Thaddeus Flint owns a travelling carnival operating in the USA'a north east, comprising a number of rides, trick stalls, animal-tamer, sharpshooter and a girlie show. However Thaddeus Flint has always wanted a truly high-class freak show.

When he hears of another carnival travelling with a freak show that is described as totally out of the ordinary he decides to pay it a visit. Discovering everything that has been said about it is true, he decides he wants it and by utilising all his cunning and some decidedly underhand, and blatantly illegal, tactics he sets out to achieve his aim.

Having had the owner of the competing show arrested he takes hostage the 'acts' in the freak show and leaves town. But the freak show he now has is truly out of the ordinary, he has kidnapped twelve alien beings who were using the freak show as a masquerade for visiting Earth.

This is not your ordinary run-of-the-mill first encounter story, not by a long stretch. What you get on reading this is a character-driven tale of negotiation, ethics and human relationships.

It's told from the point of view of Tojo, Flint's right hand man – a hunchback with a stammer who would give almost anything to be a carnival barker. This adds considerably to the mood of the tale as we get to read Tojo's reactions to the actions of his boss - a man he feels considerable loyalty to, but one he wishes would act a little more compassionately towards his fellow men (and aliens).

The novel is filled with a host of carnival characters, and they are strong characters too. We meet Billybuck Dancer - a sharpshooter who refuses to hunt animals as they cannot shoot back; Alma Pafko (Honeysuckle Rose in the girlie show) - Flint's former bed-mate who is still obviously in love with him; Jupiter Monk - a huge man with a huge handlebar moustache, the carnival's animal trainer; and many others in this unusual travelling group.

Into this mix are added the aliens in the freak show, an assorted group of roughly humanoid beings each differing from humankind in some not too extreme way hence allowing their cover. Having an ape/human crossover (the Missing Link), a Dog-Faced Boy, a Three-Breasted woman and a blue skinned man amongst them Flint quickly uses them to manipulate the crowds into parting with their cash.

But these being aliens are not totally suited to living on Earth and has time passes each starts to be affected in one way or another, and this is where the negotiations come in. The character of Flint is a manipulator, and not really likeable. Mr. Romany, the representative of the alien sightseers is a little naïve when it comes to these negotiations and in danger of succumbing to the ways of Flint.

It's quite a gritty little tale, but highly readable. It is a book that leads in to the series wonderfully, setting up the characters and the universe for the next three tales. Now, I want to read more.