Miraculum

In this underwhelming novel from Post (Lightwood) a circus hires on a mysterious stranger and soon finds itself suffering from a string of unexplained tragedies. Touring the Louisiana-Texas border in 1922, Pontilliar’s Spectacular Star Light Miraculum is made up of a rough crowd of outcasts and runaways, everyone holding secrets and grudges against one another. When the geek—a member of the show who bites off the heads of small animals—is found dead from an apparent suicide by hanging, a well-dressed man named Daniel shows up out of nowhere and offers to take his place. But Ruby, a snake charmer and the daughter of the circus owner, has a feeling Daniel is hiding something sinister. While the circus atmosphere Post creates is one of danger and intrigue, there’s little actual mystery to be found here. The story moves too quickly, leaving the characters underdeveloped and their motivations unclear. Twists are also telegraphed in advance through jumps in perspective that often make the story hard to follow. Both too rakish and supernatural to be believable, Daniel maintains an uncanny effect on all those around him from his introduction until the novel’s predictable end. Despite the rich setting and strong concept, Post’s story of a macabre travelling spectacular fails to captivate. (Jan.)