freaks take turns repeatedly raping them while they're tied up and helpless to do anything. They're then kept alive long enough until they're impregnated and give birth to another freak.
- Final Girl: Subverted. Heather, the "Final Girl" in question, narrowly escapes from Willie and the freaks...only to crash the truck she's driving and get cornered by them. She kills herself to be spared of the torture they intended for her.
- The Heavy: Scabby is the perpetrator who commits the double homicide in the opening chapter, thus prompting Andrews and Harris' investigation. He also participates in or commits a majority of the murders throughout the book.
- I'm a Humanitarian: None of the freaks have any qualms with biting off the flesh of their victims and eating it raw. Towards the end all of them feast upon stew made from the flesh of their recent victims.
- Karma Houdini: With the exception of Scabby the Clown, who's killed by Heather, all of the freaks get away with murdering two police officers and a dozen or so other people. Even worse, Willie planned on leaving Winsmouth the next day, so it's likely the events will start all over again somewhere else.
- Monster Clown: Scabby, a misshapen and disheveled man dressed in baggy clothes and face paint, is also the most murderous member of Willie's band of carnies.
- Not Using the "Z" Word: Willie does not like it when people refer to his carnies as "freaks," since he feels like it makes them less of a person.
- Police Are Useless: Officers Andrews and Harris do nothing to help anybody, succeeding in only getting killed after barging into Willie's freakshow with no backup. And since Andrews didn't inform anyone where he was going before his death, it's likely that Willie and the others will have left the country by the time other officers even pin him as the main culprit.
- The Secret of Long Pork Pies: When Heather is kidnapped and forced to eat stew made by the freaks, she discovers (only after eating some of the meat) it's made from human flesh.
- Too Dumb to Live: Detective Andrews does everything wrong when confronting Willie and his freakshow. He comes to the location with no warrant, doesn't call for backup, doesn't inform anyone where he's going, then proceeds to walk into a pitch-black room while he and Harris have their backs to Willie. Unsurprisingly, Scabby appears and chops Harris' face in half, then Willie lunges at Andrews and swiftly kills him before he has time to react. What's even more damning is that Andrews knew he should've called for backup beforehand, but chose not to because "there wasn't time," even though he could've easily done so during the ten minute drive across town.
- Uncleanliness Is Next to Ungodliness: All of the freaks in question engage in incest, consume human flesh, live in disheveled conditions, possess some kind of fat or otherwise visually-gross deformity, and reside in unhygienic, odorous living spaces—including Willie, who's arguably the cleanest member of the bunch. Fittingly, Scabby, who is noted multiple times for smelling very foul and having nasty skin, is the most reprehensible member of them.
