Dan Chaon’s latest novel cranks up the weird to Spinal Tap 11. Set in 1915, the story centers on psychic, orphaned 13-year-old twins Eleanor and Bolt Lambkin, who are taken in by their exploitative “Uncle Charlie” after the death of their mother (Charlie was a con man former friend of their deceased father). Mistreated and forced to use their paranormal abilities to scam marks, the siblings escape and hide out while riding an orphan train until they are eventually adopted by a man named Jengling, whose “Traveling Emporium of Wonders” features a cabinet of (human) curiosities: Elmer, the Dog-Faced Boy, Herculea the Muscle Lady, Gladness the Half-Ton Princess of Zanzibar, Piltdown Man (the resident geek), and several others with notable differences, such as added or missing limbs. The kids are quickly welcomed to the carnival family in a ritual proclaiming them as “one of us,” but Charlie—who has a hair-trigger temper and a fondness for axe-murdering—is on their trail. “One of Us” is both endearing and terrifying; we empathize as the twins struggle to fit in with the other misfits—who are not portrayed as victims, but rather as a loving clan whose members occasionally rise to heroic heights—and shudder as the bogeyman searches for his lost children. Mixing humor, horror, fairy tale, and philosophical questions regarding the nature of the self, this is a page-turner with heart, soul, and mind—a gripping journey with a colorful cast of characters. Thanks to NetGalley for providing an advance reader copy.

Following up The Night Circus is the second and final installement in my July 2025 Circus Series is the upcoming novel One of Us. Vibes are very similar, twins with mysterious powers and an unreliable reality. This one was more of a spooky, psychological thriller.

One of Us was my first Dan Chaon novel and my immediate takeaway is that this guy loves the phrase “arms akimbo”. I saw a reviewer describe this novel as a mix of American Horror Story: Freakshow and A Series of Unfortunate Events, a spot-on analysis.

There is a lot going on in this book. Most of it sticks the landing, but some doesn't. Still, it all adds up to an intriguing story.

You start the book thinking this will have an American Horror Story: Freak Show vibe, and in some cases that's true. Twins Bolt and Eleanor are orphans, adopted into a circus "family." But in some ways they do not fit in there and appear to be ordinary teens. Their special gifts are not well defined even to themselves (perhaps they can read minds and/or serve as a good host for a medium.)

While Bolt loves his circus family, Eleanor does not. Thus beginning a trend throughout the book of Eleanor being a super unlikeable character (seemingly enjoying the company of no one). Her personality sets the scene for some dynamic developments in the later narrative, but also makes it hard to empathize with her character.

A secondary element of the story is the twin's murderous "uncle" who is pursuing them. It's a little hazy why, (I guess because he has a sense of obligation to their dead father? But that also rings false as he is a sociopath who doesn't seem to care for ANYONE.) The scenes with the uncle are DARK and violent. Be warned.

Ultimately this book went in directions I was not expecting, and I appreciated that. While I would have liked a bit more of the found family at the circus and a bit less of the uncle, I found this to be an engrossing read.

Thank you to the author and NetGalley for granting me the opportunity to read this in exchange for an honest review.

Thanks to Henry Holt and Co. and NetGalley for this ARC of 'One of Us' by Dan Chaon.

Very much in the vein of (and influenced by) Ray Bradbury's 'Something Wicked This Way Comes' in terms of the tone and the broad subject matter Dan Chaon's 'One of Us' is a really enjoyable tale of early 20th century carnies and 'freaks' crossed with the supernatural.

Telepathic and maybe telekinetic orphaned twins are 'adopted' by Jengling and join his traveling circus family and are pursued by their evil 'Uncle' Charlie.

What follows is a very well written look into the humanity of the 'freaks' and the monstrousness of the 'normal' people. Chaon imbues all of the circus characters - who'd been previously cast aside by 'normal' society for their differences - with deep warmth and humanity and one of the most original and unexpected, for me, twists was his writing and development of their 'ringmaster,' Jengling.

I'm likely reading too much into it but in a time, nowadays, when, sadly, people are once again being deliberately and violently targeted for their differences - color, race, nationality religion, sexuality, gender, etc. - this was a nice reminder that those 'different' people are individuals with feelings and emotions and humanity.

Can something be whimsical and deeply unsettling at the same time? This book sets place in the early 1900's and we follow twins who are telepathic. They work at a circus but flee to escape their deranged Uncle.

Great Gothic horror novels with an amazing setting. I truly enjoyed this one, just felt that the pacing was a bit slow sometimes.

This book is a haunting gothic oddity set at the carnival of your nightmares. One of Us creeps into your head and stays there, and I will be thinking about this story for a long time.

Twins Bolt & Eleanor are on the run from their evil Uncle Charlie after seeing him commit murder. When a traveling circus takes them in, they find a home and family with the marginalized, the “freaks” society has rejected. But when Uncle Charlie follows them, the travelling circus will become the stage for a final, devastating play.

This book is very hard to describe. It is gothic, it is fantastical, it is darkly funny and deeply disturbing by turns. It has a villain that will literally haunt my nightmares, and slightly spooky children you can’t help but root for. If you loved The Night Circus but wished it was a horror book; or if you wished the circus scene in Ordinary Monsters was longer; or if you were a child that loved A Series of Unfortunate Events, the Eddie Dickens books, or Roald Dahl stories where the villains were frankly horrifying, and now you’re looking for an adult story with similar tones,- then you should try One of Us.

I would recommend this book to readers who enjoy gothic books that lean into the fantastical, carnival settings, and bad, bad villains.

Thank you to NetGalley & Henry Holt & Co for the arc! All thoughts & opinions in the review are my own.

I may be late to the party, but this is the first Dan Chaon book I have read, and I will definitely be looking into his back log! This story was amazing, and it was tough to put down. Basically, twins (a brother and a sister) are orphans and run away to join a traveling circus. I have to say that I loved the celebration of different people, to the extreme. It celebrates diversity. This felt a bit like American Horror Story, especially the circus series. Set in the early 1900s it really gave me an atmospheric feel to the times. It was eerie, creepy, and unusual in all the best ways!

I received an ARC of this novel from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

A pair of orphaned twins end up in a circus after escaping from a weird uncle. Then the uncle locates them....

There is a lot to like about this. Others have described it as an adult A Series of Unfortunate Events and that REALLY is bang on, albeit bloodier. The atmosphere was beautifully created--I could picture the gritty and darkly whimsical traveling circus. The vivid array of circus characters. The absolutely nutso villain. The exploration of good and bad people and the moral greyness of it all. That was all brilliant...but, the ending kinda lost me. I finished it and felt robbed. Maybe I didn't grasp the meaning but it felt disconnected from the rest of the story. This is worth reading, for the atmosphere alone.

Another example of Chaon's far reaching imagination, but what I really enjoyed was reading author's note in which he lists his inspirations, some of which I recognized as I read. Don't usually read horror, but enjoyed this one.

One of Us is a whimsical and eerie tale set against the backdrop of a shifting America in 1915. It follows mind-connected twins Bolt and Eleanor as they flee danger and find refuge in a traveling troupe of misfits. The book blends historical fiction with touches of the fantastical, delivering a story that is part adventure, part coming-of-age, and part love letter to the world's outcasts.

The premise is engaging, especially the bond between the twins and the magical realism woven into the Emporium of Wonders. Characters like Thistle Britches and Rosalie add vibrant, unusual flair to the narrative, and the setting of a traveling sideshow makes for captivating imagery.

That said, the story occasionally feels uneven. The pacing lags in parts, especially during the second act, and some emotional beats—particularly Eleanor’s growing distance from Bolt—could have used more depth. Uncle Charlie’s return adds stakes, but the resolution feels a bit rushed considering the build-up.

The publisher provided ARC via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

Thank you to Net Galley and the publisher for the advance read in return of an honest review. At the turn of the last century, 14 year old twins Eleanor and Bolt, whose telepathic abilities bond them to one another, are orphaned and subsequently adopted by a circus promoter while their malevolent “uncle”, terrifically angered that they are out of his evil grasp, searches for them. I adored the first third of One of Us, seeing an often cruel but sometimes benevolent world through intelligent Eleanor’s eyes; understanding the wall she builds around herself and her reluctance to be accepted by her new sideshow “family” and resenting her brother’s easy acceptance of them. Each of the highly likable sideshow characters has a beautifully told back story, and as she gets to know them Eleanor is slowly letting down her guard and might be finding her place in the world. And then the story veers to (for me) wholly unexpected violence and darkness. And a complicated, surreal ending.

I enjoyed this turn of the century mysterious novel with engaging characters who kept my interest. Chan delves into the lives of the circus freaks, each with a story to tell. Chaon is a force to be reckoned with.

One of Us is pure psychological chaos—in the best possible way.

This book had me spiraling. It’s eerie, it’s unsettling, it’s giving “am I losing my mind or is something actually wrong here?” The kind of story that crawls under your skin and lingers in the back of your brain long after you close the book.

Dan Chaon is a master of the slow burn. You’re not handed answers—you earn them, and honestly, half the fun is not knowing what’s real or who you can trust. Think: unreliable narrators, fractured families, dark secrets, and a past that won’t stay buried.

You’re not just reading—you’re unraveling.

Read if you like:
🧠 psychological thrillers that gaslight you in a good way
👀 characters who may or may not be okay (spoiler: they’re not)
🔪 slow-burn tension with a seriously haunting payoff
🪞 stories that make you question everything

Trust no one. Not even yourself.

“One of Us” by Dan Chaon is a dark tale about a traveling carnival filled with a collection of unique disabled men and women headed by a truly evil psychopath. It is also the story of young twins with the uncanny ability to read each other’s minds. When their mother dies and they become orphans they wind up on an orphan train and sold to the operator of the traveling circus, a circus where nightmarish events happen often!
This author is a master at creating heartbreaking and disturbing characters and unforgettable imagery. This book for me was so brutal that it actually kept me up at night. For this reason alone I’m giving it 3 stars.

Thank you NetGalley and Henry Holt & Company for the ARC in exchange for my honest review.

I didn’t like this book at all. It gave me the creeps. Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher.


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Review of Uncorrected Digital Galley
Twins Eleanor and Bolt Lambkin have always been close, have been able to tell what each other was thinking. Now thirteen, their lives have taken a precarious turn when their mother dies and unknown uncle, claiming to be their father’s brother, shows up in Oberlin, Ohio.

With Uncle Charlie, things are unsettled at best. The man has a vicious temper and, after a poker game ends in murder, the twins decide to leave.

Though Uncle Charlie tries to find them, they make their way to the train station. They jumped off at Fingerton Depot and made their way to the orphanage. The orphans took a trip on the Orphan Train where they found new families in the small town of Shenandoah, Iowa. Eleanor and Bolt are “adopted” by Harland Jengling, owner of The Jengling Traveling Emporium of Wonders.

What does the future hold for Eleanor and Bolt as part of Jengling’s Emporium? And what of Uncle Charlie?

=========

Harland Jengling’s traveling carnival seems rather dark; this collection of disabled folks puts a spotlight on the narrowmindedness of the people who came to “gawk;” there is a distinct air of cruelty here. But the carnival folks seem happy to have a place and a family . . . and this is one of the central themes of the story: the family you make for yourself. Their backstories are often heart-wrenching and, at the same time, mesmerizing.

Uncle Charlie is vicious, a truly evil psychopath. But it’s the relationship between Eleanor and Bolt that lie at the heart of the unfolding story. Kt may be dark and strange, but it also speaks to survival and the deep bonds people develop.

Recommended.

I received a free copy of this eBook from Henry Holt and Company / Henry Holt and Company and NetGalley
#OneOfUs #NetGalley

My first book by this author (apparently I have been living under a pile of books).
Twins who have lost their mother are ‘adopted’ by Mr. Jengling, the owner of a traveling circus, the Emporium of Wonders. The year, 1915, and things are much much different than what we are used to today. The story mainly revolves around Bolt and Eleanor, the twins. That is until the true nature of the Emporium, and those who work there is slowly revealed.
I am not going to go into the plot (it is best to discover this one for yourselves), but I found myself having a tough time putting this book down. The fate of the twins is what initially drew me in. Then learning about the other members of the circus, along with the introduction of a supernatural element, kept me flipping pages. Choosing your family, trust, and making a life that works for you we are all explored. Oh, and a bad man, an unbelievably bad man who has nefarious plans for the twins!
Just to touch on the ending. I cannot say that I liked it, but I understood where the author was coming from. Sort of. This was a treadmill read for me and I was almost late for work until I finished. Worth it! 4.5 stars.

4.5 rounded up

I've been a fan of this author since my first Fiction Writing class in college. My professor introduced us to his short story collection, "Among the Missing," and used a couple of them to teach us technique. I've read everything he's published ever since, though that collection remains my favorite. It's incredible. As a side note, I still think about that professor from time to time and how helpful and encouraging she was. I hope that she's happy and thriving wherever she is now.

"One of Us" was a very strange and dark novel that I couldn’t stop reading. It was different from Chaon's typical material, both in style and content. But the quality was still top notch. I would describe this story as an adult version of "A Series of Unfortunate Events," only much more violent, and perhaps with a twist of Wes Anderson and told in the style of the Coen Bros. (All of these things are positive.) The basic plotline is a brother and sister, twins, who end up as orphans and are adopted into a travelling "freak show" as they try to evade a dangerous man claiming to be their uncle. There's more to it than that, of course, and the further you go the stranger it gets.

Charlie, the "Uncle," is a horrific, murderous villain who is a little bit Count Olaf and a little bit Patrick Bateman in the body of an old fashioned, mustache twirling monster. There’s a part where he’s literally crawling around on top of a boxcar train, spying on one of the twins from above, and I was picturing him like a big creepy spider. It felt sort of cartoonish and silly, but also for this particular story it worked? That wasn't even the weirdest thing that happened.

I liked learning the backstories of all of the carnival characters, though some of them were shorter than others. And many were tragic. The other side to this, also, is that I cared about these people and whenever harm befell them it was painful. Though I guess that was the point. As far as the twins go, Bolt was definitely my favorite of the two. Eleanor got on my nerves a little bit. She was interesting and complex, but also very selfish. Part of me related to her desire to just be alone with her books, though, and her hesitation to trust other people. And Chaon did give her character an arc that I didn’t fully predict. Bolt was just naturally a lot easier to love.

The title of the novel is a direct reference to the 1932 film “Freaks,” which isn’t exactly famous for a sensitive portrayal of people with disabilities. Chaon handles the subject in a more heartfelt way while also addressing the cruelty and narrowmindedness of the general population, mostly through the perspective of Uncle Charlie and the detailed backstories of the various characters. As a reader, you aren't there to gawk with the carnival goers. You are there to become a part of the family and feel their pain. And it's important to note that many of them are very happy to be who and where they are.

This ended up being a beautiful story about the good (and the bad) in people. I’m still not sure how I felt about the ending. I think I’ll say that I appreciated it, but I didn’t LIKE it. Many parts of this novel were oddly funny even amidst the darkness, and I appreciated the short sections in each chapter, which kept me reading for long intervals. "One of Us" is a bleak and bloody experience, with bright moments of respite and relief. It's well worth the journey if you, like me, appreciate a strange tale.

Thanks so much to Netgalley and to the Publisher for this ARC in exchange for an honest review! All opinions are my own.

Biggest TW: Domestic abuse/child abuse, Racism, Suicide, Self-harm, *Animal harm/death, Misogyny