Every step we take in the world is along a path that we cannot see.

Amongst the monsters of the Dark Carnival Amos has stumbled across one of his wife’s killers and has followed him into the great, dark night to at last find his vengeance. Amelia has been snatched from her bed, and Molly, believing Giselle, the strange carney fortune-teller, has spirited her away, desperately looks for help from the few friends she has in town. Ash returns from the Dark Carnival convinced by Mr Wizzle that Preacher Stone didn’t attack his daughter Emily and desperate to find out who was really responsible, while his wife, Kate, is increasingly ensnared by the insane Deputy Blane and his sadistic games. Cece has fallen head over heels for the love-struck Sye, but is the little voice whispering in her mind really her own? Guy sits at home burning every candle he owns to keep the darkness at bay, terrified that even the grave has proved no barrier to his wife’s madness, while both John X Smith and Sam Shenan must confront pasts haunted by lost loves.

As their paths merge, they slowly begin to unravel the town’s secrets, inexorably bringing them into confrontation with the Mayor, while, out across the long slow miles to the east, a darkness is approaching that will endanger both the good and evil of Hawker’s Drift alike...