“A travelling funfair of seductive troublemakers arrive in a repressed Scottish town. What could possibly go wrong?

It’s the summer of ’97 and the Scottish town of Pitlaw is itching for change.

Enter the Freakslaw – a travelling funfair populated by deviant queers, a contortionist witch, the most powerful fortune teller, and other architects of mayhem. It doesn’t take long for the Freakslaw folk to infiltrate Pitlaw’s grey world, where the town’s teenagers – none more so than Ruth and Derek – are seduced by neon charms and the possibility of escape.

But beneath it all, these newcomers are harbouring a darker desire: revenge.

And as tensions reach fever pitch between the stoic locals and the dazzling intruders, a violence that’s been simmering for centuries is about to be unleashed…”

Hello and welcome to damppebbles. Today I am delighted to share my review of Freakslaw by Jane Flett. Freakslaw was published by Penguin Books on 24th April 2025 and is available in hardcover, paperback, audio and digital formats. I chose to read a free ARC of Freakslaw but that has in no way influenced my review. My grateful thanks to the team at Doubleday for sending me a proof copy.

Before I get stuck into the bones of this review, I need to tell you something. Freakslaw is another of the books I read last year in the middle of an unplanned, uninvited blogging hiatus. I was reading like a woman possessed; I just wasn’t reviewing anything because of shoulder surgery. So with that in mind, this will be a shorter review than usual. I remember Freakslaw clearly. It’s really quite different to everything else I’ve read of late, in the best way possible. But my thoughts will be more condensed.

Freakslaw is a dark, addictive and unsettling literary horror novel. Anything to do with fairs and carnivals, then I’m there! There’s something a little creepy, a little unsettling about them. And I think that’s part of the appeal for a lot of people. There’s an edginess to proceedings before you’ve even begun. And when you see that GORGEOUS cover, you know you’re in for something highly addictive, something that is FAR from sugary sweet.

I thought the carnival characters were exquisitely written. They are 100% who they are and if you don’t like it, then that’s your problem. They embrace their differences, their uniqueness, and I loved being surrounded by a cast of characters who oozed a confidence that many of us can only dream of. The residents of Pitlaw were just as well written but they’re at polar opposites to the carnival crowd. They’re dreary, stuck in a rut and live in only shades of grey. The contrast was stunning. The carnival arrives in town to shake things up, and oh boy, things get well and truly shaken! They’re clearly not welcome, which makes the carnival only want to stay in drab Pitlaw much, much longer.

Would I recommend this book? I would, yes. Freakslaw is dark, disturbing and utterly irresistible. The carnival folk are playing with fire, and I was ready and waiting for Pitlaw to burn. The book highlights the everyday discrimination that anyone who is different is up against. It makes for uncomfortable reading and rightly so. I loved the characterisation, the different sides facing off against each other. One full of dazzling light, colour and brightness. The other…not so much. The tension is high throughout, the suspense and expectation is palpable, and the plot moves at an intriguing pace. I very much enjoyed this book and would pick up Flett’s second book in a heartbeat. All in all, a well-written debut with real punch. Uncomfortable, unsettling, enticing and deliciously dark. Recommended.

I chose to read and review a free ARC of Freakslaw. The above review is my own unbiased opinion.

Freakslaw by Jane Flett was published in the UK by Penguin Books on 24th April 2025 and is available in hardcover, paperback, audio and digital formats (please note, the following links are affiliate links which means I receive a small percentage of the purchase price at no extra cost to you): | amazon.co.uk | Waterstones | bookshop.org | Goodreads | damppebbles bookshop.org shop | damppebbles amazon.co.uk shop | damppebbles amazon.com shop |

Jane Flett is a Scottish writer who lives in Berlin. Her debut novel, FREAKSLAW, is available now from Doubleday (UK) and Zando (US).
 Jane’s fiction has been commissioned for BBC Radio 4 and featured in Electric Literature’s Recommended Reading, and her poetry has been published in POETRY Magazine and anthologised in the Best British Poetry. She is a recipient of the Scottish Book Trust New Writer Award, the New Orleans Writing Residency and the Berlin Senate Stipend for non-German literature. She is also one half of a riot-grrrl band and a founder of Queer Stories Berlin.