How can this book end on a massive cliff hanger? Darren has to undergo the Trials of Death to prove himself to the vampires. Failure to complete the trials results in death (which I think all of the readers thinks impossible). Pretty harrowing and brutal, this macabre fifth book in the running Cirque du Freak series continues in the vein of all those that came before it with a lot of action, a lot of blood, and a lot of fun.